Pedestrian Accident Complaint - South Carolina

PEDESTRIAN ACCIDENT COMPLAINT — SOUTH CAROLINA

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Caption
2. Parties, Jurisdiction, and Venue
3. General Factual Allegations
4. Count I — Negligence (Against Defendant Driver)
5. Count II — Negligence Per Se (Against Defendant Driver)
6. Count III — Negligent Entrustment / Vicarious Liability (Against Defendant Owner)
7. Comparative Fault Allegation
8. Damages
9. Prayer for Relief
10. Jury Demand
11. Reservation of Rights
12. Signature and Service Blocks
13. Certificate of Service
14. South Carolina Practice Notes
15. Sources and References

1. CAPTION

STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA

COUNTY OF [COUNTY]

IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, [________] JUDICIAL CIRCUIT

CIVIL ACTION NO. [YYYY]-CP-[____]-[________]

COMPLAINT FOR DAMAGES (PEDESTRIAN COLLISION)

JURY TRIAL DEMANDED

Plaintiff, complaining of Defendants, alleges as follows:

2. PARTIES, JURISDICTION, AND VENUE

1. Plaintiff [PLAINTIFF NAME] ("Plaintiff") is an adult resident and citizen of [COUNTY] County, South Carolina, and at all material times was lawfully present as a pedestrian upon or alongside the public roadways of this State.

2. Defendant [DRIVER NAME] ("Driver Defendant") is, upon information and belief, an adult resident and citizen of [COUNTY / STATE] and may be served with process at [SERVICE ADDRESS] pursuant to Rule 4, SCRCP.

3. Defendant [OWNER / EMPLOYER NAME] ("Owner Defendant") is [an individual / a corporation / an LLC] that, at all material times, owned, controlled, and/or maintained the vehicle operated by Driver Defendant and/or employed Driver Defendant. Owner Defendant may be served at [SERVICE ADDRESS / REGISTERED AGENT].

4. This action arises under South Carolina tort law for personal injuries sustained when a motor vehicle struck Plaintiff, a pedestrian, in [COUNTY] County, South Carolina, on [__/__/____].

5. The Court of Common Pleas is the civil division of the Circuit Court. Under S.C. Const. art. V, § 11, the Circuit Court is a general trial court with original civil jurisdiction except where exclusive jurisdiction is assigned to an inferior court. Plaintiff claims damages of $[________________] or an amount to be determined by the factfinder. S.C. Code Ann. § 22-3-10(2) gives magistrates concurrent jurisdiction over specified personal- or property-injury damages actions when the damages claimed do not exceed $7,500; that ceiling is not a minimum amount-in-controversy requirement for the Court of Common Pleas.

6. Venue is alleged to be proper in this county under S.C. Code Ann. § 15-7-30 because [IDENTIFY EACH DEFENDANT'S TYPE AND THE APPLICABLE SUBSECTION; STATE WHERE A DEFENDANT RESIDED OR HAD ITS PRINCIPAL PLACE OF BUSINESS WHEN THE CLAIM AROSE, AND/OR WHERE THE MOST SUBSTANTIAL PART OF THE ALLEGED ACT OR OMISSION OCCURRED].

7. This action is timely commenced within the three-year limitations period of S.C. Code Ann. § 15-3-530, the Collision having occurred on [__/__/____].

3. GENERAL FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS

8. On [__/__/____] at approximately [TIME], Plaintiff was lawfully crossing / walking [DESCRIBE — e.g., within the marked crosswalk at the intersection of ___ and ___; within an unmarked crosswalk at the intersection of ___; along the shoulder facing traffic on ___], in [CITY], South Carolina (the "Collision").

9. At the same time and place, Driver Defendant was operating a [YEAR / MAKE / MODEL] [passenger vehicle / pickup truck / SUV / commercial vehicle] owned by Owner Defendant, traveling [direction] on [ROADWAY].

10. [Where applicable] A pedestrian-control or traffic-control signal [displayed "WALK" / displayed a green light in Plaintiff's direction of travel / was not in place or not in operation], and Plaintiff had the right-of-way and was crossing within the crosswalk.

11. Traffic, lighting, and weather conditions were [describe — e.g., clear, dry, daylight; or dusk / nighttime, with Plaintiff in or near a marked crosswalk].

