Spartanburg Personal Injury Law Firm

If you were injured through the fault of another person, you may be entitled to compensation. Our personal injury attorneys in Spartanburg can help you fight for the settlement or verdict you need to cover medical bills, lost income, and other damages resulting from the accident.

There’s no cost for the consultation, and we can come to you if you are unable to come to us. Dial 864-585-3873 to speak with a member of our team.

What Must Be Proven to Win a Personal Injury Claim?

No matter the circumstances of your accident, whether it was vehicular, a slip and fall, or medical malpractice, it may seem like the outcome should be pretty straightforward. “It’s their fault, so they should pay for my losses!” Unfortunately, these cases are rarely simple—especially when serious injuries are involved.

There are several elements that must be proven to recover damages in any personal injury claim. Our Spartanburg personal injury lawyers can review your situation in a free consultation to determine whether your case has merit and how best to proceed.

To obtain compensation in a negligence claim, you must be able to prove:

• Liability:You will have to show that the defendant was liable for your damages. Liability is typically established by proving negligence but may also be established by proving intentional wrongdoing or strict liability. Sometimes a party can be vicariously liable for injuries even if they were not directly involved in the accident. This may apply to your situation, for example, if you were injured by someone who was acting within the course and scope of their employment, in which case their employer might be vicariously liable for your losses.
• Causation: Imagine a car sitting still at a red light when it is rear-ended by a distracted driver, resulting in severe whiplash. In this scenario, the driver in the front vehicle would argue that their whiplash and the resulting damages were caused by the distracted driver. Causation disputes may arise when a plaintiff had a preexisting medical condition that was aggravated or exacerbated in the accident.
• Damages: Damages are monetary awards that are paid to a plaintiff as compensation for their injuries. The purpose of compensatory damages is to make the victim “whole” again while the purpose of punitive damages is to punish the defendant and to deter similar misconduct from happening again in the future.

Can I Use Social Media While My Case Is Pending?

Staying connected through social media can bring you closer with friends and family. But while your case is pending, your social media accounts could be your Achilles heel. Insurance companies and defendants may screen your social media activity for information that could be used to challenge your claim. For instance, if you posted about your accident and inadvertently admitted fault, the insurer could use your posts to argue that you are liable for your own damages (and perhaps for the damages suffered by the other party).

Our Spartanburg personal injury attorneys suggest that you deactivate your social media accounts entirely until the resolution of your claim. If this isn’t possible, be sure to follow these tips:

• Set Your Social Media Accounts to Private: Most social media platforms now have an option to set all activity to “private.” This will ensure that only those you have added to your social networks can see what you’ve posted. However, this is not an ironclad strategy to hide your activity from other parties in a personal injury claim. For example, it is possible for your connections to share your posts on a public platform, or for defendants to request access to your social media accounts as part of a discovery request. For these and other reasons, you should abstain from posting anything until your claim has been resolved.
• Ignore New Connection Requests: Investigators hired by the insurer may try to send you a friend or follow request. If accepted, this will allow the investigator to comb through your posts even if your account is set to private. For the duration of the claims process, you should ignore any new connection requests.
• Don’t Post Photos of Yourself Online: You may spend every day in pain, gritting your teeth just to make it through the next hour. So when those few good moments do come around, you may be tempted to snap a photograph to preserve the memory. But these pictures can be dangerous in the wrong hands. For example, if you share a picture of yourself at a party—or even just a dinner with friends—the insurance company may use it to argue that your injuries are not very serious or that you are disobeying your doctor’s order to rest.

At Hodge & Langley Law Firm, we can serve as a knowledgeable source of guidance through every stage of the proceedings. We will gather evidence, handle all correspondence with the opposing party, and help you avoid critical mistakes that could derail your case.

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