Gadsden, SC Car Accident Lawyer

Getting into a car accident can be a huge interruption to not only your day but your life. Many car accident victims face serious injuries that interfere with their favorite activities, their ability to work, and their general health and well-being. If you faced even mild injuries, you could be left with medical bills and lost wages, while worse injuries could leave you disabled and unable to care for yourself.

Any car accident involving injuries is a different breed of accident than one involving property damage alone. Insurance companies will make it harder to collect full damages, and you should always have a lawyer on your side to maximize the compensation you get.

For a free review of your injury case with our car accident lawyers, call (803) 451-4000 to connect with Burriss Ridgeway Injury Lawyers.

Types of Car Accident Cases Our Lawyers Handle in Gadsden, SC

Car crashes are unique, and different facts can lead to different outcomes. However, many crashes happen in similar ways, creating different types and sub-types of car accident cases. Classifying your case into one of the following types will help identify who might be at fault and your chances of success in your injury claim. Our car accident lawyers will nonetheless need to hear the specific facts of your case before making any concrete determinations about who should be found at fault and how strong your case is.

Rear-End Crashes

Cars usually only crash into the rear of another car when their driver is following too closely. Drivers need space to react appropriately to dangers in the roadway and should have room to stop in a hurry when necessary. As such, tailgating is illegal, meaning the driver to the rear is usually at fault for these crashes. However, there are plenty of exceptions, such as when the driver in front was backing up.

Another common situation is when the driver in front slammed on their brakes to try to purposely draw the rear driver into hitting them – commonly called a “brake check” crash. In these cases, the driver to the rear might have been following too closely, but what the driver in front did was reckless or even intentional, potentially outweighing the rear driver’s mere negligence.

Head-On Crashes

If all drivers stayed in their lanes and drove in the right direction, then there would be no reason for cars to crash into each other head-on. Usually, when two cars drive straight into each other, it is because one of the drivers did something severely wrong, such as driving down a one-way street or going the wrong way on the highway.

In other cases, you could be hit head-on by a driver who tried to turn left across your lane instead of yielding to you. That is also illegal and would make the crash their fault if they were required to yield to you.

DUI Crashes

When a driver is drunk, they are usually at fault for the crash. Driving under the influence reduces drivers’ reaction times and ability-making decisions, making them more dangerous on the road.

Strong evidence is needed to prove a driver was drunk, and police will often collect this evidence to use it in a criminal case. Even when there is a criminal case against the drunk driver who hit you, you can file a separate civil case to get damages for your injuries. A criminal case often will not pay for your medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering in full, even if some level of restitution is ordered.

Speeding Accidents

When drivers are well above the speed limit, they can be held responsible for the crashes that result. Speeding drivers need more room to slow down and do not have as much time to react to dangers in front of them, making unnecessary speeding dangerous in its own right. Even minor speeding is still illegal, and such a traffic violation can form the basis of a car accident lawsuit.

In many cases, both (or all) drivers will be speeding to some degree. This could ultimately mean the victim is found partially at fault, but in the face of another driver’s overwhelming speed, this might be a minor factor and should not shift the blame to you.

Distracted Driving Accidents

If the other driver’s hands, eyes, or mind are not focused on driving, then they are not driving safely. Cell phone use while driving is one of the most common causes of distractions, but eating, talking with a passenger, or fiddling with a radio or vehicle controls can also be distracting.

When drivers are distracted, they might not see dangers, making it impossible to react in time to avoid a crash. It is also possible that a distracted driver might make a move directly into your car if they were not paying sufficient attention.

Tired Driving

A driver who nods off or falls asleep while driving essentially turns their vehicle into an uncontrolled missile. Even before the point of unconsciousness, tired drivers can face many of the same problems that drunk drivers face, with reduced reaction times, reduced decision-making abilities, and reduced attention.

Pileups

When multiple cars are involved in a crash, sorting out who is at fault can be difficult. In many cases, these crashes are caused by some catastrophic issue at the front of the pileup that leads other innocent drivers to crash into the first cars in a secondary collision. In other cases, drivers behind you might be following too closely and get swept up in the crash when they should have given themselves room to stop.

Many considerations go into who is at fault and who pays damages in multicar pileups.

Call the Gadsden, SC Car Accident Lawyers at Burriss Ridgeway Injury Lawyers Today

For a free analysis of your potential car accident case with our car accident attorneys, call Burriss Ridgeway Injury Lawyers at (803) 451-4000.

$6 Million

The Plaintiff was injured as a result of a failing component of a commercial motor vehicle that fell from the vehicle into the roadway. The Plaintiff brought claims against the owner and operator of the tractor trailer as well as the manufacturer of the vehicle.

$4.1 Million

The Plaintiff was insured as a result of a refrigeration system that malfunctioned, spraying ammonia gas into the Plaintiff's face. As a result of this event, the Plaintiff sustained significant vision loss. The Plaintiff brought claims against his employer and the manufacturer of this system.

$2 Million

The Plaintiff was injured while riding his motorcycle when he collided with another vehicle. This event occurred in the city of Columbia and the Plaintiff sustained significant bodily injury resulting in extensive medical expenses and permanent injury.

$1.8 Million

The Plaintiff was injured when he was rear-ended by a tractor trailer on Interstate 20. The Plaintiff brought claims against the owner and driver of the tractor trailer for his injuries relate to his lower back.

$1.5 Million

The Plaintiff sustained significant injury when she was attacked by a dog while performing repairs on a rental property. The Plaintiff was at the rental property as part of her employment with a rental management agency. She was attacked by the animal and sustained permanent nerve damage in her legs.

$1.3 Million

The Plaintiff was killed as a result of a collision with a logging truck that had been improperly loaded by a timber harvester. The proceeds of the settlement were funded by both the timber harvester and the owner of the logging truck.

$1.5 Million

The Plaintiff underwent surgery to her neck as a result of injuries sustained when she was struck on the head by a piece of loading equipment at her job. The Plaintiff was employed by a national retailer and was engaged in stocking shelves when the piece of equipment failed. After settling her workers' compensation claim, the Plaintiff brought a claim against the manufacturer of this equipment.

$1.1 Million

The Plaintiff brought a claim against a local medical facility for a false positive HIV reading. As a result of this false positive, the Plaintiff lived for 4½ years believing that she had the virus which leads to what she feared was an eventual AIDS diagnosis.