For Drivers Hurt East of the Cooper
- Seriously injured East Cooper crash victims are often transferred to MUSC Health’s Level I trauma center in Charleston, and lawsuits are generally filed in the Charleston County Court of Common Pleas.
- Lane shifts from corridor construction on SC Highway 41 and beach-season backups on the Isle of Palms Connector add to the crash risk on Mt. Pleasant’s busiest routes.
- Because shopping center lots along Coleman and Houston Northcutt Boulevards are private property, police sometimes decline to assign fault, which makes photos and lot camera footage critical.
- Since September 1, 2025, South Carolina drivers may not hold a phone at all while driving, and phone records can help prove a distracted driver caused your crash.
- If no officer investigated and someone was hurt or damage reached $1,000, an FR-309 report must reach the SCDMV within 15 days under S.C. Code § 56-5-1270.
Car accidents in Mt. Pleasant tend to happen in the same places: the US-17 corridor along Johnnie Dodds Boulevard, the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge, the I-526 interchange, and busy local roads like Coleman Boulevard, Long Point Road, and the Isle of Palms Connector. In 2024, 1,038 people died in motor vehicle crashes across South Carolina, one of the highest death rates per mile driven in the country, according to the IIHS analysis of federal crash data.
If someone else’s negligence left you injured, or took someone you love, a Mt. Pleasant car accident lawyer at Shelly Leeke Law Firm can deal with the insurance companies while you focus on recovery. Our Mt. Pleasant office is at 222 W. Coleman Blvd., and we have represented injured South Carolinians since 2007. We work on a contingency fee basis, so you pay no attorney’s fees or case expenses unless we recover compensation for you. Our fee is calculated on the gross recovery before expenses are deducted. To talk through what happened, schedule a free consultation.
Where Car Accidents Happen in Mt. Pleasant
Mt. Pleasant’s crash hotspots follow its traffic patterns:
- US-17 (Johnnie Dodds Boulevard) and the Mark Clark Expressway (I-526) interchange
- The Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge approaches
- Coleman Boulevard and Ben Sawyer Boulevard toward Sullivan’s Island
- Long Point Road and Rifle Range Road
- SC Highway 41, where corridor construction adds congestion and lane shifts
- The Isle of Palms Connector (SC 517), especially in beach-season traffic
After a serious crash, victims are typically treated at East Cooper Medical Center or Roper St. Francis Mount Pleasant Hospital, with the most severe injuries transferred to MUSC Health’s Level I trauma center in Charleston. Crashes are investigated by the Mount Pleasant Police Department or the South Carolina Highway Patrol, and lawsuits are generally filed in the Charleston County Court of Common Pleas.
Types of Car Accidents We Handle in Mt. Pleasant
Every crash type raises different evidence and insurance questions. These are the cases we see most often in Mt. Pleasant.
Hit-and-Run Accidents
Leaving the scene of a crash involving injury is a crime in South Carolina, and a felony when someone suffers great bodily injury or dies (S.C. Code § 56-5-1210). Hit-and-run accidents often happen because drivers are uninsured, impaired, driving on a suspended license, or have outstanding warrants. If you are hit, take these steps:
- Try to note the vehicle’s make, model, color, and any part of the plate.
- Call 911 immediately.
- Get medical care.
Police and our investigators can use traffic and doorbell cameras, license plate readers, body shop inquiries, and witness canvassing to identify the driver. If the driver is never found, you can still recover through your own uninsured motorist (UM) coverage. South Carolina law requires you to report the crash to police and show the unknown vehicle caused it through physical contact, a witness who signs an affidavit, or an electronic recording such as dash cam video (S.C. Code § 38-77-170), which is one more reason to involve an attorney early.
Drunk Driving Accidents
A criminal DUI case punishes the driver; it does not pay your medical bills. In drunk driving accidents, your civil claim is separate, and it can reach beyond the drunk driver. A bar or restaurant that serves alcohol to a visibly intoxicated person who then causes a crash can share liability (S.C. Code § 61-4-580), and Act No. 42 of 2025 added new rules for how that liability is shared and insured. Adults who knowingly provide alcohol to underage drivers can also face liability (§ 61-4-90). Drunk driving is also one of the clearest paths to punitive damages.
