South Carolina Slip & Fall Attorney
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A fall on a wet grocery aisle, an unlit stairwell, or a cracked stretch of parking lot can leave you with more than an injury. It can leave you asking whether the property owner is responsible or whether you should have been watching where you were going. Sorting out that question is where a slip and fall claim in South Carolina begins.
Emergency care, follow-up appointments, and missed shifts stack up, and an early offer from the owner’s insurer may not cover what the injury ends up costing you or someone you love.
We handle South Carolina premises liability claims from offices inside the state, and we build them around what the owner knew about the hazard and how much of the blame lands on you.
Why South Carolina Fall Victims Turn to Marcari, Russotto, Spencer & Balaban
A fall claim in South Carolina relies on records the property owner controls, and every one of them has a retention limit.
Our offices are across South Carolina, so we can easily reach the property and the employees who were working that day while the details are still clear. Falls are one part of the personal injury work we handle throughout the state, and reviewing your claim starts with an initial free consultation.
How We Protect the Evidence in a South Carolina Fall Claim
We send the property owner a preservation letter, which puts them on notice to hold its records. This letter reaches:
- The incident report, which shows what the store wrote down about the hazard that day
- Surveillance footage an hour before your fall, which shows how long the hazard sat there
- Cleaning and inspection logs for that area, which show when someone last checked it
- Contact details for the employees who responded, before they move on to other jobs
Together they show whether the owner knew or should have known.
Client Testimonials
“This law firm was very helpful. They even found help with my recovery after my accident out of state as I was in the middle of relocating to another state. I definitely recommend them.” — Adam H.
“Very professional and client oriented. Will use them again if I need them. I will recommend them to anyone else that needs a great injury lawyer” — Tina C.
“They were extremely helpful and I was grateful for their support! Thank you again for all ya’ll help!” — Kevin L.
Who Is Responsible When You Fall on Someone Else’s Property in South Carolina?
A property owner or occupier in South Carolina owes lawful visitors a duty of reasonable care. This means keeping the property in a reasonably safe condition and warning visitors about hazards the owner knows or should have known about.
This duty comes up in ordinary places, including grocery and big-box stores, restaurants, parking lots and garages, apartment complexes, sidewalks, and public buildings.
A fall in one of them does not by itself make the owner responsible. You have to show the owner had notice of the hazard, and South Carolina recognizes two kinds. Actual notice means the owner knew the hazard was there. Constructive notice means the hazard existed long enough that a reasonable inspection should have found it.
What You Have To Prove in a South Carolina Premises Liability Claim
A premises liability claim has five parts, and every one has to hold.
- Duty: The owner owed you a duty of care based on your reason for being on the property.
- Breach: The owner did not meet that duty.
- Notice: The owner knew about the hazard or should have found it.
- Causation: The hazard caused your fall and your injuries.
- Damages: The fall cost you something the law recognizes.
How Your Reason for Being on the Property Changes What You Are Owed
The duty the owner owed you depends on why you were there. An invitee is on the property for the owner’s benefit, such as a shopper in a store, and the owner owes that visitor reasonable care, including inspecting for hazards.
A licensee is there with permission but mainly for their benefit, such as a social guest, and the owner must warn about known dangers without searching for new ones. The owner owes a trespasser the least. South Carolina still protects children who are drawn onto a property by something dangerous, like a pool.
Can You Still Recover If You Were Partly at Fault for Your Fall?
Yes. South Carolina follows modified comparative negligence, so being partly at fault reduces what you can recover instead of ending the claim. You can recover as long as your share of the fault is not greater than the property owner’s, and anyone found more than 50% at fault recovers nothing.
This rule comes from South Carolina case law rather than from a single statute. The South Carolina Supreme Court adopted this rule in Nelson v. Concrete Supply Co. in 1991.
Say your share of the fault comes to 10%. Your recovery drops by that 10%, and a 40% share would drop it by 40%.
That percentage sets how much of your loss you actually recover, so an insurer has reason to argue your share upward.
What South Carolina’s 2026 Fault Allocation Change Means for Your Claim
Act 42 changed how South Carolina divides fault among defendants. It amended S.C. Code Ann. § 15-38-15 and applies only to causes of action arising after January 1, 2026.
