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Office: 803.951.0389
Cofield Law Firm
809 South Lake Dr
Lexington, SC 29072
If you or someone you know has been involved in a motor vehicle accident that has
caused injuries and damages, then it is likely that you have many questions and concerns.
First and foremost, please seek medical attention for any physical or medical concerns or
pain that you have. You obviously want to be certain that you don't have some medical or
physical condition that needs to be addressed by a trained physician for your own well-being.
Second, if you have injuries, pain and/or symptoms following a motor vehicle accident,
and you attempt to either tough-it-out or simply wait on it to resolve, and it does not resolve, then
you are possibly taking a risk by not seeking medical attention, and you may also be providing a
foothold for an insurance company and/or its attorneys to argue that your injuries, pain or
symptoms were not related to the accident.
You also are likely to have questions concerning one or more of the following matters:
whether or not to report the accident to your insurance company; whether or not to give any
recorded statements to insurance investigators or adjusters; what to do concerning motor vehicle
repairs, estimates, and even a replacement vehicle.
As for your medical care and attention, you may have one or more of these additional
concerns: whether or not you have coverage under your own auto liability insurance policy such
as "medical payments coverage" or "PIP" Personal Injury Protection coverage, and whether or
not you should provide information to the medical care providers concerning your own health
insurance coverage. It is also very important to see that physical evidence concerning the accident, the vehicles, the accident scene, even your own injuries are preserved and/or photographed in the event a claim is pursued, and also if you have to bring a lawsuit in order to prove your case and recover fair compensation for your injuries and damages.
If you have any of those questions or concerns, and you decide that you need the help of
an attorney, then it is very important that you communicate with an attorney as soon as possible.
It is likely that the attorney can guide you dealing with insurance questions and calls from
insurance investigators, on taking steps to preserve evidence and contact witnesses, and also
advising you on the strengths and weaknesses of your potential claim as well as on the types of
damages you can potentially demand on your claim.
You need to always keep in mind that the law imposes certain deadlines called statutes of
limitation that require you to bring your lawsuit within a certain period of time, and if those
deadlines are not met, then you could be forever barred from bringing your lawsuit. An attorney
can also help you in determining the applicable statute of limitation for your action.
Accidents and Injuries Resulting From the Use of Defective Products
Unfortunately, many accidents and serious injuries and even death can result from the use
of defective products, or components of those products, including but not limited to motor
vehicles, heavy equipment and machinery, furniture, even some toys, food products, and
medicines. It is possible that a particular product may be dangerous or defective because of its poor design and/or because the manufacturing process may have been flawed in some way, and even sometimes when a manufacturer doesn't provide adequate warnings or instructions for the safe use of a product.
In some instances, when defective products malfunction without resulting in any injuries
to anyone or to other property, then it is possible that a claim might exist against the
manufacturer or seller of that product for the product itself. In still other instances, product defects result in sizeable property damage, serious injuries, or even death. Likewise a claim might exist against a manufacturer for making its defective product, as well for the damages, injuries and/or death that resulted from the use of that defective product.
If you or someone you know has been injured or has sustained damages because of what
is suspected to be a defective product, then it is crucial that you act quickly.
It is essential that you contact an attorney in order that steps can be undertaken to
preserve and photograph the evidence relating to the product itself, and to contact witnesses and
secure other evidence surrounding the accident. It is very important also to be certain that the
product and also its components, contents, instructions, warnings, labels, etc. be protected and
preserved, and an attorney can assist with this process, the investigation of the product, and
evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of bringing a claim based on a defective product.
You also need to keep in mind that the law imposes certain deadlines called statutes of
limitation that require you to bring your product lawsuit within a certain period of time, and if
those deadlines are not met, then you could be forever barred from bringing your lawsuit. An
attorney can also help you in determining the applicable statute of limitation for your action.
Premises Liability Accidents and Injuries
If you or someone you know has been injured is some way while they were on the
premises, land or property of another person or entity, then it is likely that you may have
questions or concerns about your rights, including whether or not you have a potential claim
against the owner of the premises, land, or property at issue.
Generally speaking, property and premises owners owe certain duties to exercise
reasonable care for the safety of persons that come onto their property. In some circumstances, a
property and premises owner may owe a duty to a visitor to prevent that visitor from suffering
injury, and that may even include the duty to warn a visitor of dangerous defects and hazards on
the property/premises that the owner knew about or should have known about, but which the
visitor had no knowledge of.
In some circumstances, certain kinds of premises owners have a duty to warn a visitor
even of criminal activity if the property or premises owner has knowledge of or should have
knowledge that criminal acts are occurring or are about to occur on his property/premises.
Premises accidents require an attorney's analysis of the respective duties owed by the
property owner and the visitor, and there are many evidentiary factors that need to be scrutinized
in order to weigh whether or not those duties of care have been breached and whether or not a
potential claim should be pursued. Some of those evidentiary factors include circumstances
surrounding the actual defect/hazard that allegedly caused the fall, the location of that
defect/hazard, whether or not the property owner had notice of that defect/hazard, also whether
or not the injured person had notice of the alleged defect/hazard. The prompt gathering of
evidence pertaining to the hazard/defect, photos of the hazard or defect, and the location of
potential witnesses are often crucial. It is also important to determine the identity of the owner
of the premises where the alleged hazard/defect existed, to study certain documents to determine
which party or entity agreed to be responsible for maintaining and inspecting the property, as
well as to determine if there had been prior accidents involving the alleged hazard or defect.
Premises accidents include, but are not limited to slips and falls, furniture and equipment
defects, and accidents involving any kind of dangerous or defective condition in a building, or
even outside of the building on a sidewalk or parking lot, and also accidents resulting from
certain activities being conducted on the owner's property.
In some situations, a landowner may have a type of insurance called "Med-Pay"
insurance coverage, which may be available to pay an injured person's medical bills, or a portion
of them, without regard to the fault of either party. Information about the existence of med-pay
coverage is very rarely voluntarily disclosed to an injured person. An attorney can be helpful in
determining from the premises owner's insurance company whether or not such insurance exists.
