Columbia Drunk Driving Accident Lawyer

Mr. Louthian and the Louthian Law Firm provided me with excellent legal services regarding a legal issue with a major corporation.

Errick Bethel Sr.

They were very down to earth and friendly, but they meant business. I would definitely recommend them. Thank you, attorney Bert Louthian!

Keiron Gibson, Keianna Dukes & Ann Dukes

Outstanding customer care. Very professional and handled my case in a timely manner.

Johnny Jackson

Drunk driving is both against the law and extremely dangerous. Despite knowing this, people continue to get behind the wheel after drinking or using drugs. This decision can cause serious, debilitating injuries if an accident occurs. Drunk drivers may face criminal charges, but this does little to help the victims of an accident they cause. Injured parties must file an insurance claim or personal injury lawsuit to recover compensation.

At Louthian Law Firm, P.A., a Columbia DUI accidents lawyer may be able to help you pursue compensation for your expenses and losses. Do not hesitate to reach out to our team today to get started; our Columbia car accident lawyers provide free initial consultations for victims and their families.

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Columbia DUI Accidents Leave Victims with Serious Injuries and Mounting Bills

Victims of drunk drivers may suffer debilitating or catastrophic injuries. Even a fracture or another relatively minor injury can cost thousands of dollars. More severe injuries naturally cost more in expenses and losses.

Some injuries possible in a traffic collision include:

Traumatic brain injuries, concussions, and other head injuries
Spinal cord injuries, including paralysis
Neck and back injuries
Broken bones, such as compound fractures and crush injuries
Joint injuries
Soft tissue injuries, including whiplash
Internal injuries and bleeding
Burns, scars, and disfigurement
Amputation and loss of use injuries
Serious abrasions and contusions

Victims often require ambulance transportation from the crash scene. When an accident occurs outside of Columbia, helicopter evacuation may be necessary. Those who suffer significant traumatic injuries often go to Prisma Health Richland in Columbia, the Midlands region’s only Level I trauma center for adults.

Physical recovery can take weeks or even months. Long-term hospitalization, inpatient rehabilitation, and outpatient therapies are common. Some people never fully regain their previous abilities and opportunities, even with therapy and rehab.

Victims could miss a lot of time at work. This could mean a lot of missed income for their household, in addition to the missed services they once performed. Some people cannot return to their previous job—or any job—due to long-term injuries and new disabilities.

Injured Victims Often Incur Significant Damages Due to the Accident

At Louthian Law Firm, P.A., we do not believe drunk driving crash victims should have to pay bills and cover losses related to their accident. Instead, we file insurance claims or lawsuits on behalf of our clients to help them recover compensation for their damages.

These damages differ from case to case but may include:

Emergency transportation from the scene
Assessment and stabilization costs
Hospitalization, surgery, and treatment expenses
Rehabilitation and therapy
Future and ongoing care costs
Lost income from all sources
Diminished earning ability
Property damages
Miscellaneous related expenses
Non-economic losses, including pain and suffering, inconvenience, loss of enjoyment or life, emotional distress, and loss of consortium

When we take on your case, we will help you determine which damages you can recover.

As a part of building a case for our clients, we gather documentation of their damages, such as receipts, bills, and repair estimates. We also work with experts and use our experience in similar cases to estimate the value of their cases based on their damages, including their non-economic losses and future expenses. This allows us to negotiate for a fair settlement with the insurer or present strong evidence to the jury.

Wrongful Death in a Columbia DUI Accident

The DUI accident attorneys from Louthian Law Firm, P.A. also manage wrongful death cases for clients who lost an immediate family member in one of these crashes. Under South Carolina law, the personal representative—the executor or administrator of the estate—can pursue compensation for the surviving family members.

Our team handles wrongful death actions for clients who lost loved ones in DUI crashes. Spouses and children, parents, or heirs (if no closer family members exist) can recover compensation from a wrongful death action.

Recoverable damages include:

Burial and funeral expenses
Related expenses
Lost income
Loss of services
Emotional losses suffered by surviving family members

Our team can review these cases for free and explain more based on the details of your loved one’s accident and your family’s unique damages.

We Use Our Decades of Experience to Protect Your Right to Compensation

For more than half a century, the attorneys at Louthian Law Firm, P.A., have fought for the best interests of injured South Carolinians. We believe in justice and accountability and want to help our clients get both. We can help you file a personal injury lawsuit or insurance claim against the liable party. In a DUI case, this is usually the drunk driver. In some cases, other parties may share liability.

One of Our Lawyers Will Handle Your Case Personally

Since Attorney Herb Louthian founded the firm in 1959, our clients have worked one-on-one with a lawyer who handled their case, developed a strong argument, and pursued a fair outcome on their behalf. We believe in seeking and securing full compensation for our clients based on their injuries and losses. Our attorneys have more than eight decades of combined experience handling all injury accident cases.

