Murrells Inlet Motorcycle Accident Lawyers

Motorcycle Accident Attorneys in Murrells Inlet

With views of the ocean and the smell of fresh sea air, Murrells Inlet offers a beautiful place to ride a motorcycle. But, sadly, some motorcyclists' idyllic travels can end in pain due to others' recklessness. Plus, motorcyclists can suffer more serious injuries after an accident because they are more vulnerable than passenger vehicle occupants.

Morris Law Accident Injury Lawyers passionately defends the vulnerable. Our team can evaluate your case for free if you were hurt while riding a motorcycle in Murrells Inlet. If you hire us, a Murrells Inlet motorcycle accident lawyer can get to work on your case immediately. We don't keep you waiting. Contact us now to learn more.

When to Get Help From a Motorcycle Crash Attorney in Murrells Inlet

Too often, other drivers expect motorcyclists to accommodate them as if they have more of a right to the road. In reality, those drivers must uphold a duty of care to others, including motorcyclists. Violating that means facing the consequences of negligence.

Additionally, insurance companies may not serve motorcycle crash victims' best interests, either. Instead, they may focus on making and saving money-and limiting your payout. However, they must abide by the policy terms and promises they made. Violating that means facing the consequences of bad faith practices.

Unlike the insurance adjusters, our motorcycle accident lawyers want to look out for you. After your Murrells Inlet crash, you can contact us at any time. Suppose the other party or their representation attempts to avoid their responsibility, underestimate your losses, or drag out your case. In that case, Morris Law Accident Injury Lawyers can intercede and ensure your best interests come first.

When You Don't Know Who to Pursue

You may not know who bears liability for many reasons. You were blindsided, you don't remember the crash, or multiple parties were involved-leaving you unsure of how to pursue compensation. However, we can identify who to hold responsible, even exploring additional opportunities for damages. Possible liable parties include:

• Passenger vehicle drivers
• Truck drivers
• Trucking companies
• Rideshare companies
• Transportation companies
• Government entities
• Private property owners

Some of these parties share liability. For example, drivers who cause an accident during their employment, like truck or Uber drivers, could share the blame with their company. Similarly, if a city bus driver hit you, we can hold Murrells Inlet accountable. We can even examine vehicle wreckage and analyze the accident to determine if equipment failures were a factor. If so, we can file against a product manufacturer or auto shop.

When You're Worried About Money

Of course, you're likely concerned about money after a crash, faced with bills and lost income. Morris Law Accident Injury Lawyers, therefore, offers more than just a free initial case review. When you hire us, you don't pay us anything unless we settle or win your case in court. In the meantime, we can help you think through your options for your current bills. We want to help you feel supported through every step of the process. Our motorcycle injury lawyers help your day-to-day life continue while we work on your case.

When the Other Party Starts Pointing Fingers

Victims often hire attorneys to settle arguments over who bears fault for an accident. Our lawyers can help if you encounter:

• Multi-vehicle collisions where several parties attempt to pass responsibility to each other
• Accidents involving companies that try to avoid responsibility for employees or independent contractors
• Unfair level of blame placed at your feet for the accident
• Delegitimization of your injuries by claiming you were hurt before the accident

Liability can prove complex, so don't let the other parties try to blow off your injuries, push blame elsewhere, or over-amplify your role in the crash.

When Insurance Companies Renege on Their Promises

Insurance companies must serve their clients' interests to operate a business. However, the claims process can feel frustrating when insurers attempt to weed out anyone trying to take advantage of the system. Unfortunately, that sometimes means legitimately injured parties must jump through hoops to access help. However, sometimes insurers go beyond protecting their business and operate unethically to avoid paying out claims. This is called operating in bad faith. Examples include:

• Not honoring the terms of a policy
• Making promises and not keeping them
• Taking too long to settle a claim
• Excessive requirements for filing a claim
• Staying inaccessible and not providing information
• Failing to conduct a proper investigation
• Denying a claim unfairly or without any reason

If these or other behaviors apply to your Murrells Inlet case, our motorcycle accident attorneys can hold them accountable. Our involvement may get them to keep their promises, or we may need to file a lawsuit. Either way, we don't let them get away with unethical practices.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) reports that, without the protection offered by a typical vehicle, motorcycle riders can prove more likely to face injuries-especially fatal injuries. Head injuries can result in especially serious complications, causing higher bills and longer hospital stays than other injuries. According to Accident Analysis and Prevention, motorcyclists most commonly face injuries to the lower extremities. Broken bones, burns, and road rash can require extensive medical intervention and long recovery times. Even then, victims can suffer lasting consequences. Because injured motorcyclists face such physical and financial burdens, our motorcycle accident attorneys work hard to pursue proper compensation. Your damages could cover:

• Emergency care
• Hospital stays
• Surgeries
• Prescriptions
• Medical equipment
• Rehabilitation
• Lost income
• Reduced earning ability
• Pain and suffering

Evaluating the Whole Person When Calculating Losses

In identifying your opportunities for compensation, we take a comprehensive approach. To get an accurate idea of your losses, we may consider many parts of your life, such as your:

• Career
• Freelance work
• Hobbies
• Family
• Medical history
• Age

For example, older motorcyclists tend to suffer more serious injuries in accidents, according to the Insurance Information Institute (III). On the other hand, slower healing due to aging, declining reflexes, or the type of bike favored by older riders could contribute. Regardless, age contributes to how badly you may have been injured and how much compensation you need to reach your maximum medical improvement. We also consider your lifestyle. If you earn extra cash driving for Lyft or enjoy going dancing in your spare time, we consider your injury's effect on those pursuits. We can include missed revenue from your side gig in your lost income damages. Likewise, if you can't dance anymore due to a back injury, this means your quality of life suffered, which also merits compensation.