The amended statute keeps the rule that a defendant less than 50% at fault pays only its own share. It also lets a defendant ask that fault be assigned to a responsible party who was never named in the case, and that defendant carries the burden of proof.
This effects only the defendant and does not change the limit on your share of the fault. For a fall claim, the practical effect is that a store may point at a cleaning contractor, a landlord, or a tenant, so identifying every responsible party early protects what you recover. Which version of the rules applies depends on the date of your fall.
How Long Do You Have To File a Slip and Fall Claim in South Carolina?
You generally have three years from the date of the fall. That deadline comes from S.C. Code Ann. § 15-3-530(5), and once it passes, the court can dismiss the claim no matter how strong the facts are. Filing on time protects your claim.
Shorter Deadlines When You Fall on Government Property
A fall on city, county, or state property runs on a different clock. Under the South Carolina Tort Claims Act, § 15-78-110 bars the action two years after the date the loss was or should have been discovered.
The deadline extends to three years only if you first file a verified claim under the Act, and § 15-78-80 requires the government to receive that claim within one year of discovery. The extension is not automatic.
A fall in a public school, a county park, or a municipal building can put you under this shorter deadline, and ownership is not always obvious.
What To Do After a Fall on Someone Else’s Property in South Carolina
- Get medical care the same day, even when the pain seems manageable. The record links the injury to the fall.
- Report the fall to the owner or manager on duty and ask for an incident report before you leave.
- Photograph the hazard and the area around it before anyone cleans it up.
- Collect names and phone numbers for anyone who saw the fall or came over afterward.
- Keep the shoes and clothing you were wearing, unwashed and unaltered.
- Handle recorded statements carefully. The property owner’s insurer may ask for one before you know how serious the injury is.
- Contact a South Carolina slip and fall lawyer while the video still exists.
What a South Carolina Slip and Fall Claim Can Cover
A South Carolina premises liability claim covers the losses the fall caused.
- Medical treatment to date and the care your doctors expect you will still need
- Lost wages and reduced earning ability if the injury limits what you can do at work
- Pain and suffering, including the effect of the injury on daily life
- A wrongful death claim brought by the personal representative when a fall proves fatal
South Carolina places no cap on compensatory damages in an ordinary claim against a private property owner. The South Carolina Tort Claims Act caps claims against government entities, and what any claim recovers stays within the boundaries set by state law and the facts.
Frequently Asked Questions About South Carolina Slip and Fall Claims
How Much Is a South Carolina Slip and Fall Case Worth?
There is no reliable average, and any figure offered as one deserves caution. Value turns on the severity of the injury, whether the owner had notice of the hazard, and your own share of the fault. A fractured hip with surgery carries a different value than a sprain that resolves in two weeks.
How Much Does It Cost To Hire a South Carolina Slip and Fall Lawyer?
You pay nothing up front. We work on a contingency fee basis, so our fee comes out of what we recover, and you owe no fee if there is no recovery. The first conversation about your fall costs nothing, and it does not commit you to anything.
What If I Fell in a Store and No One Saw It Happen?
A fall with no witness can still be proven. A witness is not required for a premises liability claim, and stores create their own record of what happened on the day of your fall. Those documents can be more reliable than a bystander’s memory, and they are only available for a limited time.
What If My Child Was Hurt in a Fall in South Carolina?
The deadline works differently for a minor. South Carolina pauses the filing clock while the injured person is under 18, and § 15-3-40 caps that pause so it cannot push the deadline more than one year past the child’s eighteenth birthday. A parent or guardian can file on the child’s behalf before then.
Get Your South Carolina Fall Claim Reviewed Before the Video Is Overwritten
A fall that leaves you hurt and unsure whether anyone is responsible is a difficult situation to be in. Our South Carolina attorneys start by going after the records that show what the property owner knew or should know about the hazard. The sooner our investigation starts, the more of the evidence we are able to find.
Call us at 855-435-7247 or fill out our online contact form for a free case evaluation.
Written By Donald Marcari
Don is the Senior Managing Partner at Marcari, Russotto, Spencer & Balaban. He gained national attention when his exploits as a defense attorney with the U.S. Navy JAG Corps became the basis for “A Few Good Men.”
