Schiller & Hamilton Law Firm represents injured people across Beaufort County and the Lowcountry from an office at 78 Sams Point Road. Call 843-253-0603 for a free consultation.
A serious injury changes your week, your work and your household budget at the same time. The other side starts working on the claim the day it happens. You should have someone working on your side just as fast.
Schiller & Hamilton Law Firm keeps an office at 78 Sams Point Road in Beaufort, SC 29907. That address sits on SC-802, on Lady's Island, minutes from downtown Beaufort, Port Royal, St. Helena Island and the Sea Islands. You can sit down with someone here, rather than calling a number in another state.
The office handles motor vehicle and injury cases along with premises liability, medical malpractice, nursing home abuse, workers compensation and wrongful death. Personal injury matters are taken on a contingency fee, described by the firm as no charge for representation unless you receive compensation, and the initial consultation is free.
Different cases turn on different evidence. A rear-end wreck on Boundary Street and a fall in a rental kitchen on Hilton Head are not investigated the same way.
intersection collisions, rear-end impacts, left-turn crashes, hit and run, uninsured and underinsured drivers.
tractor trailers, delivery vehicles and commercial fleets, where driver logs and telematics data get overwritten if nobody asks for them.
right of way violations and drivers who say they never saw the bike.
crosswalk and shoulder collisions on roads that were not built with walkers or riders in mind.
collisions, wake injuries, propeller injuries and operators under the influence.
grocery stores, restaurants, hotels, vacation rentals, parking lots and pools.
claims brought by the personal representative of the estate for the benefit of the surviving family.
The South Carolina Department of Public Safety publishes a county page every year. For 2024 it recorded 3,895 total traffic collisions in Beaufort County, including 23 fatal collisions and 66 serious injury collisions. Twenty-seven people were killed, 70 were seriously injured and 1,407 suffered other injuries. The county ranked 13th of 46 for total collisions.
Beaufort County has no interstate mileage, so the volume lands on surface highways. In 2024 the fact book logged 1,744 collisions on US primary routes and 945 on SC primary routes. The five worst roadways were US-278 with 924 collisions, US-21 with 781, SC-170 with 496, SC-46 with 228 and Bluffton Parkway with 125. The two worst intersections were SC-170 at US-278 with 62 and US-21 at SC-170 with 56.
Failure to yield the right of way was listed 1,030 times on 2024 Beaufort County collision reports. Distraction or inattention was listed 882 times, and driving too fast for conditions 543 times. Those are the facts an adjuster argues about, and they are usually settled by the officer's narrative, the scene photos and the physical damage.
People outside a vehicle take the worst of it. In 2024 Beaufort County reported 43 motorcyclist victims, including 4 killed and 9 seriously injured, 35 pedalcyclist victims, including 1 killed, and 31 pedestrian victims, including 6 killed.
US-21 runs east out of Beaufort as the Sea Island Parkway toward Lady's Island, St. Helena and Hunting Island. SC-170 carries traffic toward Bluffton and Hilton Head. SC-802 runs the length of Sams Point Road. The Richard V. Woods Memorial Bridge is a swing bridge connecting downtown Beaufort to Lady's Island, and it opens for vessel traffic, which stacks cars on both approaches. The J. E. McTeer Bridge carries the US-21 traffic routed around town.
That mix matters for a claim. Many drivers on these roads do not live here. They are in rental cars, towing boats, looking for a turn they have never made, and they are insured by carriers in other states. Visitors and witnesses leave within a day or two, and resort and vacation rental properties overwrite camera footage on short cycles.
MCAS Beaufort and Parris Island add commuter volume and heavy visitor volume around graduation weeks. Service members and military families are represented as private clients like anyone else. This firm has no affiliation with the Department of Defense, the Marine Corps or the Department of Veterans Affairs, and nothing here is a government service.
The consequence is speed. Witness numbers, dash and doorbell video, business camera footage and vehicle data are all perishable. A preservation letter sent in the first week is worth more than a strong argument made six months later.
Tell us what happened. The review is free and there is no obligation.
Boating claims in the Lowcountry are common and they do not work like car wrecks. The Coast Guard counted 154 reported recreational boating incidents and 10 deaths in South Carolina in 2024.