12. The Collision occurred when Driver Defendant [SELECT / DESCRIBE THE MANNER — e.g., failed to yield the right-of-way to Plaintiff in the crosswalk; turned left or right across the crosswalk into Plaintiff's path; failed to keep a proper lookout and struck Plaintiff; was traveling at an excessive or unsafe speed; was distracted by a mobile device; overtook a vehicle stopped at the crosswalk to let Plaintiff cross; ran a red light or stop sign].

13. Plaintiff was plainly visible to Driver Defendant, who failed to see Plaintiff in time, misjudged the situation, and/or failed to exercise the due care that South Carolina law requires of every driver to avoid colliding with a pedestrian.

14. Plaintiff was exercising reasonable care for Plaintiff's own safety at all material times.

15. As a direct and proximate result of the Collision, Plaintiff — an unprotected pedestrian struck by the mass and force of a motor vehicle — sustained severe, painful, and permanent bodily injuries, including but not limited to [LIST INJURIES — e.g., orthopedic fractures, traumatic brain injury, spinal injury, internal injuries, degloving / road rash, and disfiguring scarring].

16. Because a pedestrian has no structural protection, restraint system, or crumple zone, the forces of the Collision caused Plaintiff to suffer catastrophic injuries materially more severe than those typically sustained by occupants of vehicles.

17. Plaintiff received emergency care at [HOSPITAL / EMS PROVIDER] and has since undergone [SURGERIES / HOSPITALIZATION / REHABILITATION / ONGOING TREATMENT], and will require future medical care.

18. All injuries and damages alleged were the foreseeable, natural, and probable consequence of Defendants' conduct.

4. COUNT I — NEGLIGENCE (Against Defendant Driver)

19. Plaintiff realleges and incorporates Paragraphs 1 through 18 as if fully set forth herein.

20. Driver Defendant owed Plaintiff a duty to exercise reasonable care in the operation of a motor vehicle, to obey the South Carolina rules of the road, to keep a proper lookout for pedestrians, to yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian lawfully within a crosswalk, and to exercise due care to avoid colliding with any pedestrian upon the roadway.

21. Driver Defendant breached that duty by, among other things:

• Failing to yield the right-of-way to Plaintiff, a pedestrian crossing within a crosswalk;
• Failing to keep a proper and careful lookout for pedestrians;
• Operating the vehicle at a speed greater than was reasonable and prudent for the conditions and the presence of pedestrians;
• Driving while distracted, inattentive, or impaired;
• Failing to exercise due care to avoid colliding with a pedestrian and to sound the horn when necessary;
• Overtaking and passing a vehicle stopped at a crosswalk to permit a pedestrian to cross; and
• Failing to take reasonable evasive action to avoid striking Plaintiff.

22. Each of the foregoing acts and omissions, separately and in combination, was the actual and proximate cause of the Collision and of Plaintiff's injuries and damages.

5. COUNT II — NEGLIGENCE PER SE (Against Defendant Driver)

23. Plaintiff realleges and incorporates Paragraphs 1 through 22 as if fully set forth herein.

24. The South Carolina motor-vehicle laws impose specific statutory duties on Driver Defendant for the protection of pedestrians such as Plaintiff. These include, as applicable to the manner of the Collision:

• S.C. Code Ann. § 56-5-3130 — when traffic-control signals are not in place or not in operation, a driver shall yield the right-of-way, slowing down or stopping if need be, to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within a crosswalk when the pedestrian is upon the driver's half of the roadway or so closely approaching from the opposite half as to be in danger; and no driver may overtake and pass a vehicle stopped at a crosswalk to permit a pedestrian to cross;
• S.C. Code Ann. § 56-5-3230 — every driver shall exercise due care to avoid colliding with any pedestrian upon any roadway, shall give warning by sounding the horn when necessary, and shall exercise proper precaution upon observing a child or any confused or incapacitated person;
• S.C. Code Ann. § 56-5-3250 — a driver emerging from or entering an alley, building, private road, or driveway shall yield the right-of-way to any pedestrian on a sidewalk; and
• [Where applicable] the pedestrian-control and traffic-control signal provisions of the South Carolina Uniform Act Regulating Traffic.

25. Plaintiff is within the class of persons the foregoing statutes were enacted to protect, and the Collision is the type of harm those statutes were designed to prevent.

26. Driver Defendant violated [CITE THE SPECIFIC SECTION(S) APPLICABLE], and was cited for [TRAFFIC CITATION, IF ANY]. Such violation constitutes negligence per se under South Carolina law, and was a direct and proximate cause of Plaintiff's injuries and damages.

