South Carolina Injury Lawyer Blog

Your Charleston attorneys at Howell and Christmas, LLC were particularly upset to see a fairly large article in today's Post and Courier outlining a major auto accident in which four young people were killed near the University of South Carolina's famed Williams-Brice Stadium. According to the Richland County Coroner's Office, two of the victims were male (both 22 years of age) and two were female (ages 23 and 24). Also, three of the four victims were currently enrolled at the University of South Carolina; one male was a student last semester.

The fatal car crash occurred just before dawn last Wednesday morning when the car missed a sharp curve near the football stadium. The car proceeded to slam into the Farm Bureau Building on George Rodgers Blvd. Minutes later, the vehicle burst into flames. Returning to the scene Friday, investigators were combing through the wreckage to try and find answers as to the cause of this unfortunate car accident, more specifically, why the driver lost control of the vehicle and the speed at which the vehicle was travelling. Police do suspect that the male driver and front passenger were not wearing their seat belts when the crash occurred.

The Richland County Coroner also said that it was one of the young female's 23rd birthday and that the group had been seen together at several Columbia nightspots prior to the fatal car accident on George Rogers Blvd. From the autopsies it appeared that all four young people would have been killed by multiple trauma, not serious burn injuries, prior to the vehicle burst into flames, but it will take a couple of weeks to complete toxicology reports and determine if those results played a role in causing the accident.

As investigators from the Columbia Police Department, University of South Carolina Police, Richland County Coroner's Office, Columbia-Richland Fire Department, and the South Carolina Highway Patrol try to uncover unanswered questions surrounding the crash, University of South Carolina officials have offered their condolences to the victims' friends and family and have extended a helping hand in the form of counselors made available to grieving students and staff.

Continue reading " Tragedy Strikes University of South Carolina and Hit and Run Suspect in Police Custody in Lexington County " »

Your lawyers in Charleston at Howell and Christmas, LLC are experienced in representing individuals covered under the Federal Longshoremen and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act in South Carolina. But while the same Act is at discussed in this entry, it has an impact far removed from the Palmetto State. With that being said, the issue of law left to the discretion of the Supreme Court is nonetheless interesting and thought provoking to your Charleston attorneys. Hopefully our readers will agree.

Petitioner, Pacific Operations Offshore, LLP (Pacific), operates two drilling platforms on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) off the coast of California, as well as an onshore oil and gas processing facility. Juan Valladolid was employed as a general manual laborer in Pacific’s oil exploration and extraction business, performing such maintenance tasks as picking up litter, emptying trashcans, washing decks, painting, maintaining equipment, and helping load and unload the platform crane. Mr. Valladolid spent 98 percent of his time on Pacific’s drilling platforms, performing said tasks. The remainder of his time was spent at Pacific’s onshore processing facility, located in Ventura County, California. At Pacific’s onshore facility Mr. Valladolid was responsible for such maintenance duties such as painting, sandblasting, pulling weeds, cleaning drain culverts, and operating a forklift.

While operating a forklift at Pacific’s onshore facility, Mr. Valladolid was involved in a work related accident, which resulted in his death. Respondent, Mr. Valladolid’s widow filed a claim seeking benefits under the Longshoreman and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA) pursuant to the extension of that contained within the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA). Section 1333(b) of OSCLA, the provision involved in this case, makes LHWCA benefits available for the “disability or death of an employee resulting from any injury occurring as the result of operations conducted on the outer Continental Shelf” for the purpose of extracting its natural resources.

The parties agree that §1333(b) covers employees such as oilrig and drilling platform workers working directly on the OCS to extract its natural resources. However, the parties disagree as to whether employees who are involved in extraction operations, but who are injured beyond the OCS (i.e. an onshore operating facility) are also covered under OSCLA.

This dispute focuses on the scope of §1333(b), particularly the meaning of the phrase “any injury occurring as the result of operations on the outer Continental Shelf.” Thus, the question arises, is Respondent entitled to benefits under the provisions of the LHWCA pursuant to the extension of that Act within OCSLA?

Continue reading " Overview of Recent U.S. Supreme Court Decision Concerning Federal Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act " »

Your lawyers in Charleston at Howell and Christmas, LLC have previously posted entries concerning school bus accidents, car accidents, and tractor-trailer accidents. However, none the past entries have involved all three of the said vehicles in a single incident, until today.

Last month in St. Stephan, South Carolina (a community in northern Berkeley County) the driver of a Nissan Maxima found herself wedged between a school bus and a tractor-trailer. The driver came to this precarious position after attempting to pass the school bus carrying students from Timberland High School. According to the South Carolina Highway Patrol, this attempted pass was made illegally as the roadway was marked with a double-yellow line, which earned the driver a citation for improper passing.

In the attempted pass the 43-year-old St. Stephan woman driving the Maxima struck the back of the bus, was forced to veer left, and was then hit by the tractor-trailer heading in the opposite direction. The driver of the Nissan and one Timberland High student were taken to a local hospital after the tractor-trailer accident, but the Post and Courier article covering the incident failed to report any specific injuries for these particular persons. Thankfully, it was reported that the driver of the tractor-trailer and the other 18 students aboard the bus escaped the auto accident without injury.

It is a recurring theme of the South Carolina Injury Lawyer Blog to advocate safe driving practices along the Palmetto State's roadways, but it is of especial importance to be mindful of tractor-trailers (a.k.a 18-wheeler or semis) as these behemoths of the road pose a significant danger to everyday drivers. Because of the large weight contrast between semis and everyday passenger vehicles (minivans, sedans, compacts, etc.), the damage and danger of serious injury or death is heightened in accidents involving tractor-trailers.

Continue reading " Driver Finds Herself Between School Bus and 18-Wheeler, Palmetto State Works to Curb Rising Pedestrian Fatalities " »

During the summer months your Charleston accident lawyers at Howell and Christmas, LLC came across a number of train-related accidents occurring at railroad crossings. Links to the entries covering these incidents can be found directly below this post. But, over the last month there have been two fatal accidents involving trains. The happened in mid-November when a 27-year-old woman from Alabama either jumped off or fell from a CSX transportation train. According to a Post and Courier report, the train was about two miles south of U.S. Highway 17 and S.C. Highway 162 in Charleston County when the serious accident occurred. According to the Charleston County Coroner's Office, the woman died of blunt force trauma and it is thought that the fatal injury was not caused by direct impact with the train, but rather from the fall or jump from the moving locomotive.

After the accident, it was discovered that the woman was not riding alone on the train, she had illegally hopped on the train with a 29-year-old man from Connecticut. The man has since been charged with breaking and entering onto a train. According to an affidavit signed by the man, he continued on the train until it stopped in Georgia, where he told railroad officials about the incident.

More recently, a man was killed in Hanahan when his car was hit by an Amtrak passenger train. Witnesses on scene told authorities and investigators that a 1997 Pontiac Sunfire sedan was sitting on the railroad tracks when the crossing arms came down at Mabeline Road. Furthermore, witnesses said that the man in the vehicle appeared to be intoxicated at the time a southbound Amtrak train collided with the car, ripping the vehicle in half and killing the driver.

Continue reading " Vagabonds Hop Charleston Train Leading to Fatal Incident " »