Key Highlights:
- A South Carolina hit-and-run accident lawyer can be beneficial even when it comes to an unidentified car, because uninsured motorist coverage must be included in any South Carolina policy (§ 38-77-150) and is not waivable.
- “The John Doe” claim is the weapon used by a South Carolina hit-and-run accident lawyer, but there are three crucial elements needed to use this approach according to § 38-77-170: prompt reporting to the police, corroboration (actual contact, affidavit of a witness, or video recording), and non-fault of the victim for the inability to identify the other driver.
- In 2024, Act No. 180 has become extremely important for hit-and-run cases since dash cam video and Rule 27 pre-suit deposition may now be used as corroboration, instead of an affidavit of a witness before.
- Everything takes place within the first hours after the accident. The very first calling of the police, registering the vehicle, collecting video recordings, and having the phone numbers of the witnesses is crucial because the rest of the evidence will be lost soon.
- There are also regulations concerning liability for the accident.
It is not the crash itself that makes a hit-and-run so unpleasant; it is the afterthought you get standing on the side of the road that you will never be able to get compensation because the other person is gone.
That assumption is incorrect in the state of South Carolina, and it results in money lost each year.
In South Carolina, all auto insurance policies include uninsured motorist coverage, and you are not allowed to waive it. If the driver ran you over and took off, you may well have coverage for this accident without even realizing it. There is also a legal method for going about this in South Carolina, known as a John Doe action.
There are conditions; they are strictly maintained, and some of them have to be fulfilled during the initial hours. This is what the entire page is about.
Shelly Leeke Law Firm has been representing accident victims in South Carolina since 2007. Regardless of whether you are dealing with an uncomplicated car accident case or going after a phantom driver, our South Carolina hit-and-run accident lawyer can assist you with your case.
If you are looking for a reliable hit and run accident attorney South Carolina you can rely on, the consultation is always free, and there is no fee for an attorney until recovery.
What To Do in The First Hours
Three of the steps below directly impact whether a John Doe claim can succeed later.
- Call 911 and stay put. As any South Carolina hit-and-run accident lawyer would advise, notifying an appropriate police authority of the incident as soon as possible is mandatory for a John Doe claim to be possible under § 38-77-170. Notification is also mandatory under S.C. Code § 56-5-1260 if there are injuries or deaths in a crash. Don’t try to sort it out tomorrow.
- Write down everything you can recall about the vehicle, immediately. Colour, make, model, damage, movement, and any part of the license plate. Do this before speaking to anyone else; memories degrade fastest during the first hour, and other people’s descriptions of the accident will corrupt yours.
- Get medical attention, even if you feel alright. Adrenaline masks injuries, and soft tissue and head injuries frequently show up a day or two later. The gap in time between the crash and your first doctor’s visit is the most frequently used argument to devalue an injury claim.
- Find witnesses and get their names and phone numbers. Under § 38-77-170, a witness who is not the owner or operator of your vehicle may corroborate your John Doe claim, but only if you are able to locate them afterward. Names and numbers taken at the scene are far more valuable than “a statement to the officer” later.
- Look for cameras and preserve footage. This could come from a dash cam, a doorbell camera, surveillance systems, parking decks, or traffic cameras. Video of the accident scene is another way the corroboration element can be met. Footage typically gets overwritten after a few days, so make a written request the same day.
- Photograph your vehicle before it is repaired. The paint transfer, point of impact, and angle of impact will help identify the striking vehicle.
- Notify your own insurer promptly. This is a claim for uninsured motorist coverage, and there is almost certainly language in your policy requiring quick notice. Filing the claim does not mean admitting liability.
- File Form FR-309 if no officer investigated. In any case where a collision (including a pedestrian or bicycle collision) results in injury, death, or more than $1,000 in damage, and no police investigation occurred, § 56-5-1270 requires that you file the FR-309 SCDMV accident report 15 days of the collision.
What The Driver Who Fled is Facing
Knowing whether something constitutes a hit-and-run is the first step to knowing your rights in such cases. South Carolina hit and run laws are serious, and they carry stiff penalties depending on how serious the accident is.
Under S.C. Code § 56-5-1210, a motorist involved in an accident where injuries are sustained, or lives are lost, must immediately stop at the accident scene (or as close to it as possible without unnecessarily obstructing traffic) and remain there until they are in compliance with S.C. Code § 56-5-1230.
Leaving the scene of an accident South Carolina is permitted only briefly and solely for the purpose of reporting the accident to law enforcement.
