After a Product Injury in the Columbia Area
Your recovery is the priority. While you're at Prisma Health Richland or Lexington Medical Center, someone at home can guard the evidence.
- Describe the failure to the ER team. "The blade guard came off," "the battery popped," "the tire tread separated." Then stick with the treatment plan.
- Treat the item as evidence. Leave it unrepaired, uncleaned and unreturned. If it's a swollen battery or a leaking can, let firefighters or a hazmat crew say how to store it.
- Find the label. Model and serial numbers are usually on a sticker or plate. A phone picture of it is a good start.
- Dig up the purchase trail. The Amazon order page, the store receipt, the manual and the box.
- Track your injuries over time. A dated photo every few days works.
- Ask who responded. If the Columbia-Richland Fire Department or police came out, they may have a written report.
- Jot down the backstory. When you got it, how often you used it, and anything strange it did before.
- Wait on shipping or signing. Get advice before letting the item leave your house.
A recall letter that shows up later is worth keeping too.
Products That Fail Around the Midlands
Product injuries around the Midlands can involve car and truck parts on I-26 and I-20, scooter and e-bike batteries near USC, boats and personal watercraft on Lake Murray, power tools and lifts on construction sites, and space heaters or appliances at home. Prisma Health Richland, MUSC Health Columbia Medical Center and Lexington Medical Center are among the hospitals that treat injured people from the area.
What Makes a Product Defective
South Carolina product liability claims commonly involve manufacturing defects, design defects, or inadequate warnings or instructions.2
- Manufacturing defects: a flaw in how that particular unit was made.
- Design defects: every unit is built the same risky way.
- Warning defects: missing or inadequate warnings or directions.
Claims may proceed under strict liability, negligence or warranty theories, and businesses in the distribution chain may be responsible.2 A design defect claim generally requires a feasible alternative design, considering cost, safety and how well it works.6
Want someone to look at your situation?
Talk with our team about what happened and ask the questions on your mind.
Time Limits
Most South Carolina personal injury lawsuits involving defective products must be filed within three years.4 Certain warranty claims and claims under other laws may have different deadlines.3 An insurance claim won't stop the clock.5 If a state or local agency is part of the picture, a separate and sometimes shorter clock applies.7 See product liability claims in South Carolina for more.
Talk With Us
You may be asking yourself whether you used it wrong. Bring us the brand, the model and the story of the day it failed.
Our office is on King Street in Charleston. We take cases across South Carolina, including Columbia and the Midlands. The first conversation can happen by phone. If a product caused a fire, see Columbia burn injury claims.
South Carolina Law on This
- In South Carolina, a business that regularly sells a product can be responsible when one it sold in a defective, unreasonably dangerous condition reaches a user or consumer without substantial change and injures them, even if it used all possible care and the user did not buy from it.1
- South Carolina product liability claims commonly involve manufacturing defects, design defects, or inadequate warnings or instructions. Depending on the facts, claims may proceed under strict liability, negligence or warranty theories, and manufacturers and other businesses in the product's distribution chain may be responsible.2
- Most South Carolina personal injury lawsuits involving defective products must be filed within three years. Certain warranty claims and claims governed by other laws may have different deadlines. Opening an insurance claim, contacting the manufacturer or waiting for a recall generally does not stop the filing deadline.3
- Most personal injury claims in South Carolina must be filed within three years.4
- South Carolina's statute of limitations generally sets the deadline for filing a lawsuit in court. Simply opening a claim with an insurance company or negotiating with an insurance adjuster does not stop the statute of limitations from running.5
- To prove a product's design was defective in South Carolina, the injured person generally must show a feasible alternative design that would have made it safer, considering cost, safety and how well it works.6
- Claims against a South Carolina state or local government agency have their own filing deadline, which can be shorter, and there could be caps on damages under the South Carolina Tort Claims Act, depending on the facts of the case.7
Frequently Asked Questions
If a product hurt me, is it automatically defective?
No. Getting hurt isn't proof the product was legally defective. A claim generally needs evidence the product was sold in a defective, unreasonably dangerous condition that caused the harm.1 For a design defect, the injured person generally must show a feasible alternative design that would have made it safer.6
The ladder was my neighbor's. Do I still have a claim?
Possibly. A strict liability claim can apply even if the user did not buy the product from the seller.1 Whether a borrowed or gifted item supports a claim depends on the defect and the facts.
The manufacturer wants the product shipped back. Should I send it?
Be careful. The product is often the most important evidence. Once it's gone, you may not get to examine it again. Ask for the request in writing, take photos, and many people talk with a lawyer before letting it go.
Can I give the company time to fix things?
You can talk to them, but contacting the manufacturer or waiting for a recall generally does not stop the filing deadline.3 Read anything carefully before signing.
Sources
This page is general information about South Carolina law, not legal advice for your situation. Every case depends on its own facts.
