South Carolina Personal Injury Law Blog

Some South Carolina workers’ compensation cases involve the issue of whether a particular injury was work-related or whether the employer has a valid defense against the employee’s claim. Sometimes, however, the real fight is not between the employer and employee, but between other parties. For instance, this can happen when a worker dies as a result of an on-the-job accident, and multiple parties seek death benefits.

Facts of the Case

The plaintiff in a recently decided appellate case was the brother and personal representative of the estate of a man who died when his boat capsized in a pond during a work-related accident in 2013. The plaintiff filed a Form 52 notice of a claim for death benefits a few months after the accident that took the worker’s life. A hearing was held, during which the plaintiff sought workers’ compensation benefits on behalf of the deceased worker’s mother, as next of kin under South Carolina Code § 42-9-140(B). Another claimant sought benefits for herself as the deceased worker’s alleged common law wife or, alternatively, as a dependent.

When someone is hurt at work and files a South Carolina workers’ compensation claim, one of the issues that must be determined is the claimant’s average weekly wage. Usually, this is fairly simple: just add up the worker’s earnings for the past year and divide that number by 52.

Of course, sometimes a worker has not been employed at a particular place long enough for there to be a meaningful accumulation of wage data (in which case a similarly situated worker’s earnings may possibly be used). Other issues can also arise, as was demonstrated in a case in which a worker held two jobs – one paid and one unpaid – and was hurt on the unpaid job.

Facts of the Case

In a recent (unreported) case from the South Carolina Court of Appeals, the plaintiff was a graduate student who worked both as an unpaid intern at a university hospital and as a regular employee at a fast food restaurant. He was hurt during his work as an intern and filed a workers’ compensation claim against the university’s accident fund. Continue Reading ›

South Carolina workers’ compensation cases can sometimes drag on for years, especially if the injured worker allegedly suffers subsequent injuries to the same part of the body. Not all such litigation is pursued by the injured worker against his or her employer, however.

Sometimes, multiple insurance companies seek the courts’ direction as to which is responsible for payment of a workers’ claims. This can happen when the injuries happen at times in which a single employer had different workers’ compensation carriers or if the worker changes jobs and his or her employers are insured by different companies.

Facts of the Case

In a case appealed from the Richland County Circuit Court, the claimant was a man who allegedly hurt his back while working for a particular employer in 2002. The plaintiff was a workers’ compensation insurance company that paid benefits owed to the claimant as a result of this injury. The claimant reached maximum medical improvement in the summer of 2003 and, thereafter, began working for a different employer insured by the defendant workers’ compensation carrier. Continue Reading ›

When an injured worker files a South Carolina workers’ compensation claim, he or she may be entitled to several kinds of benefits. These benefits may include paid medical care, temporary total disability, and/or permanent partial or permanent total disability payments.

The amount of money that the claimant ultimately receives is based in part upon his or her average weekly wage at the time of the accident or illness giving rise to the claim for benefits. Once a determination has been made that the worker is, in fact, entitled to workers’ compensation benefits, the worker may seek a lump sum payment of part (or all) of the benefits that the employer or its workers’ compensation insurance carrier is ordered to pay.

He or she is not automatically entitled to a lump sum payout, and such a request may be met with great resistance.

Continue Reading ›

Under the law of South Carolina, employers who do business in the state must provide a way for injured employees to receive the benefits to which they are entitled upon the filing of a South Carolina workers’ compensation claim.

There are generally two ways in which this can be accomplished. The employer may purchase a workers’ compensation liability insurance policy or it may qualify as a “self-insured” employer. With regard to the self-insured option, two or more employers in businesses of a similar nature may be allowed to enter into an agreement to pool their workers’ compensation liabilities for the purpose of qualifying as self-insurers.

Facts of the Case

In a case originating in the Richland County Circuit Court, the plaintiffs were members of a home builders’ association that, some years prior, had created a self-insurers’ fund  in order to fulfill their obligations under the law. After the defendant board of trustees announced their intent to wind down the fund and set up a new mutual insurance company, the plaintiffs filed a lawsuit seeking to challenge the board’s authority to use the fund’s assets in that manner. Continue Reading ›