One Big Difference Between Car Insurance and Life Insurance in South Carolina

This article was written on April 12, 2020, by Dustin Lee, a licensed South Carolina car accident and injury attorney.  Dustin is managing partner of Lee Law Firm, LLC, with a primary office on Hilton Head Island. Dustin has been helping clients seriously injured in car accidents in Hilton Head and Bluffton for over a decade, after receiving the highest grade in his law school class in South Carolina Insurance law.  This article is not nor is it meant to be construed as legal advice – if you have been seriously injured in a car accident near Hilton Head, Bluffton, or anywhere else in South Carolina, and do not currently have legal representation, please call us at 1-843-474-0614 or 1-800-996-0683 if you would like to get advice specific to your situation. 

Potential clients calling me are generally (as in almost always) not experts on South Carolina insurance law, and that is okay – I am not an expert on tax issues, for instance, so if I have a personal tax question I normally call a CPA or tax lawyer.  One of the major misconceptions I encounter is a fundamental misunderstanding of how car insurance “works” as to claims. This article is simply addressing one issue among many in South Carolina. Insurance can “work” differently in different states as well – I am only discussing South Carolina, as I only practice law in South Carolina. 

Insurance companies “preach” to their clients (the drivers they insure) not to reveal the extent of their insurance coverage.  For example, the insurance company would never want an at-fault driver to voluntarily tell me or my client that he or she has $100,000.00 in liability coverage, such as a $100,000/300,000/100,000 policy.  Suppose the at-fault driver does in fact have “$100,000.00” in liability coverage for his or her vehicle registered and insured in South Carolina. I could foresee a client asking, as has happened before, when do I get my $100,000.00 now that we know they have that much coverage?  While not pleasant to discuss, if this client’s relative had a $100,000.00 life insurance policy, and then passed away, as long as there was no strange exclusion for coverage (one could write a pretty nice sized book about exclusions), $100,000.00 would be paid to the beneficiary or beneficiaries of the life insurance policy.  Car insurance in South Carolina is very different – we have to “prove” damages. Suppose my client has $15,000.00 in medical bills after a hospital visit to Coastal Carolina Hospital in Hardeeville, follow up chiropractic care and physical therapy, and the like. The client again asks, when do I get my $100,000.00 that they have in coverage?  Sample Answer: this may never occur, but if it does, it will be when we either negotiate a settlement of $100,000.00 or greater, if possible, or we get a jury to award you that amount, if possible – the insurance company is not going to write you a check for $100,000.00 based simply on a) an injury occurring and b) their belief that a jury would likely find their insured driver at fault in the accident.  Suppose the client only had $500.00 in medical bills due to a visit to the urgent care center on Buckwalter Parkway in Bluffton and some medication being prescribed for pain – the insurance company is again not going to pay out the policy limits based simply on a) an injury occurring and b) their belief that a jury would likely find their insured at fault in the accident – if this were the case, car insurance rates in South Carolina would skyrocket.

This example shows just one additional reason why it is extremely important to have a licensed and experienced South Carolina car accident attorney working for you.  Unfortunately the law cannot literally undo the accident – the law relies on money to be paid as “damages” for medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, future medical care, and the like that are suffered by our clients.  We can evaluate your case to try to figure out what we feel a jury would award you or what a fair settlement would be; however, this is extremely fact specific, meaning every case is different. Sometimes we have to look at our clients and explain the above concept – for example, sometimes we have gotten our clients an amount (via settlement) we feel may be more than a jury would likely award, but less than the available insurance an at-fault driver had – in the eyes of the law, this is actually an excellent result, as we would make the client as close to whole as the law allows (again, understanding we cannot “undo” the accident).  On the other hand, and perhaps more frequently, the at-fault driver does not have much insurance (or enough) and we spend a lot of time trying to figure out what other insurance or money there may be to go after to try to make our client financially “whole”. This is when complex legal terms such as “stacking”, “underinsured” coverage, and “uninsured” coverage may come into play – these are again complex legal terms and concepts that are far beyond the scope of this article.

In sum, just because you find out, or we later discover, that the at-fault driver that hit you has a good amount of liability coverage insurance, this does not mean the South Carolina car insurance company that wrote the policy is simply going to write a check in that amount, as a South Carolina life insurance company may (but do not forget this is a simplification and leaves out a lot of possible exclusions).         

