South Carolina Truck Accident Attorneys

Semi-truck accidents can be devastating events, worse than most motor vehicle accidents in terms of serious injury, heightened expenses, and lasting consequences. Truck drivers undergo a series of exams and training in order to earn their commercial driving license, but such accidents can still happen due to circumstances outside of their control. Unsafe business practices, pressure to drive while fatigued, defective vehicles, and more, can all cause or contribute to the toll that truck accidents take on their victims.

At HawkLaw, our team of compassionate lawyers fight tirelessly to secure you fair compensation so you can focus on what matters to you. Talk to us using our live chat or call 888-HAWKLAW and our team will get to work.

What To Do After a Truck Accident

After a truck crash, your priorities should be reporting the accident and getting necessary medical attention. Immediately following a truck accident, you should:

• Go to a safer location: If you can do so, move your vehicle off the roadway so that emergency vehicles can reach you sooner and you can prevent further pile-up accidents from occurring. If you cannot move your vehicle, or do not feel safe doing so, remove yourself and any other passengers from the roadway to a sheltered location.
• Call for an ambulance: An unloaded semi-truck trailer can weigh anywhere from 10,000 to 25,000 pounds of steel and iron. Because of this, many truck accidents lead to devastating injuries. Immediate help can increase an accident victim’s chances of survival. Don’t delay calling 911 for help after a truck crash.
• Document the scene, if possible: Take photos and videos of the area of the truck crash, and note any additional roadway, signage, or weather conditions that might have contributed to it. A police responder may ask for your help supplying details to file a truck driver accident report form. Many truck accident cases hinge upon these kinds of details, apart from additional information from truck driver logs.
• Gather witness info: If you can exchange contact information with other drivers or eyewitnesses, make sure to do so. Sharing insurance as well as license information can help facilitate the truck driver accident procedures later on.
• Get a complete medical assessment: See a doctor as soon as you can after a truck accident in South Carolina. A medical assessment can help catch life-threatening conditions such as internal bleeding, spinal trauma, and more. Additionally, a consultation with a doctor is necessary before you can file a truck accident injury lawsuit.
• Speak to a South Carolina truck accident attorney: A local truck wreck attorney can help you understand your legal options and fight to get the fair compensation for your injuries and losses. At HawkLaw, our South Carolina truck accident lawyers are available to help you build the strongest foundation for your case.

Why Should I Hire HawkLaw For My Truck Accident Case?

The majority of truck crashes in South Carolina are preventable, but motorists in other vehicles often have little to no control over whether a truck crashes into their vehicle, causing catastrophic harm. It’s important to understand how and why these accidents with commercial vehicles occur, and what victims of truck accidents can do to protect their own interests in the aftermath.

When you are suffering from injuries due to a truck accident, you need an experienced and knowledgable truck accident lawyer who will fight hard to win so you may get the compensation you deserve. You need a law firm in your corner that will fight against the trucking company, insurance companies, and other parties to make sure your truck accident claim is taken seriously.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has stringent regulations in place to prevent accidents with big rigs, yet they still occur all across the country in large numbers. Truck accident cases can be devastating, far more than other types of car accidents. Medical bills can mount, and you may have difficulty maintaining your relationships with your loved ones. At HawkLaw, we work diligently to help you to restore your quality of life as much as possible. Our truck accident attorneys know how to fight aggressively to protect your interests and secure you fair compensation, so you may focus onwhat’s important: your health and well-being.

Types of Truck Accidents

As the main shipping connector between the Southeast and the Northeast, South Carolina is no stranger to truck traffic. According to 2021 data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 8% of fatal crashes in South Carolina involved large trucks. Some of the most common kinds of South Carolina truck crashes include:

• Head-on collisions
• Rear-end collisions
• Jackknife accidents
• Rollover accidents
• Under-ride accidents
• Wide turn accidents
• T-bone accidents
• Sideswipe accidents

Common Causes of Truck Accidents

An accident can happen at any time, and the causes can vary widely. To file your South Carolina truck wreck claim, you need to determine what exactly happened and who is at fault. This can be tricky, because truck companies, loading companies, maintenance crews, and even parts manufacturers can hold responsibility for the truck accident, and all will try to pass the buck. They may even accuse you of being responsible. That is why having an experienced truck accident attorney in your corner is so important.

If you’re not sure what caused your commercial truck crash, our South Carolina truck accident attorneys can help. We will investigate the evidence and find the cause, which might be one of the following problems:

Driver Fatigue

Driver fatigue is among the most common causes of truck accidents. For instance, tractor-trailer drivers have a set time to work before they must take a break. However, some employers provide incentives to finish routes earlier than scheduled, which is why many truckers keep driving despite exhaustion and cause accidents due to slower reaction times and human errors.

In addition, distracted driving is a problem among many passenger vehicle personal injury cases. Whether it’s a case of a driver using a cell phone while behind the wheel or reading, eating, drinking, or even fiddling with the radio, any distractions can stop the driver from paying full attention to the road, leading to serious consequences.