6. COUNT III — NEGLIGENT ENTRUSTMENT / VICARIOUS LIABILITY (Against Defendant Owner)

27. Plaintiff realleges and incorporates Paragraphs 1 through 26 as if fully set forth herein.

28. Owner Defendant entrusted the subject vehicle to Driver Defendant when Owner Defendant knew, or in the exercise of reasonable care should have known, that Driver Defendant was an incompetent, inexperienced, reckless, habitually negligent, or otherwise unfit driver.

29. Alternatively, at the time of the Collision, Driver Defendant was operating the vehicle as the agent, servant, or employee of Owner Defendant and within the scope of that agency or employment, rendering Owner Defendant vicariously liable under the doctrine of respondeat superior.

30. Owner Defendant's negligent entrustment and/or vicarious liability was a direct and proximate cause of Plaintiff's injuries and damages.

7. COMPARATIVE FAULT ALLEGATION

31. Plaintiff was free from fault and did nothing, and failed to do nothing, that proximately caused or contributed to the Collision.

32. In the alternative, and without admitting any fault, under South Carolina's modified comparative-negligence doctrine (Nelson v. Concrete Supply Co., 303 S.C. 243, 399 S.E.2d 783 (1991)), any fault attributable to Plaintiff does not exceed the fault attributable to Defendants, and Plaintiff's recovery should be reduced only by the percentage of fault, if any, assigned to Plaintiff.

33. To the extent Defendants seek apportionment under S.C. Code Ann. § 15-38-15, Plaintiff alleges that Defendants' conduct was a proximate cause of the indivisible injuries herein. Apply the version of § 15-38-15 governing the claim's accrual date, including its applicable exceptions and nondefendant-allocation procedures.

8. DAMAGES

34. As a direct and proximate result of Defendants' conduct, Plaintiff has suffered and seeks recovery of the following:

• Past and future medical expenses — emergency, ambulance, hospital, surgical, diagnostic, rehabilitative, pharmaceutical, and physician care;
• Future medical and life care — anticipated surgeries, therapy, assistive devices, prosthetics, and long-term or attendant care, to be proven at trial;
• Lost wages and diminished earning capacity — past lost income and the permanent impairment of Plaintiff's ability to earn;
• Physical pain, suffering, and mental anguish — past and future;
• Permanent physical impairment and disfigurement, including scarring from road rash and surgical intervention;
• Loss of enjoyment of life; and
• Property damage to Plaintiff's personal effects, as applicable.

35. Plaintiff pleads each category of damage separately and in the alternative.

36. Should the evidence establish that Driver Defendant's conduct was willful, wanton, or reckless, Plaintiff seeks punitive damages subject to S.C. Code Ann. § 15-32-510 et seq. (pleading and procedure) and the statutory limitation in S.C. Code Ann. § 15-32-530, the constitutionality and applicability of which Plaintiff expressly reserves the right to challenge.

9. PRAYER FOR RELIEF

WHEREFORE, Plaintiff respectfully demands judgment against Defendants as follows:

• A. Actual and compensatory damages in an amount to be determined by the trier of fact;
• B. Punitive damages, if proven, consistent with S.C. Code Ann. § 15-32-510 et seq.;
• C. Pre-judgment and post-judgment interest as allowed by law;
• D. Costs of this action; and
• E. Such other and further relief as the Court deems just and proper.

10. JURY DEMAND

Plaintiff hereby demands a trial by jury on all issues so triable as a matter of right.

11. RESERVATION OF RIGHTS

Plaintiff reserves the right to amend this Complaint to add or substitute parties, to assert additional claims (including a claim for punitive damages should discovery support it), and to conform the pleadings to the evidence as discovery proceeds.

12. SIGNATURE AND SERVICE BLOCKS

Respectfully submitted this [____] day of [MONTH], 20[____].

/s/ [________________________________]

[ATTORNEY NAME] (S.C. Bar No. [________])

[LAW FIRM NAME]

Attorney for Plaintiff

[STREET ADDRESS]

[CITY, STATE ZIP]

Telephone: [NUMBER]

Email: [EMAIL]

13. CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that on the [____] day of [_______________], 20[____], I served (or will cause to be served with the Summons) a true and correct copy of the foregoing COMPLAINT upon the following by [the Clerk with process / process server / certified mail, return receipt requested / the Court's electronic filing system]:

[NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) OF DEFENDANT(S) / COUNSEL]

/s/ [________________________________]

[ATTORNEY NAME]