South Carolina Code Section 50-21-130 sets duties at the scene. An operator involved in a collision or casualty must render assistance that is practical or necessary to people affected, and must give his name, address and identification of his vessel in writing to anyone injured and to the owner of any damaged property. A full description of a reportable accident must be filed with the Department of Natural Resources within 48 hours. If the accident results in death, loss of consciousness or serious bodily injury, the owner or operator must notify the department immediately.
The investigating agency is usually SCDNR rather than a police department, so the report comes on a different timetable. Coverage can come from a boat policy, a homeowners policy, a charter or rental operator's policy, or more than one at once.
South Carolina follows modified comparative negligence. The rule comes from Nelson v. Concrete Supply Co., decided by the South Carolina Supreme Court in 1991, which replaced the old contributory negligence rule for causes of action arising on or after July 1, 1991. A plaintiff may recover if his negligence is not greater than the defendant's. Put the other way, you are barred once your share of fault passes 50 percent.
If you are not barred, your recovery is reduced by your percentage. Twenty percent of the fault means twenty percent less. South Carolina Code Section 15-38-15 puts the question to the jury and requires that the percentages assigned to the plaintiff and the defendants add up to 100 percent.
This is why an adjuster's first questions are about what you were doing, not what their driver was doing. Every point of fault pushed onto you is money off the claim. Speculating on a recorded statement or guessing at speeds and distances gets used later.
Miss the deadline and the merits stop mattering. The core periods are set by statute.
South Carolina Code Section 15-3-530(5) covers an action for assault, battery, or any injury to the person or rights of another not arising on contract.
And Section 15-3-530(6) states the period begins to run on the death of the person on account of whose death the action is brought.
The South Carolina Tort Claims Act is stricter. Section 15-78-110 bars an action unless it is commenced within two years after the date the loss was or should have been discovered, or within three years if a verified claim was filed first.
Deadlines are the outer limit, not the plan. Evidence, witnesses and video disappear long before three years.
Tell us what happened. The review is free and there is no obligation.
South Carolina Code Section 38-77-140 sets the minimum auto liability limits at 25,000 dollars for bodily injury to one person in any one accident, 50,000 dollars for bodily injury to two or more people, and 25,000 dollars for property damage. Uninsured motorist coverage is mandatory and under Section 38-77-150 cannot be written below those limits. Underinsured motorist coverage is different: under Section 38-77-160 carriers must offer it up to the limits of the insured's liability coverage, at the insured's option.
Those minimums are small against a real injury. An ambulance ride, an emergency room visit and imaging can pass 25,000 dollars before anyone discusses surgery or lost income. When the at-fault driver carries the minimum, your own uninsured and underinsured coverage is often where the rest of the case lives. Pull your declarations page early.
First offers arrive before the picture is clear, usually before you have a diagnosis. The standard moves are a recorded statement in the first days, a blanket medical authorization that opens your entire history, a fast check while you are worried about rent, and delay once you say no.
Most of what decides a claim happens in the first week, usually before anyone hires a lawyer.
Gaps in treatment are the first thing an adjuster points to.
A collision report, or an incident report from the business, creates a record that is hard to argue with later.
both vehicles, the roadway, skid marks, debris, traffic control, the weather, the spill you slipped in.
Tourists leave the county quickly.
That is a policy obligation, separate from negotiating.
Do not give the other driver's insurer a recorded statement, and do not sign a blanket medical release, before you understand how both are used.
Photos and captions get pulled into the file.
Distance costs you. A firm with an office on Sams Point Road can reach a scene on US-21 or SC-170 while the marks are still on the pavement, pull footage from a business before it cycles, and put a person in front of you without a video call three weeks out.
Local also means knowing the ground: which stretch of road is a county maintenance question and which is state, how long footage sits on a Beaufort restaurant's system, which agency responded and what their report will and will not contain.
Schiller & Hamilton Law Firm also maintains offices in Charleston, Rock Hill and Lancaster. For a Beaufort or Lowcountry injury, start at 78 Sams Point Road.
Schiller & Hamilton Law Firm, 78 Sams Point Rd, Beaufort, SC 29907. Call 843-253-0603. The initial consultation is free and personal injury cases are handled on a contingency fee. Bring what you have: the collision or incident report, photos, witness names, your insurance declarations page and any letter from an insurer. If you are still being treated, come anyway.
