Keeping the Evidence
Treatment first. While you're in the hospital, someone you trust can secure the product and handle the rest.
Call 911 and tell the ER exactly what the product did, then keep every follow-up and therapy visit. Don't throw out, fix, clean or mail back the product before getting legal advice, as long as keeping it is safe; a swollen battery or leaking chemical may need professional handling. Keep the box, manual, labels and receipt or order email, and write down the model and serial numbers. Take pictures of your injuries as they heal and of the product where it failed. If firefighters, police or a store manager responded, ask about their report. Make notes on what you were doing with it, when you got it and any warning signs, like a strange smell or a rattle. If a recall letter or email shows up, file it away with the date.
Products on the Grand Strand
On the coast, people get hurt by rented scooters and bikes, boat parts, grills and pool equipment at rentals, power tools on job sites and chargers in hotel rooms. Visitors often leave town with the product still at the rental, so photos and a note of where it is matter.
What Makes a Product Defective
South Carolina product claims commonly involve three kinds of defects.2 A manufacturing defect means a particular unit was made wrong. A design defect means the design itself was unreasonably dangerous. And a warning defect is a missing or inadequate caution label or instruction sheet.
Claims may proceed under strict liability, negligence or warranty theories.2 A business that regularly sells a product can be responsible when one it sold in a defective, unreasonably dangerous condition reaches the user without substantial change and hurts them.1 A design claim generally requires proof of a feasible alternative design.4
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 injury suits over defective products must be filed within three years.3 Some warranty claims and claims under other laws have different deadlines. Emails to customer service, an insurance claim, or hoping for a recall generally leave the clock running.56 Claims involving a government entity may have less time.7
The South Carolina product liability overview goes further.
Talk With Us
Plenty of people blame themselves after a tool or gadget breaks in their hands. We want the whole story: what it was, how you used it and what went wrong.
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 it caught fire, see burn injuries in Myrtle Beach. Describe the failure to us and tell us where the product is now.
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 personal injury claims in South Carolina must be filed within three years.3
- 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.4
- 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.5
- 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.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?
The rental company handed me the gear. I didn't buy it. Can I have a claim?
Possibly. A strict liability claim doesn't require that you bought the product yourself.1 Gear handed out by a rental shop, a gift or a loaner from a neighbor can all be the basis of a claim, depending on what went wrong.
The manufacturer wants to collect the product. Should I let them?
Pause before you say yes. Whatever broke may be the strongest proof you have, and a company truck driving off with it may be the last time you see it. Ask for the request in writing, photograph everything, and many people check with a lawyer before handing it over.
Should I wait to see if the company makes it right?
You can talk with them, but the clock doesn't stop. A claim with the company's insurer doesn't pause the deadline to sue.6 Read anything closely 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.
