The injuries from a T-Bone car accident in Kingstree can be more serious than other types of motor vehicle accidents because of the potential for direct impact on drivers and passengers. However, determining liability can be incredibly difficult when trying to obtain compensation for your injuries through a civil lawsuit. The help of a car accident attorney from Whetstone Perkins & Fulda could be helpful in these cases. We use our experience analyzing how another motorist’s breach in the standard of care may impact your claims to develop strategies for pursuing damages in court or in a settlement.
Who Is Liable in a T-Bone Collision Under South Carolina Law?
The at-fault party in a T-bone car accident will depend on the circumstances and behaviors of the drivers leading up to the collision. Specifically, those behaviors that equate to a breach in the standard of care drivers must provide each other and that could establish negligence in causing the accident.
Most T-bone collisions in Kingstree happen at busy intersections, and the traffic laws applicable to driving in these spaces will be most relevant in showing any violations of the duty of care and assigning liability to the parties involved. For example, a driver’s failure to follow traffic light signals, yield signs, posted speed limits, and other traffic laws in place at the intersection all play a vital role in showing who is at fault.
Additional Factors That Could Determine Fault
Outside of direct violations of traffic laws, additional factors could also provide evidence of a driver’s fault in a side impact accident or T-bone collision. Some of the factors that could apply to your case might include:
- Drunk driving
- Distracted driving
- Defective motor vehicles
- Malfunctioning traffic lights or street signs
- Not adjusting driving to bad weather conditions
Our attorneys could investigate the potential causes of your T-bone car accident to hold parties accountable in future civil claims. Part of this investigation could include reviewing any police reports, visiting the scene of the accident, and collecting available evidence from traffic recordings or available witnesses.
Can You Recover Compensation for Damages If You Are Partially At-Fault?
After a successful claim, an injured motorist could recover compensation for all economic and non-economic forms of loss related to their side impact collision in Kingstree. This might include past and future medical expenses, lost wages from missing work, the impact on future earning capacity, pain and suffering, emotional trauma, and a loss of enjoyment of life.
It is possible that an injured motorist and the other driver could have shared fault for the cause of the T-bone accident. If this was the case, a person could still recover compensation for damages from the accident. Pursuant to South Carolina Code Section 15-1-300, contributory negligence does not prevent recovery as long as it is equal to or less than the negligence of the other at-fault driver.
In other words, you must be less than 51 percent at fault for the T-bone car accident. However, the amount of compensation you could recover for your damages in these cases will be reduced in proportion to your fault.
Trust in a Kingstree T-Bone Car Accident Attorney for Guidance
The statute of limitations for filing civil claims over personal injuries from a motor vehicle accident in South Carolina is three years. This means you will generally have three years to file your claim starting from the date of the accident. A disregard for this filing requirement could lead to a dismissal of your case and prevent you from pursuing otherwise legitimate rights to compensation for your injuries.
It is important to meet with an accident attorney from Whetstone Perkins & Fulda as soon as possible after a side impact or T-Bone car accident in Kingstree to establish your filing deadline and consider the merits of your case.