Distracted Driving Accidents
As of September 1, 2025, drivers in South Carolina may not hold a phone while driving, a hands-free rule that reaches well beyond texting (S.C. Code § 56-5-3890, as amended by Act No. 40 of 2025). Phone records, witness statements, and vehicle data can prove the at-fault driver was on their phone, and we know how to obtain and preserve that evidence.
Rear-End Collisions
Rear-end crashes are among the most common collisions on US-17 and Coleman Boulevard. South Carolina law requires drivers to keep a reasonable and prudent following distance (S.C. Code § 56-5-1930), so the rear driver is usually, but not automatically, at fault. Whiplash, concussions, and back injuries are common even in low-speed impacts, and symptoms often appear days later.
Head-On Collisions
Head-on crashes combine the speed of both vehicles, which is why they cause a share of deaths far out of proportion to how often they happen. Wrong-way entries, unsafe passing across a double yellow line, drowsy or impaired drivers drifting over the center line, and median crossovers are the usual causes. Injuries are often catastrophic: traumatic brain injuries, chest and internal organ injuries from the steering wheel and seat belt, and leg, knee, and hip fractures from the collapsing footwell.
Left-Turn Accidents
A driver turning left must yield to oncoming traffic that is close enough to be a hazard (S.C. Code § 56-5-2320). That makes the turning driver at fault in most left-turn crashes, but not all. If the oncoming driver was speeding, ran a red light, or was in a turn-only lane going straight, fault can shift or be shared. These crashes are especially dangerous for motorcyclists and bicyclists, who are hit when drivers misjudge their speed or fail to see them.
Highway and Multi-Vehicle Accidents
On US-17 and I-526, a single mistake at highway speed can pull three, four, or more vehicles into one crash. Multi-vehicle pileups make fault messy and raise the risk that an insurer wrongly pins part of the blame on you. Event data recorder downloads, crash reconstruction, and witness statements let us establish the real sequence of impacts. When a tractor-trailer is involved, our Mt. Pleasant truck accident lawyer team handles the federal safety rules that apply.
Reckless Driving Accidents
Reckless driving, meaning driving with willful or wanton disregard for the safety of people or property, is a criminal offense in South Carolina (S.C. Code § 56-5-2920). Examples include excessive speeding, racing, running red lights, and aggressive weaving, but a conviction alone pays you nothing. In a civil claim, evidence of willful, wanton, or reckless conduct does two things: it establishes negligence, and it opens the door to punitive damages.
Uber, Lyft, and Rideshare Accidents
Rideshare accidents turn on what the driver was doing in the app. Whether you were a passenger, another driver, or a pedestrian, pinning down which coverage period applied is the first step, because the amount of insurance available changes with it. Under the South Carolina Transportation Network Company Act (S.C. Code § 58-23-1630), the coverage periods work like this:
- Ride accepted until the passenger gets out: at least $1 million in primary liability coverage applies from the moment a driver accepts a ride until the passenger gets out.
- App on, no ride accepted: primary coverage of at least $50,000 per person, $100,000 per incident, and $50,000 for property damage applies, plus uninsured motorist coverage.
- App off: only the driver’s personal policy applies.
Rental Car Accidents
With Mt. Pleasant’s beach traffic, crashes involving rental cars and visiting drivers are common. Liability follows the negligent driver, not the rental company. A federal law known as the Graves Amendment (49 U.S.C. § 30106) generally shields rental companies from liability for their customers’ negligence, so recovery usually comes from the at-fault driver’s personal policy, supplemental rental coverage they purchased, or your own UM/UIM coverage. We work out which of those policies applies and in what order.
Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Accidents
South Carolina requires drivers to carry minimum liability coverage of $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident for bodily injury and $25,000 for property damage (S.C. Code § 38-77-140), and every policy must include uninsured motorist coverage in at least those amounts (§ 38-77-150). Underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage is optional but must be offered (§ 38-77-160). If an uninsured driver hits you, or a driver whose policy is too small for your injuries, your own UM/UIM coverage steps in. Suing an uninsured driver personally rarely pays; making your own coverage pay what it owes usually does.
Parking Lot Accidents
Low speed does not mean low injury. Backing collisions, pedestrian knockdowns, and T-bones at blind corners in shopping center lots along Coleman Boulevard and Houston Northcutt Boulevard cause real injuries, and children are especially easy to miss; our child injury lawyers handle those claims. Because lots are private property, police sometimes decline to assign fault, which makes photos, witness information, and lot camera footage critical. Hazardous lot design or broken lighting can also bring in the property owner through a premises liability claim.
