Category: Motorcycle Accident

Injured in a motorcycle accident? Willcox, Buyck & Williams, P.A. fights for fair compensation for injuries caused by negligent parties.

What Damages Can I Receive for a Motorcycle Accident?

Posted on

There’s no experience quite like riding on the open road, but even the best bikers in South Carolina get into motorcycle accidents and sustain severe injuries as a result. Myrtle Beach and Horry County, in particular, experience a high number of motorcycle accidents – especially during the annual Myrtle Beach Bike Week.

What’s worse, these injuries often turn into significant financial burdens for victims, as the medical bills and lost days at work pile up. But if someone else’s negligence caused your accident, you may have legal options. Depending on the facts of your case, you may be eligible for several types of compensation through a motorcycle accident claim.

What Are the Main Types of Damages in Motorcycle Accident Claims?

Motorcycle accident victims can file a claim for three primary categories of compensation.

The first, economic damages, refers to the quantifiable financial losses you incurred as a result of your accident. These include your current and future medical expenses, lost wages, diminished earning capacity, and property damage to your motorcycle and gear.

Economic damages also help cover long-term rehabilitation costs and ongoing therapy, transportation to medical appointments, any home modifications you need to make to accommodate your injuries, any necessary medical equipment, and your prescription medications.

The second category, non-economic damages, helps compensate you for intangible losses that lack a specific dollar amount. These losses include your pain and suffering, emotional distress, mental anguish, physical impairment, disfigurement, loss of consortium, and loss of enjoyment of life.

If the court determines that the at-fault party in your case acted particularly egregiously, they may award you with an additional third category of compensation as a means of punishing the liable party. This category is called punitive damages. 

How Are Motorcycle Accident Damages Calculated?

Generally, the court factors in your current and projected future expenses to calculate the economic damages you can receive. Especially in areas like Florence and Myrtle Beach, with tourism-influenced healthcare costs, these expenses can run quite high.

To determine fair compensation for non-economic damages in motorcycle accident cases, however, your attorney may need to run a more complex calculation. In many cases, the court will take a number from 1.5 through 5, multiply the financial cost of your accident by that number, subtract your total economic damages, and use the remaining figure as the sum total of your non-economic damages. 

That multiplier can vary depending on the severity of your injuries and the certainty of liability that rests with the at-fault party in your case. To maximize this number, you will need to provide proof of the impact of your injuries on your life: Consider keeping a pain journal to document the impact of the accident on your day-to-day routine, and ask family members and friends to testify on your behalf in court. 

In contrast, if you partially caused the accident, failed to follow your doctor’s medical advice to care for your injuries, or tried to pass off any pre-existing conditions as being caused by the collision, you may lose a significant amount of compensation. 

In South Carolina, per the state’s statute of limitations, motorcycle accident victims must file their claim within three years of the date of the accident. If you fail to file within this period, you will likely forfeit your right to recover a payout for your accident-related injuries. 

Pursue Maximum Compensation with Motorcycle Accident Claims at Willcox, Buyck & Williams, PA

If you get into a motorcycle accident in South Carolina and need an attorney who can accurately value your claim, handle all communications with insurance companies, preserve all crucial evidence, and represent you effectively in court, trust our experienced legal team at Willcox, Buyck & Williams, PA. Our attorneys combine over 175 years of collective legal experience to deliver personalized representation focused on achieving the best possible outcomes for our clients.

Call us or fill out our online form for a free consultation. We look forward to hearing from you and serving you today!

man repairing motorcycle after accident

What Happens After a Motorcycle Accident in South Carolina?

Posted on

One of the ways to explore the many scenic destinations in our state is by motorcycle. If you ride one, you might want to know what happens after a motorcycle accident in South Carolina. A South Carolina motorcycle accident attorney can advocate on your behalf so that you can focus on getting better.

How We Establish the Other Driver’s Liability

We cannot automatically sue the other driver from the motorcycle accident because car drivers are not always at fault in these collisions. We have to prove all four of these factors to hold the other driver accountable for your losses:

  • The other driver owed you a legal duty. Everyone who operates a motor vehicle on public streets has an obligation to drive safely and obey the traffic laws.
  • The defendant breached the duty of care. It is negligence when someone’s conduct fails to measure up to the legal standard. Let’s say that the other driver ran a stop sign and crashed into you when you had the right-of-way. That driver was negligent because he failed to drive safely and obey the traffic laws.
  • The negligence caused the accident. The collision happened because of the driver’s careless act of running the stop sign.
  • You must have quantifiable losses. Physical injuries satisfy this required element.

When we can prove all four of these factors, we can go after the defendant for money damages. Sometimes more than one person is at fault in an accident. South Carolina follows “modified comparative fault,” which means that if you were 51 percent or more at fault, you will not get any compensation from the other parties. As long as you were less than 51 percent to blame, you can qualify for money damages.

How Helmets Affect Your Right to Compensation

South Carolina law only requires motorcyclists under the age of 21 to wear helmets. Not wearing a helmet cannot impact the percentage of fault, regardless of your age. If you were not wearing a helmet and you were under 21, that fact could reduce the amount of compensation you can get from the other driver.

The Settlement Value of Your South Carolina Motorcycle Accident

We cannot say how much money you might be eligible to pursue until we talk to you and investigate your accident. The amount of compensation you could go after will depend on the facts of your situation. Every motorcycle accident is different.

Here are some examples of the types of compensation we have won for our clients:

  • Damages for lost wages can replace earnings you lost, whether wages, salary, self-employment or other forms of regular income, because of your injuries.
  • You can usually include the reasonable cost of the medical treatment you needed for your injuries in your claim.
  • You might be able to include in your claim the value of property damage, like the cost of fixing or replacing your motorcycle.
  • Pain and suffering damages address the physical discomfort and emotional distress you experienced because of the collision and your injuries.
  • Punitive damages can be an option in cases of outrageous conduct on the part of the defendant. For example, if we can prove that the at-fault driver purposely went after you and intentionally crashed into you on your motorcycle, we might have a claim for punitive damages in addition to the other compensation.

A South Carolina motorcycle accident attorney can answer your questions and handle your claim for compensation from the at-fault party. Contact us today.