If you get hurt in Orangeburg, you’re playing by South Carolina’s comparative negligence rules, whether you like it or not. That means your chances of getting paid don’t just depend on what happened. They depend on how well your side of the story is told and how much fault the other side can stick on you.
South Carolina follows a rule called “modified comparative negligence,” and that directly controls what happens when people in Orangeburg try to get compensation for their injuries.
The way South Carolina law is written means fault percentage is everything. There’s no wiggle room. The more fault that gets pinned on you, the less money you walk away with. That’s why people in Orangeburg who are injured in accidents need to hire Orangeburg personal injury attorneys who understand how to fight back when the other side tries to blame them.
How Modified Comparative Negligence Works in PI Cases in Orangeburg
South Carolina’s version of comparative negligence is strict. If you’re in Orangeburg and you get into an accident, let’s say a car wreck or a slip-and-fall, and you want to sue for damages, you can do that only if you were less than 50% at fault. That’s it.
So, if you were 49% responsible, you still might get paid something. But if you were 51% or more to blame, it’s over. You get nothing. That’s how the line is drawn in Orangeburg. You’re either mostly innocent or you walk away with empty pockets.
As we all know, insurance companies are not your friends. Their job is to pay you as little as possible. And in a place like Orangeburg, where comparative negligence rules are so strict, the fastest way for them to avoid paying is to prove you were just a little more than 50% to blame.
They might say you weren’t looking, you didn’t follow traffic rules, you made a bad decision, or you should’ve acted differently.
Even if you were only slightly careless, they will try to blow that up. That’s why every percentage matters. Something as little as a 5% shift could be the determining factor in whether you’d get help with your medical bills or you’d get nothing at all.
How Fault Is Actually Decided in Orangeburg
So who actually decides this fault percentage? It usually starts with insurance adjusters. These are the people who work for insurance companies and review everything about your case. They look at police reports, videos (if there are any), statements from witnesses, and even your social media posts.
They’re not neutral. They’re looking for a reason to say you were mostly at fault. Because if they can prove you were 51% or more responsible, they don’t have to pay a dime.
If you don’t accept their decision or their lowball settlement offer, then it can go to trial. That’s when a jury gets involved. And they’ll listen to both sides, your story, the other party’s story, and all the evidence. Then they’ll decide how much blame belongs to each person. And from there, the judge will calculate how much money you should get based on your percentage of fault.
