If you were seriously injured in Columbia because someone else was careless, a personal injury lawyer can help you recover compensation for your medical care, lost income, and the ways the injury has changed your daily life. The Law Offices of Kenneth Berger is a Columbia personal injury firm that handles life-changing injury and wrongful death cases across the Midlands and throughout South Carolina. You owe no attorney fees or case costs unless we recover money for you.
A serious injury rarely shows up in just one place. It's in the medical bills, and it's also in the mornings you can't lift your child, the job you had to step away from, and the drive you avoid now. We take the time to learn what your life looked like before the injury and what it looks like now, because that whole story is what a full and fair recovery has to account for.
What Happens When You Call Our Columbia Office
- Free Consultation. Call our office or fill out our contact form for a free consultation. We'll listen to what happened, answer your questions, and give you an honest assessment of whether we can help.
- We Get to Know You and Build Your Case. If you decide to move forward, we spend time learning how the injury has affected your life while we gather medical records, evidence, and the specialists your case requires.
- We Advocate for Your Full Recovery. We serve as the liaison between you and the insurance company and work to secure a full, fair recovery. If the insurance company won't offer what your case is truly worth, we're prepared to take it to trial.
Ready to talk through what happened? Call our Columbia office for a free consultation at (803) 790-2800 or send us a message.
Personal Injury Cases We Handle in Columbia
We focus on cases where an injury has changed someone's life. In Columbia and the surrounding Midlands, that includes:
- Car Accidents: Serious crashes on Columbia's interstates and surface roads, especially those involving distracted, reckless, or speeding drivers.
- Truck Accidents: Collisions with tractor-trailers, dump trucks, and other commercial vehicles, where federal safety rules and multiple responsible parties often come into play.
- Motorcycle Accidents: Crashes where riders suffer serious injuries and often face unfair assumptions about who was at fault.
- Drunk Driving Accidents: Cases against impaired drivers and, under South Carolina's dram shop laws, the bars or restaurants that over-served them.
- Rideshare Accidents: Injuries involving Uber and Lyft drivers, where the available insurance depends on what the driver was doing at the time of the crash.
- Traumatic Brain Injuries: Brain injuries that may be invisible from the outside but change how a person thinks, works, and connects with family.
- Medical Malpractice: Serious harm caused by a doctor, hospital, or other provider who failed to meet the standard of care.
- Wrongful Death: Guiding families through the legal process after losing someone they love to another person's negligence.
- Workers' Compensation: Helping injured workers access the benefits they're owed, and identifying any third-party claims beyond workers' comp.
We also handle bicycle accidents, burn injuries, child and daycare injuries, nursing home abuse, defective products, boating accidents, school injuries, and premises liability claims, like serious falls on unsafe property.
How We Handle Personal Injury Cases
We see ourselves as a member of your team: your advocate and your guide through a process that can feel overwhelming. Here's what that looks like in practice:
- We take fewer cases so we can do deeper work. We are not a high-volume firm. Limiting our caseload means every client gets the time and attention a serious injury requires.
- We learn your story, not just your claim. We spend time with you and the people close to you to understand everything this injury has taken, including the everyday losses that never show up on a medical bill.
- You'll always know where your case stands. Not knowing what's happening is its own kind of stress. We keep you informed at every step, and we're easy to reach when you have questions.
- We handle the insurance company for you. You shouldn't have to relive your injury on the phone with an adjuster. We manage that communication so you can focus on healing.
- We bring in the right specialists. Serious cases often call for medical providers, economists, life care planners, and accident reconstruction specialists. We invest in the team your case requires.
- We prepare every case as if it's going to trial. That preparation is what leads to fair results, whether your case settles or is presented to a jury.
Serious Injuries in Columbia and the Midlands
Columbia sits where I-20, I-26, and I-77 meet, which brings heavy commuter and commercial truck traffic through the heart of the Midlands. The ongoing Carolina Crossroads reconstruction of the I-20, I-26, and I-126 interchange, the stretch many locals still call Malfunction Junction, adds shifting lanes and work zones to that mix. Closer to home, crashes happen every day on busy roads like Two Notch Road, Garners Ferry Road, and Assembly Street. Downtown and around the University of South Carolina campus, pedestrians and cyclists share the road with heavy traffic.
Most Columbia injury cases are filed in the Court of Common Pleas for Richland or Lexington County, depending on where the injury happened and who is involved. We prepare each case to be presented to a local jury, because that preparation shapes how insurance companies value a claim.
Our firm also helps injured people across South Carolina, with a second office serving the Grand Strand through our Myrtle Beach personal injury team.
What Is My Personal Injury Case Worth?
Every case is different. The value of yours depends on the severity of your injuries, your medical costs now and in the future, your lost income and earning capacity, and how the injury has changed your daily life. South Carolina law allows recovery for economic damages, like medical bills and lost wages, and non-economic damages, like pain, emotional suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life. When someone's conduct was especially reckless, punitive damages may also be available.