Fatal Car Accidents
When a crash takes a life, South Carolina law gives the family a wrongful death claim (S.C. Code § 15-51-10), brought by the personal representative of the estate for the benefit of the surviving spouse, children, or parents. A separate survival action can recover for the pain and losses your loved one experienced before death (S.C. Code § 15-5-90). Compensation can include funeral and burial costs, lost financial support, and the loss of your loved one’s care, companionship, and guidance.
Common Injuries After Car Accidents in Mt. Pleasant
The forces in a collision affect the body differently depending on the speed, the angle of impact, and where you were sitting. Car accident injuries we regularly see in Mt. Pleasant claims include:
- Whiplash and other soft tissue injuries to the neck, shoulders, and back
- Concussions and other brain injuries, even without a direct blow to the head
- Broken bones, especially in the arms, legs, wrists, ribs, and hips
- Herniated discs and spinal cord injuries
- Internal bleeding and organ damage
- Lacerations, burns, and scars caused by broken glass, airbags, or fire
Some of these injuries, such as concussions and soft tissue damage, may not cause noticeable symptoms for hours or days. A prompt medical exam protects your health and creates a record tying the injury to the crash. Your treatment records and your doctors’ opinions about future care are also what an insurer, or a jury, will rely on to value the claim.
Who Can Be Held Liable for a Mt. Pleasant Car Accident?
More than one party is often responsible for a crash. Possible defendants include:
- The negligent driver, the most common defendant
- A bar or restaurant that overserved a visibly intoxicated driver (dram shop, § 61-4-580)
- An adult who provided alcohol to an underage driver (§ 61-4-90)
- An employer whose driver was working at the time; an injured employee may also have a workers’ compensation claim
- A vehicle or parts manufacturer, for defective tires, brakes, or airbags, through a product liability claim
- A rideshare or other company, where negligent hiring, screening, or supervision played a role
- A government entity, such as the Town of Mt. Pleasant, Charleston County, or SCDOT, for dangerous road conditions such as potholes, missing signs, or hazardous construction zones. These claims fall under the South Carolina Tort Claims Act, which caps damages at $300,000 per person and $600,000 per occurrence (§ 15-78-120(a)) and generally requires suit within two years, or three if a verified claim is filed within one year (§ 15-78-110)
What if the Insurance Company Blames You?
South Carolina follows modified comparative negligence (Nelson v. Concrete Supply Co., 303 S.C. 243, 399 S.E.2d 783 (1991)). You can recover if you are 50% or less at fault, and your award is reduced by your percentage of fault. If your damages are $100,000 and you are found 20% at fault, you recover $80,000. Because every percentage point of fault lowers the award, adjusters often try to shift blame onto the injured driver, so we gather our own evidence of how the crash happened.
When several defendants share the blame, S.C. Code § 15-38-15 already provides that a defendant less than 50% at fault pays only its own share, while one at 50% or more can be liable for the full damages. For crashes after January 1, 2026, Act No. 42 of 2025 also lets juries assign fault to parties not named in the lawsuit, so identifying every responsible party early matters more than ever.
Compensation You Can Pursue
Depending on your injuries and losses, compensation can include:
- Medical bills, including future and ongoing treatment
- Lost income and reduced earning capacity
- Vehicle repair or replacement, plus diminished value and rental costs while your car is in the shop
- Household services you can no longer perform, and lost employer benefits
- Pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, and loss of consortium
Punitive damages are possible but rare: a court may award them only on clear and convincing evidence of willful, wanton, or reckless conduct (§ 15-32-520), and amounts are capped in most cases (§ 15-32-530). DUI crashes are the most common situation where punitive damages become realistic.
Policy limits matter too, because the at-fault driver’s coverage often shapes what can actually be collected. A $50,000 policy does not stretch to $100,000 in medical bills on its own. Part of our job is finding every available source of recovery, including the at-fault policy, dram shop or employer liability, your own UM/UIM coverage, and umbrella policies, before you settle for less than your case is worth.
Four Questions We Answer Before Any Settlement or Trial
Settling before these questions are answered is how victims leave money on the table, and you do not have to rush to satisfy an insurance adjuster’s timeline. Before any offer is accepted, we make sure we can answer these questions:
- Is anyone else liable besides the obvious driver?