Driving Under the Influence

While truck crashes with drivers under the influence are rare, they are even more dangerous than the average traffic incident. Truckers who cause an accident while under the influence deserve to be held accountable for compensation. While punitive damages are not common in motor vehicle personal injury cases, if the driver was under the influence, these damages may be on the table.

Road Hazards

A large truck is less vulnerable than other vehicles to road hazards like potholes. However, road damage can make all vehicles vulnerable to accidents. Truck drivers are often not residents of an area, and are thus particularly susceptible to poorly labeled turnoffs, sudden sharp curves, and other problems with roadway design. In addition, when a government road authority doesn’t ensure drivers’ safety, victims should be able to seek compensation.

Defective Parts

Sometimes, vehicle parts like brakes or engine components are defective, and shoddy manufacturing can cause breakdowns at the worst times, resulting in a serious accident. In such truck accident cases, you can hold the manufacturer responsible for your injuries, and include them in a civil lawsuit.

Oversized Cargo

The South Carolina Department of Transportation imposes limits on trucking weights and cargo sizes. When oversized cargo restrictions are violated, this can create an increased likelihood of road accidents. Overloaded truck accidents can involve extended liability for the companies that purposefully ignored state restrictions and caused severe losses.

Reckless Driving

Another common cause for truck accident claims is simple, basic carelessness. Sometimes truck drivers go too fast for the road conditions, ignoring speed limit signs or other signs directed toward trucking safety. They might just fail to check their mirrors or otherwise take careless action.

Blind spots are another cause of accidents. Trucks can have very long blind spots or areas where their mirrors don’t reflect the traffic conditions. If the driver fails to carefully check these spots before changing lanes or veering for any reason, they can strike another passenger vehicle, causing serious injuries.

Unethical Business Practices

Putting profit above people is not a blameless crime. Oftentimes, the result of unethical business initiatives like overloading cargo, insisting on longer hours, or pressuring drivers to drive while fatigued can have deadly results. If your loved one was harmed or killed in a semi crash, our offices can conduct a truck accident investigation into the trucking company’s policies, training, and other practices to help maximize your chances of recovering compensation from entities that engage in unethical business practices.

Common Truck Accident Injuries

The following are some common truck accident injuries that victims in South Carolina truck wrecks suffer from:

• Head injuries: Traffic incidents are the number one cause of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) related deaths in the United States. The impact from a truck crash can cause not only penetrating head wounds, but also bleeding, bruising, and damage to nerve fibers around the brain.
• Spinal cord injuries: As a major pathway through the body, spinal cord injuries can have consequences that reverberate in different areas for long periods of time. Loss of mobility, lasting pain, loss of bladder control, muscular damage, and more are all commonly linked to spinal cord injuries.
• Burn injuries: Burn injuries can occur in accidents, especially when trucks are loaded with flammable or hazardous cargo. Some burns can result in loss of digits, loss of vision, and permanent scarring.
• Paralysis: Paralysis is commonly linked to spinal damage from car and truck accidents. Compensation for paralysis after a truck crash can include not only your past medical bills but also the cost of alterations to your home and living quarters to account for your evolving needs.
• Broken bones and fractures: Broken bones and fractures are common complaints after a truck crash.
• Internal bleeding: Even if you do not believe yourself to be injured immediately after a truck crash, internal bleeding is a very real concern that can be life-threatening when left unchecked by a medical professional. Symptoms of internal bleeding include swelling, dizziness, bruising, rapid heart rate, and more. Always see a doctor if you suspect internal bleeding.
• Miscarriage: A particularly tragic injury to account for after a truck crash is the risk of miscarriage. The physical trauma of a major truck crash can pose significant risks to pregnancy as well as trigger premature labor.
• Wrongful death: Wrongful death compensation after a truck crash can help victims’ families carry on with funeral costs, burial costs, as well as economic compensation to bridge the gap of lost wages during the mourning period.

In addition to these injuries, truck accident victims also suffer from other lasting concerns like facial injuries, scarring, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). See a qualified medical professional for evaluation after a truck accident in South Carolina.

South Carolina Truck Accident: Truck Accident Compensation

From 2020 to 2021, there has been a 17% increase in fatal truck crashes in the United States. In 2021 alone, there were 5,788 people killed in traffic accidents involving large trucks.

Unfortunately, truck accidents not only have some of the highest rates of fatal injuries, but they also involve often extensive medical bills, hospital expenses, and destruction or loss of property. Since multiple parties are involved in ensuring truck safety as well as cargo loading, corporate liability may extend across state lines.

An experienced South Carolina truck accident law firm can help you receive the fullest compensation possible. This might include economic damages, such as medical bills or lost income from taking time off work. A skilled truck crash lawyer can also account for non-economic damages in your South Carolina settlement, like damages for the trauma incurred and loss of quality of life. Finally, while punitive damages are rarer, they may be awarded by the court for willful, wanton, or reckless conduct.