Here are two results from our Columbia cases:
$3 Million Settlement: Dram Shop Case Against a Columbia Bar.* A Columbia bar over-served a young man until he left with a 0.20% blood alcohol level, and less than an hour later he crossed the centerline and hit a teenager on his way to work. Our client suffered broken bones that required multiple surgeries, and the bar's insurance companies paid $3,000,000, with the drunk driver's insurer paying its policy limits in addition. Read the full case result.
Confidential Settlement: Dump Truck Crash on I-77 in Columbia.* A dump truck crashed into the back of a soldier's car on I-77 in Columbia, leaving her with a concussion and a neck injury that later required surgery. We worked to show how the injuries affected her health, her military service, and her daily life, and we resolved her case through a confidential settlement. Read the full case result.
*The results are specific to the facts and legal circumstances of each of the clients' cases and should not be used to form an expectation that the same results could be obtained for other clients in similar matters without reference to the specific factual and legal circumstances of each client's case.
Every case has its own story. Call our office for a free consultation at (803) 790-2800 to talk about yours.
Do You Need a Personal Injury Lawyer, and What Does It Cost?
Not every injury needs a lawyer. If your injuries were minor and healed quickly, you may be able to resolve the claim with the insurance company on your own, and we'll tell you that honestly. If we aren't the right fit for your case, we'll do our best to connect you with someone who may be.
A lawyer can make the biggest difference when:
- Your injuries are serious, permanent, or still developing
- The insurance company is disputing who was at fault
- A commercial vehicle, business, or multiple parties were involved
- The at-fault party's insurance may not cover your losses
- You lost a loved one
We handle personal injury cases on a contingency fee basis. You owe no attorney fees or case costs unless we recover money for you.
Not sure whether you need a lawyer? We'll give you an honest answer. Contact our Columbia office or call (803) 790-2800 for a free consultation.
Frequently Asked Questions About Columbia Personal Injury Cases
In most cases, you have three years from the date of your injury to file a lawsuit under S.C. Code Ann. Section 15-3-530. Claims against a government entity, like a city, county, or state agency, generally must be filed within two years under the South Carolina Tort Claims Act. Evidence and witness memories fade quickly, so it's best to speak with a lawyer as soon as possible. Learn more about South Carolina's statute of limitations.
It depends on how and where you were hurt. Responsibility may fall on a driver, a trucking company, a property owner, a business, a doctor or hospital, or the manufacturer of a defective product. Sometimes more than one party shares the blame, like a bar that over-served a driver under South Carolina's dram shop laws. Identifying every responsible party is one of the most important parts of building your case, because it can affect how much compensation is available.
South Carolina follows a modified comparative negligence rule. You can still recover compensation as long as your share of the fault is not greater than the other party's, and your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault. Insurance companies often try to shift blame onto the injured person, whether that's a motorcyclist after a crash or someone who fell on a poorly maintained property. A careful investigation helps show what really happened.
Insurance limits often fall short in a serious injury case. Other sources of recovery may be available, such as an employer or business that shares responsibility, a commercial insurance policy, or your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage in a vehicle crash. In some situations, you may even be able to stack multiple policies. Part of our work is identifying every available source of recovery.
You may have obligations to your own insurance company, but you generally aren't required to give a recorded statement to the at-fault party's insurer. Statements made early, while you're still in pain or unsure of your injuries, can be used to minimize your claim later. Speaking with a lawyer first helps protect your rights.
Most workplace injuries in South Carolina are covered by workers' compensation, which generally requires you to report the injury to your employer within 90 days. If someone other than your employer contributed to your injury, like a negligent driver or the maker of faulty equipment, you may also have a separate personal injury claim. Our workers' compensation team can help you understand both.
When a death is caused by someone else's negligence, South Carolina law allows a wrongful death claim on behalf of the family. The claim is brought by the personal representative of the person's estate, and it can seek compensation for the family's financial losses and for the grief, companionship, and support they have lost. We guide families through this process with care and patience.
Most personal injury cases resolve before trial, through negotiation or mediation. We prepare every case as if it will be presented in court, because that preparation leads to fair offers, and you always make the final decision about whether to settle. Timing depends on your injuries and the complexity of the case. Serious injuries like traumatic brain injuries often take longer, because it takes time to fully understand their long-term effects. We don't recommend resolving a case until the full picture of your injuries and future needs is clear.
Our Columbia office serves clients throughout the Midlands, including Richland and Lexington counties, and we handle cases across South Carolina, including along the Grand Strand through our Myrtle Beach office. Many of our clients have suffered serious injuries, so we often meet them at their homes or care facilities.
Talk to a Columbia Personal Injury Lawyer
A serious injury changes more than your health. It can change your work, your family life, and your sense of what comes next. Our team will take the time to understand everything you've lost, communicate that clearly to the insurance company, and work to secure a full, fair recovery while keeping you informed along the way.
Call our Columbia office for a free consultation at (803) 790-2800, or use the live chat below.