- Do you know everything yet? Are your injuries fully diagnosed and your future costs estimated?
- How much has your daily life actually changed?
- Will the effects last for years, or for good?
What to Do After a Car Accident in Mt. Pleasant
The steps you take in the first days protect both your health and your claim:
- Call 911 and report the crash; get the report number. If no officer investigates and someone was hurt or damage is $1,000 or more, file an FR-309 report with the SCDMV within 15 days (S.C. Code § 56-5-1270).
- Get medical care immediately, even if you feel fine. Gaps in treatment become the insurer’s favorite argument.
- Photograph vehicles, the scene, and your injuries; collect witness contacts.
- Do not give a recorded statement to the other side’s insurer or accept a quick settlement.
- Talk to a Mt. Pleasant car accident attorney before evidence such as camera footage and vehicle data disappears.
How Long Do You Have to File?
Deadline warning: most South Carolina car accident lawsuits must be filed within three years of the crash (S.C. Code § 15-3-530(5)). Wrongful death claims generally carry a three-year deadline as well. Claims against a government entity under the Tort Claims Act must usually be brought within two years, extended to three only if a verified claim is properly filed (§ 15-78-110). Insurance policies add their own, much shorter notice deadlines. Missing a deadline ends your case regardless of its strength.
Shelly M. Leeke: An Insurance-Defense Background Put to Work for Mt. Pleasant Drivers
Shelly M. Leeke began her career on the other side of car accident claims. At Blue Williams, she defended insurance companies in automobile and workers’ compensation cases, so she knows how adjusters review medical records, question fault, and set reserves. She later moved to plaintiff work at Morris Bart and now represents injured people as managing partner of Shelly Leeke Law Firm.
She graduated cum laude from Tulane University Law School with her J.D. in 2002, having earned a B.S. in Psychology and a B.A. in Government at Wofford College in 1999, and went on to clerk for the Louisiana Supreme Court. Licensed in South Carolina and Louisiana, she wrote The South Carolina Accident Book for people working through a crash claim. She was named to the 2017 Forty Under 40 list and has been recognized as a Super Lawyers Rising Star. Close to home, she belongs to Mount Pleasant Rotary and the Charleston County Bar, along with the South Carolina Bar, the South Carolina Association for Justice, and the American Association for Justice.
Areas We Serve Near Mt. Pleasant
We represent car accident victims throughout the East Cooper area, including Isle of Palms, Sullivan’s Island, Daniel Island, Awendaw, and McClellanville, as well as Charleston and North Charleston. Wherever the crash happened, you can meet with our team at our office at 222 W. Coleman Blvd. to go over your claim. For dog bites and other injuries, visit our Mt. Pleasant personal injury lawyer page.
Hurt in a Crash on US-17, I-526 or Coleman Boulevard?
Our office on W. Coleman Blvd. is minutes from the roads where most East Cooper crashes happen, and we can review your police report, medical records, and insurance letters with you. Call (843) 920-5542 to speak with our Mt. Pleasant team about your car accident claim.
Mt. Pleasant Car Accident FAQ
Which hospital should I go to after a crash in Mt. Pleasant?
The nearest emergency room, usually East Cooper Medical Center or Roper St. Francis Mount Pleasant Hospital. If EMS responds, let them decide. What matters for your claim is a prompt evaluation and following your treatment plan closely.
The hit-and-run driver was never found. Can I still recover?
Usually yes, through your own uninsured motorist coverage. You must report the crash to police and show the unknown vehicle caused it, so call police immediately and talk to a lawyer before giving your insurer a statement.
I was a passenger in an Uber. Who pays?
While a ride is in progress, at least $1 million in rideshare liability coverage is generally available, on top of any claim against another at-fault driver. Passengers are rarely at fault, but insurers still fight over which policy pays first.
Do I have to pay anything up front to hire your firm?
No. We work on a contingency fee basis, so you pay no attorney’s fees or case expenses unless we recover compensation for you. Our fee is calculated on the gross recovery before expenses are deducted.
What if my loved one died in the crash?
Your family may bring a wrongful death claim through the estate’s personal representative, and often a survival action for your loved one’s own losses before death. Both claims generally must be filed within three years.
