Detailed Answer
Disclaimer: This information is educational only and is not legal advice. It does not create an attorney-client relationship. For guidance specific to your situation, consult a licensed South Carolina attorney.
If a commercial truck hit you and you were injured, follow a clear sequence of steps to protect your health, preserve evidence, and preserve your legal rights under South Carolina law. Below is a practical, step-by-step explanation of how a typical claim proceeds and what deadlines and legal rules you must know.
1. Immediate steps at the scene and after
- Get medical attention right away. Document all injuries and treatments. Even seemingly minor injuries can worsen.
- Call law enforcement and request a police report. The report often includes the responding officer’s assessment, citations, and crash diagram.
- Gather evidence if you can safely do so: photos of vehicles, license plates, skid marks, road conditions, traffic signs, injuries, and visible vehicle damage. Get names and contact information for witnesses.
- Do not admit fault and avoid speculative statements to the driver, the carrier, or on social media.
2. Notify the insurer and trucking company
Report the crash to your own auto insurer (if you have one) and the truck driver’s carrier. Commercial carriers and their insurers must be given notice under their policies, and prompt notice is usually required. However, you are not required to give a recorded statement or sign releases until you understand the claim; consider speaking with an attorney before providing recorded statements.
3. Preserve and collect key evidence
- Obtain the police crash report and keep copies.
- Keep all medical records, bills, and receipts for treatment, prescriptions, therapy, and medical devices.
- Preserve vehicle repair estimates and bills for property damage.
- Ask the trucking company (through counsel, if possible) for the driver’s CDL and employment history, maintenance and inspection records, the driver’s logbooks or ELD data, drug and alcohol test results, and the company’s insurance information. For interstate carriers, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) records and hours-of-service logs can be crucial. See FMCSA rules on hours of service and ELDs: https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/hours-service/elds.
4. Understand liability basics under South Carolina law
Most truck crash claims rely on negligence law. To recover you generally must prove:
- The truck driver or carrier owed you a duty of care (e.g., to drive safely).
- They breached that duty (e.g., speeding, distracted driving, poor vehicle maintenance, driver fatigue).
- The breach caused your injuries.
- You suffered damages (medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering).
South Carolina follows a comparative fault system that reduces a plaintiff’s recovery by the plaintiff’s percentage of fault. If you are more than 50% at fault, you generally cannot recover. This allocation of fault matters when negotiating or litigating a claim.
5. Damages you can seek
Typical recoverable damages in South Carolina include medical expenses (past and future), lost wages and loss of earning capacity, property damage, and non-economic damages such as pain and suffering. In limited cases involving reckless conduct, punitive damages may be available.
6. Timing: Statute of limitations
Under South Carolina law, most personal injury suits must be filed within three years of the injury. This deadline is set by S.C. Code Ann. § 15-3-530. If you miss the deadline, the court will likely dismiss your claim regardless of its merits. See the statute here: S.C. Code Ann. § 15-3-530.
7. Resolving the claim: negotiation, settlement, or lawsuit
- Initial claims: Many cases begin with a demand to the trucking company’s insurer. The insurer investigates and may offer a settlement.
- Negotiation: You (or your attorney) will negotiate based on medical records, wage loss documentation, expert reports, and evidence of the trucker’s or carrier’s fault.
- Lawsuit: If negotiations fail, you can file a civil complaint in South Carolina court before the statute of limitations runs. A lawsuit starts formal discovery (documents, depositions, expert testimony).
- Trial or settlement: Many cases settle before trial, but if not, the matter proceeds to trial where a judge or jury decides liability and damages.
8. Special considerations for trucking accidents
- Commercial carriers are often insured at much higher policy limits than private drivers. This can affect settlement potential.
- For interstate trucking, federal safety regulations (driver hours, vehicle maintenance, driver qualifications, drug testing, and ELD data) create additional evidence channels for proving fault or negligence in maintenance and supervision.
- Trucking companies sometimes use complex corporate structures to limit liability. Early investigation into ownership, leasing, and contract relationships is important.
9. When to contact an attorney
Contact an experienced personal injury lawyer familiar with trucking cases as soon as possible—especially before giving recorded statements or signing authorizations. Trucking cases can require quick evidence preservation (ELD logs, black box data, and maintenance records) that may be lost over time.
Many attorneys handle these cases on a contingency-fee basis, so you may not pay upfront legal fees. An attorney can evaluate liability, calculate damages, demand necessary documents, and pursue all responsible parties.
Helpful Hints
- Seek medical care immediately and follow medical advice. Your health is the priority and medical records are essential evidence.
- Get the police report number and request a copy from the responding agency.
- Do not give recorded statements or sign releases without talking to an attorney first.
- Preserve phone videos, dash-cam footage, and any app data that shows the crash or the truck’s behavior.
- Ask about uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage on your own policy; it can help if the trucker’s insurer is insufficient.
- Document lost income with employer statements and pay records.
- Keep a daily pain and symptom diary to support non-economic damages claims.
- Act before the statute of limitations runs—three years under S.C. law (see S.C. Code Ann. § 15-3-530).
- Consider a lawyer who routinely handles commercial truck cases; trucking litigation often needs experts in accident reconstruction, trucking regulations, and medicine.
If you want help understanding whether you have a claim or learning the next steps in your specific case, consider arranging a consultation with a licensed South Carolina attorney who handles truck collision claims.