If you have been seriously injured due to the negligence of another driver on our South Carolina roadways and you would like to find out your legal options, please feel free to contact me at 1-843-474-0614 or 1-800-996-0683.  While most car accident matters we handle are in or near Beaufort County and Jasper County due to our location on Hilton Head Island, I have handled car accident and injury matters throughout South Carolina. While we are working remotely at this time, we are still working hard for our injury clients and available for complimentary car accident consultations via telephone and video conferencing.  You may visit us online 24/7 at www.leelaw.ws.

I am Smart and a Good Negotiator – Why Should I hire a Licensed South Carolina Car Accident Lawyer?

This article was written on April 10, 2020, by Dustin Lee, a licensed South Carolina car accident and injury attorney.  Dustin is managing partner of Lee Law Firm, LLC, with a primary office on Hilton Head Island. Dustin has been helping clients seriously injured in car accidents and other injury matters for over a decade, after receiving the highest grade in his law school class in South Carolina Insurance law.  This article is not nor should it be construed as legal advice – if you have been seriously injured in a car accident in Hilton Head, Bluffton, or anywhere else in South Carolina, and do not currently have legal representation, please call us at 1-843-474-0614 or 1-800-996-0683 if you would like to get advice specific to your situation. 

I have been fortunate to represent clients from seemingly all backgrounds during my legal career.  For some reason a few of these clients decided before hiring us to try to negotiate directly with the insurance company representative for the negligent individual or at-fault driver; the fact that these clients later hired us likely speaks for itself as to the results, but without seeming critical, I wish to give a bit of insight about why this is not a good idea in my opinion.

I am going to redact the type of injury and many details to protect my client, but I want you as a reader to understand some of my concerns.  I recently had a client who was extremely intelligent, highly educated, and had advanced to a high level at her job – this person supervised a lot of people.  While in the Bluffton, South Carolina, area visiting her family for a vacation, my client was pretty seriously injured due to the negligence of a third party. The treating doctors recommended that my client not go back to work for over two-weeks, and then only be on light duty – this was a client that could have probably run a marathon without issue before the injury.  This injury also ruined my client’s vacation and would result in some permanent scarring. Nevertheless, for some reason, my client decided to try to negotiate directly with the insurance company soon after the accident, as in her business she was indeed a skilled negotiator. My client was offered less than 25% of “just” the medical bills she had incurred up to that point in settlement.  My client then did something that is a big no-no for many reasons – my client had a family friend (out of state) call the insurance company to negotiate, seeking a better result. Why is this a no-no? First, this could be considered the unauthorized practice of law – the friend could get in big trouble. Next, the friend, an accomplished business person that made a very healthy six-figure salary I am sure, was likely not a licensed South Carolina attorney, so the insurance company knew the person could not file suit or really do much.  The friend did apparently get a higher offer, but this was still less than 50% of the medical bills incurred by the person who became my client. For example (I am using fictional numbers to keep things simple), if the medical bills were $20,000.00, the settlement offer was about $8,000.00 – this obviously did not account for pain and suffering, lost wages, future medical care for my client’s recovery, etc. considering it did not even cover the initial medical bills incurred.

Fortunately this individual got my name and number from a local licensed South Carolina attorney who does not practice injury law, but knows that I do.  We got involved and quickly stopped trying to settle at that time (with our client’s blessing) as a) my client was not fully recovered and b) we did not know what follow-up care would be needed.  In short, why would we possibly advise settling at that early stage when we did not even know what the full damages were (the extent of the injuries, follow up care and the cost of the same, etc.)?  While confidential as to the amount, at the end of the day we ended up getting my client a settlement more than ten times greater than what her friend had negotiated. Please note – this case was fact specific and we cannot guarantee any particular result. 

That is a great story, I am sure you may be thinking, but what does it have to do with my injury I suffered?  Hiring a licensed South Carolina attorney that handles injury cases routinely, even if it is not me, does a few things:

  1. The insurance company can look me up and see that I am licensed in South Carolina and can actually bring a lawsuit (and we frankly have no problem filing a suit if we need to);
  2. Often clients say things early on that come back to “bite them” later.  As this came directly out of the client’s mouth, it can be used against the client much easier;
  3. If I am working on your case, you can focus on other things, such as your recovery;
  4. While I am sure it could happen, I have yet to see an injury case we have been involved in that was successfully settled (meaning a negotiated resolution was reached) where the client ended up worse off financially (getting less in his or her pocket at the end of the matter) than if the client did not hire us (based on any offer the client received while unrepresented prior to hiring me).  Due to the fact that we take injury cases on a contingency basis (we only get “paid” if and when the client recovers), I cannot figure out why someone would not obtain competent legal representation to help through the process if seriously injured;
  5. As I do this for a living, we can usually better assess the value of your case.

