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Mr. Morris was extremely helpful with helping me understand the situation. What seemed very confusing to me he actually broke everything down so I could understand what everything meant. Thank you so much for your advice! I highly recommend him!
Crissy Blumer
Jeff is a very proficient lawyer when it comes to the laws surrounding accidents, settlements and workers comp cases. He is very understanding, communicative and worked diligently on my case and settled in a very timely manner. Jeff did not allow anyone to take advantage of me and ensured that I got the proper care attention and payout I deserved. I recommend him highly.
Guiseppe Paparo
I appreciate all that Morris Law Accident Injury Lawyers did for me. Very friendly, professional, and knowledgeable staff that helped during a difficult time.
Lindsey Rogers
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A wet floor, uneven pavement, a broken handrail, or inadequate lighting can turn an ordinary trip to a store, restaurant, or apartment complex into a life-changing injury. Many people assume a slip and fall is simply an accident, but that is not always the case. When a dangerous condition exists because a property owner failed to reasonably maintain or repair the premises, they may be held responsible for the injuries that follow.
At Morris Law, our Murrells Inlet slip and fall lawyers investigate what caused the fall and whether it could have been prevented. We preserve evidence, determine whether the property owner knew or should have known about the hazard, and evaluate how your injuries will affect you now and in the future. If you were injured on someone else’s property in Murrells Inlet or anywhere along the Grand Strand, contact us before accepting an insurance company’s version of what happened.
Slip and fall cases are often won or lost before an insurance company ever makes a settlement offer. Surveillance footage may be overwritten within days, hazardous conditions are repaired, weather changes the scene, and witnesses become harder to locate as time passes. Building a successful claim requires moving quickly to preserve evidence before it disappears.
That is exactly how we approach these cases at Morris Law. Our slip and fall attorneys begin investigating immediately by securing available surveillance footage, documenting the condition that caused the fall, identifying witnesses, and gathering maintenance, inspection, and incident records that may show how long a dangerous condition existed. We work to establish not only that you were injured, but why the hazard existed and whether the property owner had the opportunity to correct it before someone was hurt.
Since 2016, Morris Law has represented injured clients throughout South Carolina with more than 75 years of combined legal experience. Our attorneys have recovered more than $25 million for clients across the state by building cases supported by evidence, thorough investigation, and careful preparation. Whether your injuries occurred in a grocery store, restaurant, apartment complex, hotel, or another commercial property, we prepare every claim as though it may ultimately need to be presented to a jury. That level of preparation often strengthens our clients’ position throughout settlement negotiations and, when necessary, in the courtroom.
Murrells Inlet’s restaurants, hotels, shopping centers, marinas, and vacation rentals all welcome thousands of visitors throughout the year. Each property has a legal responsibility to address hazards that could foreseeably cause someone to fall. When routine maintenance is ignored, or dangerous conditions are left uncorrected, serious injuries can follow.
Tip
Even if you feel okay, seek medical attention as soon as possible. Some serious injuries don’t become obvious until hours or days later.
Some of the most common hazards that lead to slip and fall accidents in the Murrells Inlet area include:
Falls on docks and marina walkways deserve particular attention in Murrells Inlet because waterfront properties present hazards that many other businesses do not. Constant exposure to moisture, changing tides, algae growth, and heavy foot traffic means walking surfaces require regular inspection and maintenance. Property owners cannot eliminate every risk associated with being near the water, but they are expected to address dangerous conditions they know about, or reasonably should know about. Maintenance records, inspection logs, and prior complaints often become important evidence in determining whether a fall could have been prevented.
Many people walk away from a fall believing they are only bruised or sore, only to discover hours or days later that they suffered a fracture, concussion, or another significant injury. That is particularly true in Murrells Inlet, where the median age is over 60, well above the national average. Older adults are more likely to experience serious complications from falls, especially hip fractures and head injuries that require surgery or lengthy rehabilitation.
Falls are also a leading cause of fatal injuries nationwide. According to federal mortality data, more than 48,000 people died from unintentional falls in 2024, which is more than were killed in motor vehicle crashes during the same year. Those numbers illustrate why a fall should never be dismissed simply because it occurred from standing height.
Some of the most common injuries we see in slip and fall claims include:
The severity of an injury is not always determined by how far someone falls. Many of the most serious injuries occur after slipping on a wet floor, tripping over an uneven surface, or losing balance on a staircase. What matters is the force of the impact and how the body lands—not whether the fall came from a significant height.
Whether a property owner is legally responsible for a slip and fall often begins with one question: why were you on the property? South Carolina law recognizes different duties of care depending on the reason someone entered the premises.