Under S.C. Code § 56-5-1230, what a driver must do at the scene includes:
- Give their name, address, and vehicle license number
- Produce their driver’s license upon request
- Provide reasonable aid to any injured persons
SC Code § 56-5-1210 Penalties
Harm caused |
Offence |
SC Code 56-5-1210 penalties |
| Injury, but not great bodily injury or death | Misdemeanor | 30 days to 1 year; fine of $100 to $5,000 |
| Great bodily injury | Felony | 30 days to 10 years; fine of $5,000 to $10,000 |
| Death | Felony | 1 to 25 years; fine of $10,000 to $25,000 |
There is another statute that specifically addresses accidents involving damage to a parked or attended vehicle, relevant when your parked car gets hit by someone who leaves.
The criminal action, however, is not your action. The prosecution penalizes the driver; it does not compensate you. The two proceedings run independently of each other and are not contingent on one another, meaning even if the driver is never apprehended, charged, or is even acquitted of a crime, it does not affect your case, for the reason below.
The Claim Available Even if the Driver Can Never be Found
Here is where the rest of the internet fails: you already have uninsured motorist coverage.
Uninsured Motorist Coverage is required by § 38-77-150, which mandates that all policies issued or delivered in South Carolina provide coverage that pays the insured what they are legally entitled to collect from the uninsured driver, subject to minimum statutory limits.
South Carolina is one of only a few states where this coverage is mandatory and cannot be waived. The law requires no less than $25,000 of uninsured motorist property damage coverage, and the insurer may exclude the first $200 of that loss. The insurance company must also offer you higher levels of UM coverage, not to exceed your liability limits (§ 38-77-160).
John Doe Claims Process
If the identity of the driver remains unknown in an uninsured motorist collision, South Carolina law allows you to file a John Doe claim South Carolina explicitly tailored for this situation.
To make an uninsured motorist claim SC, the following conditions apply under S.C. Code § 38-77-170 and are strictly enforced by courts:
- Notice. You or your representative must notify the proper police authorities about the accident within a reasonable period of time.
- Corroboration. Either of the following must apply:
- Damage or injuries resulted from physical contact with the unknown vehicle; or
- The accident was witnessed by someone other than the owner or operator of the insured vehicle, who makes a sworn statement to that effect (if you can’t secure the affidavit, you may ask for a court order for a pre-suit deposition under Rule 27 of the South Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure); or
- You submit a recorded video of the incident showing the damage or injury resulted from the hit-and-run vehicle.
- No negligence. You cannot have been negligent in failing to identify the other party’s vehicle and driver during the accident.
It is important that you meet all the requirements set out in § 38-77-170 requirements, before proceeding with your claim.
Two of these provisions are newly added. The option to use hit and run dashcam evidence and the option of a Rule 27 pre-suit deposition were both added via 2024 Act No. 180 (H.4869), effective May 20, 2024.Â
Before this amendment, a no contact hit and run South Carolina, sometimes called a “miss-and-run,” where the driver ran you off the road without any physical contact, was extremely hard to prove unless a third-party witness was willing to sign an affidavit under threat of perjury.
Today, dashcam video can easily establish your case. If you have any video from a no-contact accident, save it immediately. If the driver ran you off the road with no contact, witness, or video evidence, you have a difficult case, which is exactly why it’s important to call police immediately from the side of the road.
In Case the Driver Can Be Found
At times, the driver may be identified through plate remnants, eyewitnesses, video cameras, or paint scrapings that match those from a repair shop.
In these cases, the claim shifts to the liability coverage of that driver, and the case becomes a typical auto accident claim. For help with a hit and run lawyer SC, we know how to proceed with the right approach for your case.
Two scenarios are likely to arise:
- Coverage is inadequate. Drivers who flee tend to be uninsured, unlicensed, or carrying only bare-minimum coverage.
- Underinsured motorist coverage applies. When the at-fault driver’s coverage isn’t enough, your own underinsured motorist coverage SC may come to your aid, provided you selected it.
The driver’s behavior may also warrant punitive damages, since fleeing the scene cannot be considered ordinary negligence.
Fault Must Still Be Proven
Even in a hit-and-run, you need to prove negligence on the part of the other motorist, and your own actions will be scrutinized. A South Carolina hit-and-run accident attorney will work to shield you from any undue fault.
Here, South Carolina comparative negligence 51% applies, a legal precedent set in Nelson v. Concrete Supply Co. If you are found to be no more than 50% at fault (less than 51%), you receive a portion of your award corresponding to your share of fault. Otherwise, you receive nothing.
