After a Fall or Property Injury
Get treatment first. A relative or friend can pick up the rest.
Call 911 after a bad fall, and keep every appointment through surgery and therapy. Tell the manager, front desk, landlord or host right away, and ask for a copy of any incident report, or at least write down who you told. Have someone photograph the hazard: the puddle, the broken step, the wobbly balcony rail, the dark stairwell, the torn carpet, plus the area around it and any warning sign or the lack of one. Keep the sandals or shoes you had on, and the clothes, unwashed. Get names of witnesses and staff, and notice where cameras point. Keep receipts, booking confirmations, leases and repair requests, and many people talk to a lawyer before signing anything.
Where People Get Hurt on the Strand
Oceanfront hotels and condos along Ocean Boulevard, vacation rentals in North Myrtle Beach, Garden City and Surfside Beach, restaurants, stores and apartment complexes all see falls. A hotel room or rental means an unfamiliar shower, balcony, pool deck or stairway, often wet with sand and water.
When an Owner May Be Responsible
An injury on someone's property doesn't make the owner automatically liable. The duty depends partly on why you were there: owners generally must use reasonable care for customers and other business visitors, while other standards apply to social guests and trespassers.1 With a paying guest or shopper, the fight is usually over whether the business made the mess, or knew or should have known about it and did nothing to fix it or warn.2
Want someone to look at your situation?
Talk with our team about what happened and ask the questions on your mind.
If You Didn't See It Coming
Not spotting the danger before you fell isn't fatal to a claim. In a typical case with one owner, you generally can recover at 50% fault or less, with damages reduced by your share.3
How Long You Have
Most South Carolina injury claims must be filed within three years.4 That's a court deadline, and an insurance claim won't stop it.5 When the property belongs to a state or local government entity, the Tort Claims Act generally allows two years to sue, or three after a qualifying verified claim.6 Special rules and damage limits apply to government claims.7
Our statewide property injury page has more.
Talk With Us
A broken hip or a back injury from a fall can take a year out of your life. Tell us how it happened, and if you hire us, the insurers can usually deal with us.
We take cases across South Carolina, including Myrtle Beach and the Grand Strand. Our office is on King Street in Charleston. The first conversation can happen by phone.
If you were attacked on the property, see negligent security in Myrtle Beach. Tell us where it happened and what the hazard was.
South Carolina Law on This
- In South Carolina, a property owner's duty to protect visitors depends partly on why the visitor is on the property. Owners generally must exercise reasonable care to keep their premises safe for customers and other business visitors, while different legal standards apply to social guests and trespassers.1
- In a South Carolina store or business fall case, the injured person generally must show the business created the hazard or knew, or should have known, about it and failed to fix it or warn.2
- Under South Carolina's modified comparative negligence rule, you can generally recover damages if your share of fault is not greater than the fault of the defendant or defendants. In a typical two-driver accident, that means you can recover if you are 50% or less at fault, which is often described as less than 51%. Your damages are generally reduced by your percentage of fault. If your fault is greater, recovery is generally barred under this rule.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
- 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
I slipped on a wet floor in a store. Is the store responsible?
Not automatically. You generally have to show the store created the hazard or knew, or should have known, about it and didn't fix it or warn.2 Video, cleaning logs, witnesses and how long the spill was there can matter.
I didn't see the hazard. Does that hurt my claim?
Not necessarily. Under the modified comparative negligence rule, an owner may argue you should have seen it, but that doesn't automatically bar recovery.3 Visibility, warnings and each side's share of fault all play in.
I got hurt at a beach house we rented for the week. Who's responsible?
Responsibility could fall on the owner or the rental company, based on who ran the house, what they knew or should have known and what precautions they took.1 Save the booking, messages with the host and photos. Whether it was booked through an app, an agency or the owner directly can affect which policy applies.
What if I fell on a public sidewalk?
Sources
- Larimore v. Carolina Power & Light, 340 S.C. 438, 531 S.E.2d 535 (Ct. App. 2000)
- Wintersteen v. Food Lion, Inc., 344 S.C. 32, 35–36, 542 S.E.2d 728, 729–30 (2001); Garvin v. Bi-Lo, Inc., 343 S.C. 625, 628, 541 S.E.2d 831, 832 (2001)
- Nelson v. Concrete Supply Co., 303 S.C. 243, 399 S.E.2d 783 (1991); S.C. Code § 15-38-15
- 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
- S.C. Code §§ 15-78-110 and 15-78-120
This page is general information about South Carolina law, not legal advice for your situation. Every case depends on its own facts.