If you have been seriously injured due to the negligence of another individual in South Carolina and you would like to find out your legal options, please feel free to contact me at 1-843-474-0614 or 1-800-996-0683.  While most car accident and injury matters we handle are in Beaufort County and Jasper County due to our location on Hilton Head Island, I have handled car accident and injury matters throughout South Carolina. While we are working remotely at this time, we are still working hard for our injury clients and available for complimentary injury consultations via telephone and video conferencing.


Office Information: Our primary office location is 37 New Orleans Road, Suite V, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, 29928.  We are located in Orleans Plaza on the South End of Hilton Head Island, near the Sea Pines Circle, on the second floor.

Driving in South Carolina’s Lowcountry During the COVID-19 Pandemic

This article was written on April 10, 2020, while a work or stay at home order was in effect, by Dustin Lee, a licensed South Carolina car accident and injury attorney.  Dustin is managing partner of Lee Law Firm, LLC, with a primary office on Hilton Head Island. Dustin has been helping clients seriously injured in car accidents for over a decade, after receiving the highest grade in his law school class in South Carolina Insurance law.  This article is not legal advice – if you have been seriously injured in a car accident in Hilton Head, Bluffton, or anywhere else in South Carolina, and do not currently have legal representation, please call us at 1-843-474-0614 or 1-800-996-0683 if you would like to get advice specific to your situation. 

I have been reading articles the last few days about car insurance companies giving partial refunds of premiums due to the reduced miles driven and number of drivers on roadways due to stay-at-home type orders in effect due to COVID-19.  What these articles do not always point out are the increased risks presented by fewer cars on the road. Some of these risks are anecdotal in nature, while others have come to my attention during calls to the firm since COVID-19 has become a bigger issue in Beaufort County and Jasper County.

While this is not meant to be a criticism of our extremely hard working front line emergency responders, local law enforcement seems to be focusing the majority of its resources and attention on items other than traffic/speeding enforcement at this time.  When was the last time you saw someone pulled over for speeding on Hilton Head’s Cross Island Parkway or on Highway 278 in Bluffton? The numbers are down due to law enforcement focusing on other areas of concern during these trying times. Less traffic enforcement mixed with fewer cars is a recipe for higher speeds on our local roadways.  Is a car traveling 65 miles per hour heading down Simmonsville Road or Squire Pope Road that strikes another vehicle likely to do more or less damage to occupants of a car than the same vehicle traveling 40 miles per hour? This is a rhetorical question of course. In short, if there is less traffic and less traffic enforcement, people may drive faster, meaning injuries due to car accidents are almost certainly going to be more severe in nature.  I get updates frequently from individuals still going to and from work about how the drivers still on the road seem to be made up of all of the tailgaters and aggressive drivers from heavier traffic days. Please be careful on our local roadways if you must go out.

If you have been seriously injured due to the negligence of another driver on our South Carolina roadways and you would like to find out your legal options, please feel free to contact me at 1-843-474-0614 or 1-800-996-0683.  While most car accident matters we handle are in Beaufort County and Jasper County due to our location on Hilton Head Island, I have handled injury matters throughout South Carolina. While we are working remotely at this time, we are still working hard for our injury clients and available for complimentary car accident consultations via telephone and video conferencing.

Food for Thought When Purchasing South Carolina Car Insurance Coverage – Underinsured and Underinsured Motorist Coverage

I recently spoke with a high school friend that I had not seen in what seemed to be several months.  This person indicated that she had been in a serious vehicular accident in South Carolina, and had just returned to work recently.  When I asked if she was getting back to full health and recovery, her response was something to the effect of, “Yes, but I am extremely thankful that I paid for extra underinsured motorist coverage.  The air transport ride was about $30,000 alone.”

