Columbia Personal Injury Lawyers

The pain of a serious injury can be very difficult to go through, and that includes the mental anguish that can accompany the physical trauma. When someone else may be at fault, it can be difficult to focus on the important legal details that are necessary to secure a fair settlement. That’s where personal injury lawyers in Columbia, SC come in. At Mann Blake & Jackson we take that legal burden off your shoulders, so you can focus on your recovery.

Mann Blake & Jackson has a demonstrated track record of success, winning personal injury verdicts as high as $60 million. We’re relentless in our legal approach and we don't back down from insurance companies. Call today at (803) 525-1645 or contact us online to set up a consultation.

4 Elements of Negligence in South Carolina Law

To win a personal injury case in South Carolina requires the plaintiff (the injured party and their attorney) to demonstrate negligence on the part of the defendant. Negligence is composed of four elements and all four must be present for the plaintiff to win their legal case.

Duty of Care

The first thing that must be demonstrated is the defendant owed a duty of care to the plaintiff. In a car accident case, this will likely be self-evident. All drivers owe a duty of care to everyone else on the road. Medical malpractice cases are another area where duty of care will probably be apparent on its face, so long as there is a formal doctor-patient relationship.

Not all duty of care obligations are cut-and-dried, however. Let’s take a dog bite injury. Where was the plaintiff when they encountered the defendant’s dog and what were the circumstances of the bite? In a burn injury case, how did the plaintiff come to encounter the fire? Every case has its own nuance, and our lawyers are alert and observant of relevant details.

Breach of Duty

This second part of negligence is where a good deal of legal dispute may be involved, and it  involves demonstrating the defendant breached the duty of care that they owed. The reason this can be a hotly contested issue is because the simple fact of an injury and the existence of duty of care, does not mean the defendant is at fault. Instead, South Carolina law requires that defendants observe a reasonable standard of care in their actions. That is, did they do what a reasonable person would have done under the circumstances. A personal injury attorney in Columbia, SC has the task of demonstrating the defendant did not act with reasonable care.

Let’s consider a slip and fall case where the plaintiff was injured because the aisle in a grocery store was wet. If a spill was there for hours, then the store may well be considered negligent. If the spill was there for ten minutes, the court may not consider it reasonable for the defendant to have acted that quickly. If the defendant put up a “Wet Floor” sign after cleaning, they may well have acted reasonably. If warnings did not exist, and customers just walked over a damp floor, the duty of care may have been breached.

The underlying question of what is reasonable is something that is in the eyes of the beholder–in this case, that beholder being the court. That makes the skill and presentation of the plaintiff’s case even more important. Mann Blake & Jackson’s experience in winning big personal injury cases bears witness to our ability to present a case in the best possible light.

Causation

Even if it's proven that a defendant breached their duty of care ,it still has to be shown that the breach is what caused the plaintiff’s injuries. This might seem obvious, and in some instances it probably will be. But other cases are more nuanced.

As an example, let’s say the injured person in a slip and fall case already had back and neck problems. The defendant–or, more precisely, the lawyers for the insurance company who covers the defendant–can argue that the injuries were the result of pre-existing conditions.

Plaintiffs can feel reasonably “confident” that insurance companies will go through medical records in an attempt to sever the connection between the breach of duty and the injuries. Plaintiffs need to be even more confident that their own personal injury lawyers in Columbia, SC will be ready, not back down and know how to fight the insurance company. At Mann Blake & Jackson, we do.

Damages

The last step is proving that the plaintiff was indeed damaged by all of the above elements and establishing what the scope of the damages would be.

In a catastrophic injury case, understanding the scope of the damages can require the experience of having been through similar cases. It’s more than just the medical bills and the rehab. It’s even more than the pain and suffering.

Damages in cases like this also include the lost opportunities for career advancement, the possible need to revamp one’s current home or to move to a different one. It involves projecting out and understanding all the potential ways a plaintiff’s life has been altered by the accident. Our past experience in winning lucrative damage settlements can be invaluable for clients.