Personal Injury

Greenwood SC Personal Injury Lawyer for Accidents & Injuries

Contact a personal injury lawyer in Greenwood SC At Ayers, Smithdeal & Bettis if you’ve been in an accident or sustained a serious injury.

A catastrophic injury or the death of a loved one after an accident can be extremely difficult for the entire family. In addition to uncertainty about a loved one’s health and welfare, there are medical bills, lost employment and the possibility of extraordinary rehabilitation costs in the future. The attorneys at Ayers, Smithdeal & Bettis, P.C., have extensive experience helping individuals and families struggling with serious personal injuries. Our firm takes every case very seriously, and we fight to provide the best case possible.

Workers’ compensation is the legally mandated insurance program that provides financial compensation for employees who suffer job-related accidents, injuries or illnesses. Generally, the workers’ comp system works to reimburse medical expenses and lost wages related to on-the-job injuries, ensuring that workers are not left to bear the financial burden of a workplace injury.

Serious personal injuries range from a broken bone to a traumatic brain injury (TBI). If an accident left you or a loved one struggling to recover from an injury to your head, neck, spinal cord or internal organs, it is going to take time to heal. Our attorneys will fight to obtain the benefits or proceeds due to you under the law so that you can focus your time and attention on mending the injury and returning to your life.

While the vast majority of serious injuries occur during an accident in a car, motorcycle,truck, boat or ATV, something as simple as slipping and falling on a wet floor can leave a person with a serious head injury. Regardless of what kind of accident caused the injury, we encourage you to contact a lawyer at Ayers, Smithdeal & Bettis, P.C., to discuss the situation before attempting to settle with the insurance company.

Automobile and boating accidents often leave the victims with serious life-changing injuries. When people operate a motorized vehicle of any kind while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, the consequences can be catastrophic and fatal. If you are the victim of an accident that was caused by someone who was driving under the influence (DUI) or boating under the influence (BUI), we are here to protect your rights as we take steps to help you obtain both justice and any benefits or proceeds to which you might be entitled.

When an accident occurs, one of the first questions that must be answered concerns liability. Who was at fault and who is responsible for any benefits or proceeds arising from the accident? Our attorneys have successfully represented clients in a wide variety of personal injury cases, including those involving:

  • Bar and restaurant liability
  • Construction accidents
  • Distracted driving
  • Defective products
  • Dog bites
  • Industrial accidents
  • Medical negligence
  • Nursing home negligence
  • Premises liability
  • Workplace injuries

One of the most confusing aspects of the South Carolina workers’ comp system, and one that differs the most from other personal injury claims, concerns fault. In normal personal injury cases, the plaintiff is required to prove (among other things) that the defendant was responsible for causing the harm suffered by the plaintiff, meaning that the defendant was at fault for the accident.

Though this would seem to make sense and apply in other cases, the workers’ comp system turns this on its head. In South Carolina, the workers’ comp process is known as a “no fault” system, meaning that employees are not required to prove that someone else, whether it be the employer or another employee, was at fault to receive benefits. In fact, all the employee needs to do is show that the injury was a work related injury and he or she can file a claim for benefits.

What you may be asking now is what happens if the employee is the one responsible for causing the injury? Good question. Interestingly, the no fault system applies even when it is the injured employee who caused the harm. That means if a worker slips and falls due to his own negligence, he would still be entitled to receive compensation under the workers' comp system. The reason for this seemingly generous system is to save workers the trouble of having to prove fault, the goal being to speed up the process and lower the overall costs associated with such claims. There are exceptions to the no fault rule, however, such as in cases where the employee causes the harm either intentionally (an attempt to hurt himself) or does so due to intoxication with either drugs or alcohol.

At the law firm of Ayers, Smithdeal & Bettis, P.C., our lawyers represent clients throughout the Piedmont, Upstate and Sandhills regions of South Carolina. 

Call us 864-229-1947 for a consultation with experienced Greenwood accident and injury attorneys.

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