In South Carolina, as of this writing (January 2012), a South Carolina driver must carry what is commonly referred to as 25/50/25 liability coverage.  Though a slight oversimplification, if one is hit by a driver with 25/50/25 liability coverage, if the other party is negligent and at-fault, this person would have up to $25,000.00 worth of insurance coverage to contribute to your medical bills and other non-property damage, up to a maximum of $50,000.00 for everyone in the vehicle, and up to $25,000.00 to pay for property damage.  Using “guesses” based on the above facts, suppose my friend had incurred $30,000.00 for the air transport in damages and $55,000.00 in medical bills, without counting missed work (lost wages) for two months, pain and suffering, and other such potentially recoverable damages.  My friend would already be beyond the at-fault driver’s coverage by $60,000.00, that she would still be responsible to her medical providers for.  My friend could continue to “go after” the at-fault driver for his or her personal assets, but many people in this economy have little that can be obtained in a lawsuit after any legal exemptions are taken.  Fortunately, there are two (2) types of vehicle insurance that one can purchase in South Carolina to protect oneself from drivers only maintaining minimum coverage.

In South Carolina, insurers offer what is called underinsured motorist coverage.  When you are buying your policy, the insurer will make a meaningful offer to see if you wish to purchase this coverage for your own benefit. Suppose you carry 100/300/100 liability limits on your vehicle, such that you would have coverage should you be at fault for up to $100,000.00 in damages to one person in the hit vehicle, totaling up to $300,000.00 for all occupants, and up to $100,000.00 in property damages.  You could purchase underinsured coverage generally up to your liability amounts/limits.  If you had $100,000.00 in underinsured motorist coverage for one person and were the only one in the vehicle hit by the driver with South Carolina minimum coverage liability only, you would then potentially be able to turn to your own carrier seeking coverage for your damages greater than the at-fault driver’s coverage.

Before running out and buying more underinsured motorist coverage, it is also beneficial to briefly examine and remember uninsured motorist coverage, which must also be offered to South Carolina drivers.  Many drivers believe that since one is generally required to have liability insurance in South Carolina, that they are safe and at least will have some coverage. Uninsured motorist coverage usually applies in South Carolina when the other person has no coverage, so that they are maintaining less than that required by law, or when that driver is from a state other than South Carolina that allows lower minimum liability limits, such that the at-fault driver has insurance, but it is coverage like 15/20/15 or some other figure that is less than that required in South Carolina.  This is also the coverage that generally applies when you are hit or run off the road by a phantom driver that causes damage and then speeds off, never to be seen again.  In these circumstances, the at-fault driver may be unknown, have little to no assets, or otherwise be unable to satisfy a personal judgment beyond his or her insurance coverage.  Purchasing this coverage may be a small price to pay to ensure that you and your family are more financially protected “in case” of disaster. South Carolina’s economy is supported in large part by tourism, and out-of-state driver’s are often not as familiar with local roads as someone who lives in the community – if that driver has minimum liability coverage in his or her state that is less than South Carolina’s 25/50/25, your uninsured motorist coverage is key.

There is also a concept in South Carolina insurance law called “stacking” that is far beyond this posting.  Stacking may also be available to increase your available coverage should you be injured in a vehicular accident in South Carolina.

Spending the extra money now to insure yourself may end up saving you a lot more in the long run, and may greatly increase the amount that you are able to recover should you become involved in an accident. Please choose your coverage wisely.

There can be many additional benefits to purchasing underinsured motorist and uninsured motorist coverage, such as potential coverage while you are riding your bike or walking down the street and are hit by a vehicle, that are not touched upon in this article that may apply to your situation.  This article is not meant to be construed as legal advice, nor is it meant to cover every situation by any means.  You should consult with an attorney to discuss the facts and circumstances of your particular case.

If you would like to speak with an attorney from our firm concerning your South Carolina vehicle accident, we would be honored to speak with you.  We offer a free initial consultation for those injured by an at-fault driver while traveling on South Carolina’s roads, and can be reached at (843) 474-0614 or toll-free at (800) 996-0683.

Lee Law Firm, LLC is a South Carolina based law firm that advocates for and counsels clients throughout South Carolina and its Low Country, primarily in Beaufort and Jasper counties (including Hilton Head Island, Bluffton, Daufuskie Island, Ridgeland, Callawassie Island, Okatie, Hardeeville, and Beaufort).