Fault assigned to you |
You recover (on $100,000 damages) |
| 20% | $80,000 |
| 50% | $50,000 |
| 51% | $0 |
The absence of the other driver matters in hit-and-run accidents: there is no one to dispute your version of events, but there’s also no one to dispute the insurance company’s version either.
What You Can Recover After a South Carolina Hit-and-Run AccidentÂ
Here is all that is reimbirsable in a hit and run scenario:
- Past medical bills: Ambulance, emergency room services, scans, surgery, hospital stay, treatment
- Future medical bills: Expected surgery, future treatments, injections
- Lost income: Earnings not received due to inability to work
- Diminished earning capacity: Reduced ability to earn income
- Property damage: Cost of repairs or actual cash value
- Pain and suffering: Physical pain and its impact on daily activities
- Loss of enjoyment of life: Things you can no longer do
The Caps That Exist
Despite what other resources may say, there is an upper limit on damages for certain catastrophic injury cases in South Carolina.
- Government defendants: If the fugitive vehicle was owned by a government agency, the SC Tort Claims Act caps apply, imposing an upper limit of $300,000 per individual and $600,000 per incident.
- Charities: Under section 33-56-180, the Tort Claims Act limitations apply equally to a 501(c)(3) entity.
- Medical malpractice: Limitations apply only to non-economic damages. For 2026, the limit is $596,001 for each defendant health care provider and $1,788,002 for all defendants together, increased each year according to § 15-32-2 of the South Carolina Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office
- Punitive damages: Although fleeing the scene can be grounds for awarding punitive damages South Carolina cap, the statutory limit on punitive damages in South Carolina, according to § 15-32-530, at three times the amount of compensatory damages or $500,000, whichever is greater. However, that cap is raised to four times the amount of compensatory damages or $2,000,000 if there was a financial
How Much Time You Have
Injury cases must comply with the South Carolina statute of limitations car accidents, three years after the accident, per S.C. Code § 15-3-530(5). For wrongful death cases, it’s three years after the date of death. Cases involving government-owned vehicles have a two-year limit.
The practical deadline in hit-and-runs is much shorter than the statute of limitations, however:
- Surveillance evidence expires after just days.
- Witness recollections fade quickly.
- Your insurance company’s contractual notice requirements kick in long before the three-year period expires.
How These Claims Proceed
- Investigation. This involves attempting to identify the driver where feasible, through camera research, contacting the investigating agency, and body shop research. If the driver can’t be found, a John Doe file is created.
- Proof of § 38-77-170. Securing the police report, a witness affidavit, or footage.
- Filing against your own carrier. An uninsured motorist claim is filed against your own insurance company. Although your policy requires them to act in good faith, they will still assess and value the claim as any other insurer would.
- Valuation. This happens after you finish treatment and reach maximum medical improvement, since you won’t get a second chance once you release your claims.
- Filing suit where necessary. If the claim can’t be settled, a John Doe action is filed and served according to statute and the rules of court.
Reach Out To a South Carolina Hit-And-Run Accident Attorney
If someone ran into you and fled, the idea that there’s nothing you can do is rarely true, but there are several things that need to be done urgently to preserve your claim.
As an established hit and run accident attorney South Carolina, we will not hesitate to defend you during your time of need.
The Shelly Leeke Law Firm has offices in North Charleston, Mt. Pleasant, Walterboro, Columbia, Greenville, Beaufort, and Myrtle Beach. Locate your nearest office.
Call (843) 604-3273Â or schedule your free consultation with our highly experienced hit-and-run accident attorney. No fee unless we win. Available 24/7. We speak Spanish.
Frequently Asked Questions!
What does a hit-and-run accident lawyer cost in South Carolina?Â
There is no upfront charge for the services of a hit and run lawyer cost South Carolina. We operate on a contingency fee arrangement, meaning no charge until we win your case.
Will making an uninsured motorist claim raise my insurance rates?Â
In short, does a UM claim raise rates? An uninsured motorist claim SC is not an at-fault claim. That said, many factors go into premium calculations, and no one can guarantee your rate will remain unaffected.
The driver hit my car and left, but nobody was injured. Do I still have a claim?Â
Yes. This is a hit and run property damage only claim. Submit the FR-309 SCDMV accident report 15 days. It’s also worth asking about a diminished value claim South Carolina, which is permissible under SC law.
What if the driver is caught after I have already started a claim?Â
That helps you. The claim shifts to their liability insurance policy. Your uninsured motorist coverage can still be used if their limits aren’t sufficient. Notify your lawyer immediately.
How long will a hit-and-run claim take?Â
The process takes longer because of the investigation time needed when the driver is missing. The claim also can’t be valued until you reach maximum medical improvement.
