South Carolina Personal Injury Laws and Statutes of Limitations

What Is the Personal Injury Statute of Limitations in South Carolina?

A "statute of limitations" is a law that puts a deadline on your time to file a lawsuit in court. Stated more directly, it's a claim killer. Miss the filing deadline for your case and in the eyes of the law, your claim is (probably) dead. Most South Carolina personal injury claims are covered by the state's three-year general rule. That's where we start.

The General Rule: Three Years From the Date You Discover (or Should Discover) Your Claim

S.C. Code § 15-3-530(5) (2024) is the statute of limitations that covers most South Carolina personal injury claims. You have three years to file your lawsuit in court. Unless a more specific statute applies, this is the rule for cases involving:

• car accidents
• dangerous or poorly maintained real estate (a "premises liability" suit)
• dangerous or defective products (a "product liability" matter)
• medical malpractice
• dog bites and animal attacks, and
• assault and battery.

When the three-year clock starts to run. To decide when the three-year clock starts running, South Carolina follows the "discovery rule." Except in medical malpractice cases (which follow another version of the discovery rule—see below), the statute of limitations clock starts running on the earlier of the date:

• you discovered you had a claim, or
• you should have discovered you had a claim, had you made a diligent effort to investigate.

What does this mean? It means that in most cases, the statute of limitations will start on the date you're injured. Here's why.

Suppose you suffer a broken leg when a careless driver runs a stop sign and hits your car. You know immediately that you've been hurt. You're also aware of who and what caused your injury. That puts you on notice that you might have a legal claim. Under South Carolina's discovery rule, the statute of limitations begins running right then.

But what happens when you don't know right away you've been injured? Say that for several years, you used a pesticide in your garden. Five years after you began using the product, you saw your doctor complaining of extreme fatigue and shortness of breath. The doctor told you that a chemical in the pesticide caused damage to your heart. Without the discovery rule, the filing deadline might expire before you ever knew about claim. That wouldn't be fair.

That's where the discovery rule comes in. Because the filing deadline doesn't start until you know or should know you've got a claim, it's much less likely that you'll unfairly be deprived of your right to seek compensation ("damages," in the language of the law) for your injuries.

Deadlines in medical malpractice cases. Special rules, found in S.C. Code § 15-3-545(A) (2024), apply in medical malpractice cases. They're subject to the same three-year statute of limitations, but a different discovery rule applies. You must file within three years from:

• the date of the malpractice, or
• if later, the date you discovered or should have discovered the malpractice.

In addition, South Carolina has a second deadline, called a "statute of repose," that caps the time you're given to discover your claim. The latest you can sue is six years from the date of the malpractice, whether you discover your injury or not.

Finally, different deadlines likely apply when:

• a doctor carelessly leaves a foreign object in the patient's body, or
• the injured patient is younger than 18 years old.

(Learn more about South Carolina medical malpractice laws.)

Wrongful death lawsuits. Sometimes, of course, personal injuries result in death. When that happens, the victim's surviving relatives might file a South Carolina wrongful death lawsuit. That deadline is also three years, but the statute begins running on the date of death. (S.C. Code § 15-3-530(6) (2024).)

Can South Carolina's Filing Deadlines Be Extended?

Sometimes, yes. The examples we discuss are the two most common situations. Before you try to rely on one of these extensions, consult with a South Carolina personal injury lawyer for advice specific to your case.

Injured person is legally disabled. When the injured person was younger than 18 or had previously been declared "insane," South Carolina law considers them legally disabled. Because they're unable to manage their own legal affairs, they might get more time to file a lawsuit.

Except in medical malpractice cases, if the statute of limitations expires before or within one year after their disability ends—the person's 18th birthday or the date the person is declared sane—they must file suit by:

• one year after their 18th birthday, or
• in the case of a person who was injured while insane, the earlier of five years after the date of injury (or discovery of the injury), or one year after the date they were declared sane.

(S.C. Code § 15-3-40 (2024).)

Defendant is absent from South Carolina. The time a defendant is absent from South Carolina isn't counted against the statute of limitations if the defendant:

• lives outside South Carolina when you're injured, or
• leaves the State for one continuous year or more after you're hurt.

(S.C. Code § 15-3-30 (2024).)

Note that this extension only applies when the defendant's absence prevents you from serving them with your lawsuit. (See Meyer v. Paschal, 330 S.C. 175, 184 (1998).) Ask your lawyer for details.

What Happens If I Miss the South Carolina Statute of Limitations?

Miss the filing deadline and, absent an extension of time, your personal injury claim no longer exists. You've lost the right to seek damages for your injuries, no matter how serious, permanent, or disabling they might be.

The court will dismiss as untimely any lawsuit you file. You won't have better luck trying to settle your case with the defendant. As far as South Carolina is concerned you don't have a legal claim, so there's nothing to settle.