How Comparative Negligence Works in South Carolina
Accidents rarely go down without any grey areas. Most of the time, it's not a simple case of one person being the total cause of an accident. Think about it - maybe one driver was speeding, but the other was the one who failed to yield the right of way. Or, perhaps a property owner didn't do their due diligence to fix a hazard, but the person who got hurt wasn't paying attention. Either way you spin it, situations like these raise some pretty big questions. So, who's to blame, and how much do they need to pay out?
In South Carolina the answer often comes down to a thing called comparative negligence. This rule is all about figuring out how much blame to put on who in a situation where more than one person contributed to an accident. It's a pretty crucial concept to understand if you're ever thinking of making a claim after an accident.
What Comparative Negligence Really Means
Comparative negligence is a legal idea that's all about dividing up the responsibility for an accident among everyone involved. Instead of just blaming one person, the court looks at what each of them did and assigns a percentage of fault to each party.
Think of it like a pie - each person gets a slice based on how much their actions went into causing the accident. The bigger the slice the more responsibility they have to bear.
This system is all about reality - people mess up and sometimes those mistakes overlap. Comparative negligence lets courts and insurance companies take that into account rather than trying to say one way or the other is always right.
South Carolina Uses a Modified Version of Comparative Negligence
Different states have their own versions of this rule, but South Carolina follows what's called modified comparative negligence, also sometimes referred to as the 51 percent rule.
Here's how it works:
You can only get compensation if you're less than 51 percent to blame
If you're 51 percent or more at fault you're basically out of luck when it comes to recovering any damages
If you are partly responsible but below that threshold, your compensation will be reduced by your percentage of fault
This rule sets a pretty clear cut off. Being partly responsible doesn't automatically mean you can't recover any damages. But once you hit that halfway mark, you're not eligible to get any money from the other party.
A Simple Example
Let's say there was a car crash at an intersection.
Driver A was texting while driving, and Driver B ran a red light. After looking at the evidence, they decided that Driver A was 40 percent to blame and Driver B was 60 percent to blame.
Because Driver A's fault is below 51 percent, they're still eligible to get some damages, but it'll be reduced by 40 percent.
If Driver A's total damages came out to $100,000, they'd end up with $60,000 after the reduction.
Now flip that - if Driver A were 55 percent to blame, they'd get nothing according to South Carolina law.
How Fault Is Determined
Nowadays, figuring out who's at fault isn't just a wild guess. Insurance adjusters, lawyers and sometimes a jury will go over loads of evidence to decide how the blame should be split.
Some of the things they consider include:
- Police reports
- Statements from witnesses
- Photos or videos of the accident
- Traffic laws and any violations that were committed
- Expert analysis, such as accident reconstruction
- Medical records and timelines of what happened
Patterns of property damage
Sometimes even surveillance footage or dash cam video will play a big role. It's amazing how small details can flip the whole story.
Because the compensation is directly tied to these percentages, disputes over fault are pretty common. Each side will usually try to present evidence to shift more responsibility onto the other party.
Comparative Negligence in Slip & Fall Cases
Car accidents aren't the only situations where this rule comes into play. It also comes up pretty often in slip & fall cases.
For example, suppose a grocery store didn't clean up a spill in a timely manner. Meanwhile, the guy who slipped and fell was looking at their phone and didn't notice the hazard. A court might decide that both parties are to blame.
If the store is found 70 percent to blame and the guy who fell is 30 percent to blame, then he could still recover damages, but they'd be reduced by 30 percent.
But if the guy who fell was found more at fault than the store, then he might not get a penny.
Why Insurance Companies Are So Interested in Fault
Insurance companies are really paying attention to comparative negligence because when they can shift the blame onto the claimant, it means they have to pay out less. Even a small change can make a huge difference in the final payout.
For instance, if the claimant's fault goes from 10 percent to 40 percent, that's a huge difference. In high value cases that could mean tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Because of that, adjusters will often try to argue that the person who got hurt contributed to the accident. They might point to things like distraction, not following the rules, or being aware of the hazard beforehand.
Understanding this dynamic is a big part of why fault is such a hot topic in claims.
Shared Fault Doesn't Mean No Case
There's a pretty common misconception that if you're partly to blame for an accident you can't make a claim. That's not true in South Carolina.
As long as your share of the blame is less than 51 percent you can still be eligible for compensation. That can include things like medical bills, lost income, property damage and other losses related to the accident.Even when you think you made a mistake you may still be better off learning about your legal options - the final say on what went wrong is still based on the evidence - not your hunches.
How Comparative Negligence Affects Settlements
Most personal injury cases get wrapped up with a settlement rather than going all the way to trial. And comparative negligence plays a big part in all that settlement negotiation haggling.
What usually happens is that each side will take a stab at estimating just how a jury might end up dividing up the blame, and then use that estimate to work out a rough idea of what a fair settlement might be. When the two parties are way off on how much fault lies with the injured party, the negotiations can get pretty tough.
For instance if one side thinks the injured person was 20 percent to blame while the other side puts it at 50 percent - that's a pretty big gap in potential payouts . And that gap is a big part of why the back and forth during settlement talks can get so intense.
The Importance of Evidence
Because in the end it's the fault percentages that decide how much you get paid out, evidence is super important. The sooner you get all the evidence in order, then the better off you are.
Having photos of the scene, getting contact information from witnesses, collecting all your medical records and making detailed notes about what went down all help piece together a clearer picture of what happened. Over time, people's memories fade and bits of physical evidence can get lost or get destroyed - so getting all that documented early on is really valuable.
In serious cases you might need to bring in experts to look at things like accident dynamics, road conditions or building safety issues to support your claim.
What Happens When More Than One Person Gets Hurt
Some accidents involve more than just two people - like say a big multi-car collision or a construction site injury that involves several contractors and manufacturers.
In those kinds of situations, the blame is divided up among everyone who was involved. Each one gets a certain percentage based on how much they contributed to the incident.
Your ability to get compensation back depends on your own share of the blame - not just what the other person did. Even if several others were contributing factors - if you are more than 50 percent to blame yourself then you won't be able to get compensation.
Final Thoughts
Comparative negligence is just an acknowledgement that accidents are usually the result of a bunch of different factors. South Carolina's modified system lets people who got hurt recover damages even if they were partly responsible, as long as they werent primarily to blame.
The key thing to take away is simple. Responsibility is measured in percentages and those percentages directly affect how much you get paid out. Being partially to blame doesn't automatically mean you can't get a claim - but if you are more than 50 percent to blame then you're pretty much out of luck.
If you are dealing with the aftermath of an accident then knowing your way around this rule can really help you make sense of the whole claims process and what to expect. And it also makes clear why getting the facts straight on what happened is so so important.
Every case is a unique mess and the details matter a lot. Knowing how comparative negligence works can help you ask better questions, get a good idea of what's going on and work your way through the process without getting too stressed. Calling a personal injury lawyer in Myrtle Beach is the best course of action.
