What to Do After a Toxic Exposure in Greenville
Treatment comes first, and a spouse or adult child can be the record keeper.
- Distance first. If a CO alarm sounds, everyone and the pets go outside. Switch to bottled water, or set aside the cleaner or spray you think made you sick.
- Get medical care. Call 911 for serious symptoms. Possible carbon monoxide poisoning needs urgent care. Each provider should hear the name of the chemical, product or source you suspect and the dates.
- Keep the Poison Control number handy. For immediate guidance on a poison exposure in the United States, call 1-800-222-1222.3
- Get the incident number. If a fire department, hazmat team or police responded to a spill or leak, ask how to get their report.
- Pictures from a distance. The leaking drum, the discolored tap water, the furnace or generator, shot without getting close. A notebook with the dates, odors, headaches or rashes, and names of the people you reported it to helps.
- Paper, not poison. Hang on to product labels, utility notices, water bills and safety data sheets from work. Leave the actual substance to trained crews, who may need to take samples.
Where Exposures Happen Around Greenville
Manufacturing plants and warehouses line the I-85 corridor, and tanker trucks carry chemicals on the interstates. Homes face risks from faulty furnaces and generators during winter storms and power outages, older plumbing, and well water in rural parts of the county.
How Long You Have to File
South Carolina generally provides a three-year filing period for personal injury claims, but the start date can be complicated.1 Most personal injury claims in South Carolina must be filed within three years.4 The limit is for a lawsuit, and an insurance claim doesn't stop it.5
Claims against government entities generally must be filed within two years under the Tort Claims Act, or three years after a qualifying verified claim.6 Damage limits may also apply.2
Want someone to look at your situation?
Talk with our team about what happened and ask the questions on your mind.
What a Claim Has to Show
A toxic exposure claim generally requires more than showing that a substance was present. Evidence may be needed on how the exposure happened, whether the substance can cause the kind of illness involved, and whether it caused this person's illness.7 Medical records, testing and workplace records can all matter.
See our statewide toxic exposure page. Mold from leaks has its own page: toxic mold in Greenville.
Talk With Us
Start with the smell, the taste or the symptom that first worried you, and we'll go from there to the people involved and what the tests showed.
Our office is on King Street in downtown Charleston. The first conversation can happen by phone. We take cases across South Carolina, including Greenville and the Upstate. If you hire us, the insurers can usually deal with us.
South Carolina Law on This
- South Carolina's three-year limitations period for personal injury claims generally begins when a person knew or, through reasonable diligence, should have known that they had a potentially actionable injury. A person does not necessarily need to know the precise substance responsible, every defendant or the legal theory before the clock begins running.1
- 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.2
- For immediate poison exposure guidance in the United States, the Poison Control number is 1-800-222-1222.3
- 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
- Lawsuits under the South Carolina Tort Claims Act generally must be filed within two years after the loss was or should have been discovered. A three-year deadline may apply if a qualifying verified claim was first filed under the Act.6
- A toxic exposure or mold claim generally requires more than showing that a substance was present. Depending on the legal theory, evidence may be needed on how exposure occurred, whether the substance can cause the type of injury involved, and whether it caused the particular person's illness. Exposure does not automatically establish that someone is legally responsible for a medical condition.7
- Most injuries that happen on the job in South Carolina go through the workers' compensation system, which has its own rules, and usually limits suing your own employer.8
- Different workers' compensation timing rules may apply to repetitive trauma injuries and occupational diseases that develop over time in South Carolina. The date a worker first experienced symptoms is not necessarily the date the filing deadline began.9
- In South Carolina, an employee injured at work may be able to receive workers' compensation benefits and also pursue a personal injury claim against a responsible third party, such as another driver. The workers' compensation insurer may have a right to reimbursement from any settlement or judgment. Special rules and deadlines apply when pursuing both claims.10
Frequently Asked Questions
We only found out about the contamination years later. Is it too late?
There's no safe guess here. The three-year period generally begins when a person knew or should have known about a potentially actionable injury, and you don't necessarily need to know the precise substance or every defendant before it starts.1
My doctors are still running tests. Should I wait to call?
No. Plenty of people call while the workup is still going. Keep your appointments and ask for copies of results as they come in.
What if a public water system caused the problem?
I was exposed at a plant along I-85 where I work. Is that workers' comp?
Sources
- S.C. Code § 15-3-535
- S.C. Code §§ 15-78-110 and 15-78-120
- America's Poison Centers / Poison Help line
- S.C. Code § 15-3-530
- S.C. Code §§ 15-3-20 and 15-3-530
- S.C. Code §§ 15-78-80 and 15-78-110
- General South Carolina toxic tort causation principles (Sean Hall, Nov 5 review)
- S.C. Code § 42-1-540
- S.C. Code § 42-15-40
- S.C. Code § 42-1-560
This page is general information about South Carolina law, not legal advice for your situation. Every case depends on its own facts.