You Owe Us Nothing Up Front When We Assist With Your Case

Our firm represents clients based on a contingency-fee basis. We do not charge anything upfront. We only charge attorney’s fees if we win—we do not get paid unless you do. We use our firm’s resources to build your case and take legal action as needed.

Our Attorneys Have a Record of Fair Recoveries

Each car accident case is different, and DUI accidents have unique aspects. Every client has different injuries, damages, and case values. While recovering significant compensation in one case does not guarantee your case’s outcome, our case results show we know how to manage these cases and recover money damages for our clients.

Some recent car accident claims and lawsuit results include:

$800,000 settlement for a client hurt in a car accident
$525,000 settlement for a collision victim
$150,000 settlement for a client’s crash claim

Drunk Drivers May Face Two Legal Cases in South Carolina

Under South Carolina’s DUI accident laws, intoxicated drivers could face two separate legal cases simultaneously. This includes the criminal case against them for driving under the influence and the civil suit against them for causing your accident and injuries.

Criminal Case Against a Drunk Driver

According to the South Carolina Department of Public Safety, it is illegal to drive with a blood alcohol content (BAC) over the legal limit or while intoxicated to the point that it affects their ability to drive safely.

The penalties for a DUI include jail time, fines, community service, attending special classes, probation, and a driver’s license suspension. These penalties do nothing to help victims of these accidents pay their bills or recover financially from the collision. This is where the civil case comes in.

Civil Case Against a Drunk Driver

The civil case against a drunk driver stems from South Carolina’s negligence laws. Victims of these careless and reckless drivers can pursue a claim based on the driver’s negligent behavior. This is true regardless of the outcome of the criminal case against them. We do not have to prove drunk driving to recover compensation for our client’s injuries in these crashes, although it helps to strengthen the case.

To recover compensation for our clients, we need to show negligence and liability. We must establish the following four elements to show negligence:

The driver needed to act a certain way because of the applicable laws. In this case, the driver had a duty to drive sober.
They failed to uphold their duty by violating one or more laws.
Their failure to drive safely caused the collision.
Our client suffered injuries, financial impacts, and other harm from the collision.

Once we determine whose negligence caused an accident, figuring out liability is typically straightforward. In most cases, unless the driver is on the clock or in a commercial vehicle, the person behind the wheel is the primary liable party.

Building a Strong Claim or Lawsuit in Columbia

The attorneys from Louthian Law Firm, P.A., know what it takes to win a DUI accident case for our clients. We understand how to investigate these crashes and develop a strong claim or lawsuit to show what happened, who holds responsibility, and how much the case may be worth.

We work with medical and economics experts to understand our client’s prognosis and damages, recover evidence from the scene, interview witnesses, and obtain the police report and other key documents in these cases. We also follow the criminal case against the driver to determine if we can gain additional evidence from it.

We do not have to show the driver was drinking to hold them legally liable for our client’s damages, but this can help us to build a stronger case against them if ample evidence exists to show their intoxication.

Taking Legal Action in Your Case

Like other car accident cases, most DUI collision claims settle without a civil trial. If the insurer offers you a low settlement, we can sometimes negotiate a fair settlement with the driver’s insurance company without needing to sue. Insurers usually do not want to go to court when there is evidence their policyholder was drinking and driving.

However, in some cases, we may need to file an injury lawsuit in a Richland County civil court. We assess each case we handle to determine the best approach, which could change as we learn more about the accident, the parties involved, and other factors.

You Have Limited Time to File a Columbia DUI Accident Lawsuit

South Carolina law gives most crash victims up to three years to sue. Like other states, South Carolina has a statute of limitations that applies to civil suits.

Under South Carolina law, time limits for beginning a lawsuit include:

Three years from the accident date for injury accidents
Three years from the date of death for wrongful death cases

Missing this deadline will likely lead to the court barring further action in your accident case. The judge likely will not allow you to move forward with a lawsuit, and you will not be able to take the case to court for a verdict and jury award.

This could also hinder your ability to negotiate a fair settlement because the ability to sue an at-fault party is leverage to get the insurer to pay more during negotiations. The insurer is unlikely to increase its offer if it knows you have no additional options to hold the policyholder legally liable.

Act as soon as your injuries allow, even though you have up to three years to sue. Evidence is most substantial in the days and weeks following a crash and disappears or degrades over time. You do not have to wait until a criminal court finds the at-fault driver guilty. Reach out to us and let us go to work on your case when your injuries stabilize.

Speak to a Columbia DUI Accidents Lawyer Today

Louthian Law Firm, P.A.’s attorneys know how to hold a drunk driver financially liable for injuries from a traffic accident. We help our clients get justice and compensation. We may be able to help you, too. Our Columbia personal injury lawyers provide free initial consultations and assessments. Let us look at the specifics of your case to determine how we can pursue damages for you.

Contact us now at 803-592-6231. Remember that you pay us nothing until you recover compensation. You face no financial risk when you enlist our help.

Louthian Law Firm, P.A., – Columbia Office

1116 Blanding St., #3A
Columbia, SC 29201
803-592-6231