Author Archives: Jay Butchko
Pedestrian Struck by Two Vehicles in Colleton County Hit and Run
When you get into a car accident, you have a legal obligation to remain at the scene until you are sure that no one was hurt or that any injured people receive medical attention. Leaving the scene of an accident with injuries or fatalities, also known as hit and run, is a felony and… Read More »
Premises Liability Lawsuits Against Mega-Corporations Are Not Always as Simple as They Seem
If you are considering filing a personal injury lawsuit and have already started researching, you may have read that personal injury lawsuits are easier when the defendant is a corporation than when the defendant is an individual. The reason for this is that, if you have been seriously injured, the money you are seeking… Read More »
If a Patient Slips and Falls at a Hospital, Is It Premises Liability or Medical Malpractice?
In all personal injury lawsuits, you are trying to prove negligence on the part of the person or business that caused your injuries or enabled a preventable accident to happen. Premises liability and medical malpractice are two specific categories of negligence. Premises liability is when a business owner knowingly allowed dangers conditions to persist,… Read More »
How Has the Pandemic Affected Traffic Accident Trends?
This spring, the streets were eerily quiet as large parts of the country were under stay-at-home orders. Some journalists even hypothesized that new habits that emerged in response to the pandemic might be the key to reducing carbon emissions. Less traffic means fewer traffic accidents, right? Not always. 2020 was the year in which… Read More »
Swansea Man Faces Felony Charges After Fatal DUI Crash
South Carolina has one of the highest rates of drunk driving in the United States. Only Montana and Wyoming have more DUI accidents per capita. Alcohol is a factor in almost a third of fatal car accidents in South Carolina, which is still alarming, even though the rate of traffic fatalities has decreased a… Read More »
Passenger Dies in Rear-End Collision in Gaston, Driver Charged With Hit and Run
After most car accidents, the first step is for the drivers to exchange insurance information; if anyone is injured, they then go immediately to the emergency room to be examined and treated. The bills you receive after an emergency room visit, including the unpleasant surprise that the doctor who treated you in the ER… Read More »
South Carolina Leads the Nation in Traffic Fatalities, Largely Because of Rural Crashes
Everything changed in 2020, including people’s driving behavior. At the beginning of the pandemic, many people took the attitude that, if they could just completely avoid leaving the house until they had decluttered every room, exhausted their considerable stash of bath tissue, and perfected their banana bread recipe, then everything would go back to… Read More »
Do Smoking Bans Cause an Increase in Drunk Driving?
South Carolina is one of the last remaining havens for smokers, of cigarettes, that is. More than two thirds of states have statewide bans on tobacco smoking in bars, restaurants, and other public places, but South Carolina does not. South Carolina’s Clean Air Act of 1990 prohibits smoking in restaurants except in designated smoking… Read More »
Beware of Dangerous Car Mods
Remember when the comedian Kevin Hart got injured in a car accident last fall, but then a passenger who was in the car announced plans to sue Hart? The reason for Hart’s possible liability in the accident was that his car did not conform to current safety standards. Hart had modified (or perhaps failed… Read More »
Greenville Man Faces Charges for DUI Vehicular Homicide and Hit and Run After Crashing into Pedestrians at Traffic Stop
The risk of getting hit by a drunk or drugged driver exists any time you get into a car, or indeed any time you set foot outside your house. South Carolina has an alarmingly high rate of car accidents involving driving under the influence, consistently ranking in the top ten, above much more populous… Read More »