Evaluating the Mental Toll When Calculating Losses

Your motorcycle crash could affect you in other ways-post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression, or phobias. Pain and suffering compensation can include coverage for emotional distress and mental anguish. Your medical compensation can also cover bills for counseling and prescription medication. Emotional and psychological wounds can prove more challenging to demonstrate and face greater scrutiny by insurance adjusters. However, we work with psychologists, psychiatrists, therapists, and other experts to provide proof of a diagnosis.

Recourse for Families of Loved Ones Lost in Motorcycle Accidents

According to recent data, the United States saw the highest number of motorcycle fatalities ever recorded, according to the IIHS. A total of 5,579 motorcyclists lost their lives nationwide in one year. Lack of protection and the prevalence of head injuries in these crashes can contribute to these high numbers. As a result, sadly, many motorcycle accident cases involve a wrongful death. Under South Carolina law, the representative for the deceased's estate can file a wrongful death lawsuit. Surviving spouses, children, or parents can then receive damages through a settlement or court verdict.

Available Compensation

If you lost a family member to a motorcycle accident, our wrongful death attorneys could work to recover damages for:

• Medical bills
• Hospice care
• Funeral services
• Burial or cremation
• Lost income
• Pain and suffering
• Loss of guidance
• Loss of consortium

What Causes Motorcycle Accidents in Murrells Inlet?

Human error, mechanical failures, weather, construction, and road defects could cause accidents. The real question is, what caused your accident? Sometimes a mistake is just a mistake. When it could have reasonably been avoided, however, it's negligence. We look for that distinction when investigating your case. Below include common types of negligence that can cause motorcycle accidents. One or more of these may factor into your case. However, with the help of witnesses, police reports, and accident reconstruction, we can narrow down the specific action that injured you.

Failure to Look for Motorcycles

The slogan "look out for motorcycles" brings awareness to the lack of visibility that often results in motorcycle collisions. However, looking out for motorcycles isn't just nice advice. Drivers who fail to check for motorcycles when changing lanes or pulling out of side roads aren't just oblivious, they're negligent.

Failure to Account for Surroundings

Looking out for motorcycles and other vehicles only makes up one part of paying attention on the road. Drivers can also bear responsibility for:

• Not paying attention at intersections
• Following too closely
• Speeding
• Not adjusting for road conditions or weather
• Failure to yield

In other words, drivers could bear responsibility for being aware of their surroundings, whether that means accounting for weather, construction, or other vehicles' movements. We can hold them liable if they cause an accident after failing to consider these variables.

Distracted, Drowsy, Drugged, or Drunk

Drivers should never get behind the wheel if they aren't alert enough to safely operate a vehicle. Even a blood alcohol content below the legal limit can reduce the ability to track moving objects or make judgment calls. Drugs also affect driving ability. Distracted driving takes drivers' eyes off the road. As for drowsy driving, crashes caused by sleepiness could prove more serious, since a driver cannot use their normal reflexes to drive safely and avoid a crash. When drivers get behind the wheel under these conditions, their actions are negligent and illegal in many cases. In our state, you cannot text or even read a message while driving. Driving while impaired by any substance could result in stiff consequences. However, the driver in your case does not need to face criminal charges for drunk driving in order for you to seek compensation. We could procure any of the following to demonstrate that they were negligent:

• Police reports
• Texting or social media records
• Trucking transportation logs
• Medical records
• Blood tests

The driver who caused your accident may not have had a high blood alcohol concentration. They may have used an over-the-counter medication that made them tired, not an illegal drug. They may have fiddled with the GPS, not looked away from the road to record an Instagram story. It doesn't matter-all these actions constitute negligence. They were still impaired, tired, or distracted, and they hurt you.

Third-Party Negligence

Designers, manufacturers, and auto shops bear responsibility for creating and maintaining safe products. They were negligent if something was wrong with the equipment on your motorcycle or the other party's vehicle. Examples include:

• Design flaws
• Manufacturing errors
• Installation mistakes
• Defective tires
• Maintenance failures

We can also pursue private property owners or government entities for property maintenance failures. For instance, we could hold the municipality responsible if a malfunctioning traffic light was not repaired and caused an accident. Likewise, if you fell off your motorcycle due to a pothole on someone else's property, they could bear responsibility for not fixing or warning about it.

Morris Law Accident Injury Lawyers's Attorneys Stand Up for Vulnerable Motorcyclists

Maybe you didn't have enough protection on the road when you were involved in an accident in Murrells Inlet. Our motorcycle accident attorneys work to make sure you have enough protection when pursuing compensation. Whether we're negotiating a settlement in a conference room or fighting for a win in a courtroom, we seek the best possible outcome for your case. Contact us for your case review and talk to a personal injury lawyer today: (843) 466-4444.