14. SOUTH CAROLINA PRACTICE NOTES

• Statute of limitations — three years. Personal-injury actions in South Carolina must be commenced within three years of accrual. S.C. Code Ann. § 15-3-530(5). If the pedestrian was killed, the wrongful-death and survival statutes (S.C. Code Ann. §§ 15-51-10 et seq., 15-5-90) carry their own limitations; verify before filing. Note that claims against governmental entities under the South Carolina Tort Claims Act have a shorter (two-year, or three-year if a verified claim is timely filed) limitations period under S.C. Code Ann. § 15-78-110 — see below.
• MODIFIED COMPARATIVE NEGLIGENCE — the central liability issue. Under Nelson v. Concrete Supply Co., 303 S.C. 243, 399 S.E.2d 783 (1991), a plaintiff recovers only if the plaintiff's fault does not exceed 50%; the plaintiff is barred if more than 50% at fault, and any recovery is reduced by the plaintiff's percentage. South Carolina abandoned contributory negligence in 1991. The defense will seek to push the pedestrian over the 50% line by arguing jaywalking (§ 56-5-3150), crossing against a signal, intoxication, dark clothing, or "darting out."
• The pedestrian's own duties. A pedestrian crossing other than within a crosswalk must yield to vehicles (§ 56-5-3150); a pedestrian must not suddenly leave a curb or place of safety into the path of a close vehicle; and pedestrians must obey traffic-control signals. A violation supplies the defense's comparative-fault theory, but the driver's independent due-care duty under § 56-5-3230 survives regardless of the pedestrian's location. Investigate the precise crossing location, the signal phase, conspicuity, and speed.
• Apportionment and joint liability. Under S.C. Code Ann. § 15-38-15, a defendant whose conduct is determined to be less than 50% of the total fault is liable only for its proportionate share. For claims arising or accruing after January 1, 2026, subsection (F) excepts willful, wanton, reckless, intentional, and illegal-or-illicit-drug conduct; the amended subsection no longer lists gross negligence or alcohol, and subsections (G) and (H) govern nondefendant allocation. Earlier-accruing claims remain governed by the prior version. Plead facts, not a superseded exception list, and confirm the accrual date before applying the statute.
• UM/UIM and hit-and-run. A pedestrian struck by a motor vehicle may recover under their own automobile uninsured/underinsured-motorist (UM/UIM) coverage — and under the UM/UIM coverage of a resident relative's policy — even though the pedestrian was not in a vehicle, because pedestrians are "insureds" for UM/UIM purposes. UM coverage also responds to a hit-and-run / phantom vehicle, subject to prompt-reporting and (in many policies) physical-contact requirements. South Carolina requires mandatory UM coverage and permits optional UIM (S.C. Code Ann. §§ 38-77-150, 38-77-160). Promptly identify and notify every applicable policy, serve the UM carrier as required, and comply with consent-to-settle / subrogation procedures before resolving the liability claim.
• Governmental defendants — Tort Claims Act. If a public roadway design, signal timing, or maintenance defect contributed, the South Carolina Tort Claims Act (S.C. Code Ann. § 15-78-10 et seq.) governs claims against the State or a political subdivision, including verified-claim/notice requirements, damages caps, and a shortened limitations period. Identify and preserve any such claim promptly.
• Service. Service is governed by Rule 4, SCRCP. Out-of-state defendants may be served under South Carolina's long-arm statute (S.C. Code Ann. §§ 36-2-801 et seq.) and the nonresident-motorist provisions.

15. SOURCES AND REFERENCES

• South Carolina Code of Laws (Title 15 — Civil Remedies and Procedures; Title 56 — Motor Vehicles) — https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/statmast.php
• S.C. Code Ann. § 15-3-530 (three-year limitations)
• Nelson v. Concrete Supply Co., 303 S.C. 243, 399 S.E.2d 783 (1991) (modified comparative negligence)
• S.C. Code Ann. § 15-38-15 (tortfeasor allocation and joint-and-several liability; claim-accrual-date-specific versions) — https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t15c038.php
• S.C. Code Ann. § 56-5-3130 (right-of-way in crosswalk); § 56-5-3150 (crossing other than at crosswalks); § 56-5-3230 (due care by drivers); § 56-5-3250 (driveway/sidewalk) — https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t56c005.php
• S.C. Code Ann. §§ 38-77-150, 38-77-160 (UM/UIM coverage); §§ 15-32-510 to -530 (punitive damages)
• South Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure (Rules 4, 8, 38)

Disclaimer: This template is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. An attorney licensed in South Carolina must review and customize this document before filing. Laws, citations, and court rules change frequently; verify all authorities before use.