One big challenge I often have as an auto accident attorney In Columbia, SC, is seeing someone lose because they failed to simply talk to an injury lawyer FIRST.

I just met with a lady who was in a car accident and sustained injuries.  Unfortunately, the insurance adjuster had gotten to her before she contacted me and gotten her to sign a release for a nominal amount of money.  I am not going to be able to help this lady even though she has some injuries which are going to require more medical treatment which is worth a lot more than the settlement amount, because she has already released her claim.  It is vital that an injured party discuss their case with a personal injury attorney before signing legal documents.

http://www.greenvilleonline.com/article/20100621/NEWS/306210048/Two-killed-in-Wellford-wreck

This is one of those tragic occurrences that we personal injury lawyers see all too often.  A wrongful death attorney would want to first of all establish liability, i.e. who was at fault in the accident.  We would possible hire an investigator to supplement the work done by local law enforcement.  Since this is a two-car accident, we would want to know which of the 2 vehicles contributed more to the accident.  It’s important to preserve the evidence while it is still fresh and talk to as many witnesses as possible while their memories are clear.

http://www.greenvilleonline.com/article/20100621/NEWS01/100621009/Car-hits-median-on-I-385

Obviously, we don’t know a lot about this accident at this point.  The first thing an accident lawyer would need to know is are there any injuries?  Was there another vehicle involved, or is this just a one-car accident?  If there were injuries, are they found in another car, or only in the car that hit the median?  Injury attorneys like myself get called into cases at varying stages, and we have to obtain all the facts that currently exist.  Even if it’s a one car wreck, there might be something to investigate against the local entity responsible for the barricade.

First of all, let me say that as in accident lawyer, I cannot understand why the City of Columbia has not relinquished control of this investigation.  Certainly there is at least the appearance of a conflict of interest when you have the Mayor of the city involved in an accident like this.  What would it hurt for the City to just turn it over to the Highway Patrol and let them take the lead?  I don’t understand that. 

The other thing this article points out is the amount of evidence an injury attorney has to sort through in a case like this:  surveillance videos, eyewitness statements, even the “black box” on the Mercedes.  There’s a lot that goes into a case like this, and the sooner a competent personal injury lawyer can get started on it, the better.

It is impossible to tell from the description of the accident who was at fault here.  It was a good idea for an outside agency to be called in to investigate the accident, to avoid the appearance of bias on the part of city police. 

A personal injury lawyer investigating this case would want to gather all his facts before going further.  We would want to know who had the right of way at the intersection, how fast the cars were going, and anything else that could affect liability.  Regardless of who is at fault in this one, it’s good to hear Mr. Benjamin was not injured, and we all hope that the lady in the other car makes a recovery from her injuries. 

Since Mr. Benjamin was not hurt, an accident attorney would probably only get involved on the part of the other driver, and then only if it turns out that Mr. Benjamin was at fault, which is unknown at this point.

One of the things that we accident lawyers do is handle subrogation interests that we have been placed on notice of at the time of settlement.  We attempt to negotiate the subrogation interests to a reduced amount for our clients, so they will end up with more money in their pockets.  As an auto accident attorney in Columbia, SC, we would be happy to discuss your particular situation with you.

 This tragic accident has the possible makings of a successful negligence claim which would most likely be covered by the at-fault teen’s parents’ homeowners insurance policy. 

A lot of people mistakenly think that homeowners’ insurance only covers accidents which occur at the home.  However, such policies generally follow the insured, or in this case resident family members of the insured, and can cover negligent conduct that occurs away from the home. 

There are exclusions to the policy that would need to be checked out to determine if coverage would apply.

 If this is true, it would possibly lead to a Dram Shop case against the restaurant where the alcohol was sold to the teen.  Especially if the underage drinker went out and harmed a third-party, an excellent claim could be made against the restaurant if the allegations are true.  This all stems from the policy of passing the costs of tragedies onto the place where they began.  It is well-known that teens are not responsible with alcohol, and if it is illegally sold to them, there should be consequences.

These kinds of cases typically do not have insurance coverage available, because they involve intentional acts which are usually excluded under liability policies.  Therefore, we could end up spending a lot of time and money putting a case together and taking it to trial, and end up with a basically worthless personal judgment against the other party. 

I recommended that she take this up on her own in magistrate’s court, which doesn’t require an attorney.