Examples of compensation that your South Carolina truck accident attorney might fight for include:

Economic Damages

• Medical bills
• Medical devices/equipment
• Physical therapy
• Long-term care expenses
• Loss of income
• Loss of earning capacity
• Property damage and diminished value of property
• Funeral and burial expenses

Non-economic Damages

• Pain and suffering
• Mental anguish
• Loss of quality of life
• Physical impairment, disfigurement, or disability
• Loss of consortium/companionship

Who is Liable In a Truck Accident?

To determine the nature and extent of liability, an attorney will look at different kinds of evidence. South Carolina truck accident attorneys are experienced in examining driving logs, inspection reports, maintenance records, cargo logs, and more, to reconstruct the conditions that contributed to the crash. Some parties that might be held accountable in a truck accident include:

• The truck driver
• The cargo loaders
• The truck maintenance company
• Truck parts manufacturers
• The company that hired the driver
• Other drivers
• The state highway authority, when roadway conditions are to blame

Is South Carolina an At Fault State?

Since 1991, South Carolina has been a modified comparative negligence state. This means that drivers in South Carolina who are at fault for the accident may still recover some compensation if they are found to be less than 51% responsible.

Say that you were speeding when you were hit by a fatigued or distracted truck driver. They may have drifted into your lane, or failed to check their blind spots. Your actions of speeding on the highway may have contributed to some of your injuries and damages. Opposing counsel may argue that you would have been able to brake, or avoid the full brunt of the crash if you had been traveling at the appropriate highway speed. This tactic is done to lower the insurance company’s payout to you for your injuries. However, if the truck driver’s fatigue was, say 75% to blame for the crash, then even if you are found to be 25% at fault for the accident, you can still recover part of the compensation claimed.

Are Employees Responsible for Damage to Company Vehicles?

In South Carolina, employers carry the risk of vicarious liability. Accordingly, the employer can be held responsible for the injuries caused by their employee during working hours and for authorized work. In truck accidents, this means that employers can be held liable for employee actions that caused or contributed to the crash. Here, the employer is considered “the employee’s master” for damages done in “tortious acts” under the doctrine of respondeat superior.

There are exceptions, however, such as for freelance drivers, who may have been hired under a limited contract or without company ownership of their vehicle, or for employees’ unauthorized acts of negligence while “on a frolic of their own“. This is why it is important to speak to a South Carolina attorney who understands these nuances and can provide you with the right legal advice.

How Can a South Carolina Truck Accident Lawyer Help Me?

A truck accident injury lawyer understands South Carolina truck accident law as well as the specifics of filing an injury claim. At HawkLaw, our firm will help you:

• Gather detailed background of the case: We will not only assemble and review your truck accident report with the police, but we will also examine factors like relevant traffic records, crash statistics, previous CDL suspensions, foul weather, and anything else that might have contributed to the accident.
• Examine the truck crash scene: The scene of the truck crash can reveal additional liability, such as roadway maintenance issues, which we will analyze with the help of experts.
• Collect relevant evidence to determine the cause and extent of liability: Our firm will consult with you as well as industry experts to build a strong case for compensation. We will collect relevant physical evidence as well as compile supporting case laws that prove why you should receive the compensation requested in your claim.
• Get trucking company records and police records: Truck crashes involve specific kinds of evidentiary perusal, which is why they are often handled by law firms that handle this kind of claim. This can include driving log notes and black box data, as well as the police truck accident report form.
• Speak to witnesses and the other party: Our firm will communicate with all necessary parties to gather statements, so that you can focus on your recovery.
• Negotiate with other parties: HawkLaw truck driver accident lawyers are trained negotiators who do not settle for sub-par offers. We can communicate with all liable parties on your behalf, as well as negotiate with other lawyers and insurance adjusters.
• File all paperwork on time: South Carolina courts mandate certain filing deadlines and protocols for your truck accident injury claim. Our firm will ensure that your claim meets all requirements so that it is not rejected on a technicality.
• Represent you in court: If need be, our truck accident injury lawyers can present your case in court. At HawkLaw, we make every effort to tailor our approach to our client’s specific legal goals. Our compassionate attorneys will never let your case drag on unnecessarily or let you settle for a number you should say no to.

Truck Accident Lawyer Near Me

HawkLaw offers several convenient locations to our clients, including in Greenville and Spartanburg. Our Greenville location is right off of I-385, making it easy to access for South Carolina residents. Our Spartanburg office, directly below Old Greenville and west of Roebuck, offers additional access for residents in this populous area of South Carolina.

Talk to HawkLaw’s Experienced South Carolina Truck Accident Lawyers

HawkLaw has the experience you need to get the results that matter in a truck injury lawsuit in South Carolina. We understand how truck accident cases work, and can handle every detail of your claim with compassion and diligence. Our results speak for themselves when it comes to our track record of success. To speak with one of our truck accident injury attorneys today about your claim, contact us for a complimentary consultation*.