The three most common classifications are:
Most slip and fall claims in Murrells Inlet involve invitees because they occur at restaurants, hotels, grocery stores, shopping centers, and other businesses that welcome the public. Determining your legal status is one of the first things our slip and fall attorneys evaluate because it helps establish the duty the property owner owed and the standard their conduct will be measured against.
A slip and fall claim requires more than showing that a dangerous condition existed. Our personal injury attorneys must build evidence demonstrating the property owner knew, or reasonably should have known, about the hazard and failed to correct it or provide an adequate warning before someone was injured. That investigation also means anticipating the defenses an insurance company is likely to raise and gathering the evidence needed to overcome them.
Tip
Keep every receipt, medical bill, and record related to your injury—they help document the full extent of your losses.
Property owners and their insurance companies often rely on the same arguments when defending slip and fall claims, including:
Rather than relying on competing versions of what happened, we build our cases around objective evidence. Depending on the circumstances, that investigation may include:
We use every piece of evidence to answer one question: could the property owner have prevented this fall? Surveillance footage may show that employees ignored a spill long enough to clean it up. Maintenance records can uncover missed inspections or skipped cleaning procedures. Prior incident reports may prove the property owner already knew about the hazard before someone got hurt. By building the claim around documented evidence instead of assumptions, we put our clients in a stronger position during settlement negotiations and, when necessary, at trial.
The value of a fall injury claim depends on the injury’s severity and how strong the evidence of notice turns out to be. No two cases are worth the same amount, but most claims fall into a few consistent categories.
We document emergency treatment, surgery, and physical therapy. We also account for any long-term care your doctors expect you to need. A hip fracture in an older adult, for example, often requires ongoing rehabilitation well beyond the initial hospital stay.
If the injury kept you out of work, we calculate lost wages. We also factor in any long-term reduction in your ability to earn income. Recovery from a serious fracture or a spinal injury can take months, and some injuries never fully resolve.
South Carolina law allows compensation for physical pain and the practical limitations an injury leaves behind. Many fall victims, especially older clients, also develop a lasting fear of falling again that affects their independence. We make sure that impact gets documented as part of the claim, not treated as an afterthought.
The steps you take after a slip and fall can affect both your recovery and your ability to pursue compensation. Preserving evidence early makes it easier to establish what happened before conditions change or important information disappears.
Notify a manager, property owner, or other responsible representative as soon as possible and ask that an incident report be completed. If you cannot obtain a copy, make note of who you spoke with, when the report was made, and any witnesses who were present.
Tip
A property owner fixing the hazard after your fall doesn’t necessarily mean they weren’t negligent beforehand.
Take photographs of the hazardous condition, the surrounding area, and any visible injuries before anything is cleaned up, repaired, or moved. Conditions can change within minutes, and those photographs may become some of the most important evidence in your claim.
Even if you believe your injuries are minor, have them evaluated by a medical professional through urgent care, your primary provider, or at an emergency department if necessary. Adrenaline can mask pain immediately after a fall, and prompt treatment creates medical records that connect your injuries to the accident while ensuring you receive appropriate care.
Keep the shoes and clothing you were wearing, along with anything you were carrying at the time of the fall. Property insurers sometimes argue that footwear, rather than a dangerous condition, caused the accident. Preserving these items can help address those claims if they arise later.
Jeff Morris was great to work with. Easy to work with. Made sure I received the best settlement I could get. Thanks Jeff.
South Carolina law can affect both whether you can recover compensation and how much time you have to take legal action. For example, the state follows a modified comparative negligence rule, which means you may still recover compensation if you were partially responsible for the accident, provided you were less than 51% at fault. Any recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault.
Because of that rule, property owners and their insurance companies often argue that an injured visitor should have seen and avoided the hazard. Building a strong claim requires evidence that shows what the dangerous condition looked like, how long it existed, and whether the property owner had a reasonable opportunity to correct it before the fall occurred.
In most cases, South Carolina also gives injured individuals three years from the date of the accident to file a lawsuit. While that may sound like plenty of time, evidence often begins disappearing much sooner. Surveillance footage may be overwritten within days or weeks, hazardous conditions can be repaired, and witnesses become more difficult to locate as time passes. Beginning an investigation early gives your attorney the best opportunity to preserve the evidence needed to support your claim.
A fall on someone else’s property can leave you with real injuries and a business or insurer already working to minimize what happened. At Morris Law, we investigate the hazard and secure the evidence before it disappears. We build a claim around what a property owner knew and failed to fix.
We work on a contingency basis, so there is no upfront cost to finding out whether you have a claim. There is no fee unless we recover compensation for you. A conversation with our team costs nothing, even if it simply confirms what you already suspected about how the fall happened.
If you were injured in a fall in Murrells Inlet or anywhere along the Grand Strand, contact our office today. Speak with a Murrells Inlet trip and fall accident lawyer who takes your fall as seriously as you do.
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