Pedestrian Accident Settlements in South Carolina

If you were hit while walking in South Carolina, there's no set figure for what your case is worth. No statute names a dollar amount for a pedestrian claim. What the number actually comes down to is a chain of state-specific rules: how much insurance is available, how a jury would split the fault, what your injuries cost, and whether you filed in time. Each of those is governed by South Carolina law, and each can move the final settlement by a lot.

The insurance that pays your claim

South Carolina requires every driver to carry liability coverage of at least $25,000 for bodily injury to one person, $50,000 per accident, and $25,000 for property damage, written as 25/50/25.¹ For someone hit on foot, the at-fault driver's bodily-injury liability policy is usually the first and main source of money. The problem is that the floor is low. If the driver carried only the state minimum and your medical bills run past $25,000, which is easy to do with a fractured pelvis or a head injury, that policy alone can't make you whole.

South Carolina does not require personal injury protection. Section 38-77-144 says plainly that "there is no personal injury protection (PIP) coverage mandated under the automobile insurance laws of this State."² Medical payments coverage exists, but only as an optional add-on the driver may or may not have bought. There's no no-fault system here and no no-fault filing deadline, because South Carolina is an at-fault state. You pursue the driver who hit you and their insurer, not your own no-fault benefits.

Your own auto policy can pay even though you were walking

This is the part people miss. If you own a car in South Carolina, your own auto insurance can pay out on a pedestrian claim.

Uninsured motorist (UM) coverage is mandatory. Section 38-77-150 requires every auto policy to carry UM bodily-injury limits at least equal to the state minimum, $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident, plus $25,000 in UM property damage.³ If the driver who hit you had no insurance, or fled and was never identified, your UM coverage steps in.

Underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage works differently. Insurers have to offer it up to your own liability limits, but you're allowed to reject it in writing under Section 38-77-160.⁴ If you kept it, UIM fills the gap when the at-fault driver's policy is too small for your injuries. For a badly hurt pedestrian, stacking the driver's liability policy on top of your own UIM is often the difference between a five-figure and a six-figure recovery. Pull your own declarations page and check.

How fault cuts the number

South Carolina follows modified comparative negligence with a 51% bar. The rule comes from the state Supreme Court's 1991 decision in Nelson v. Concrete Supply Co., which replaced the old all-or-nothing contributory negligence doctrine.⁵ You can recover as long as your share of the fault is not greater than the other side's. In practice that's a 50% ceiling: at 50% fault you still collect a reduced amount, at 51% you get nothing. Whatever percentage the jury assigns you comes straight off the top of your award.

Fault matters more in pedestrian cases than in almost any other kind, because insurers fight over who had the right of way. Section 56-5-3130 requires a driver to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk when the pedestrian is on the driver's half of the road or close enough to be in danger. The same statute cuts the other way: a pedestrian may not "suddenly leave a curb or other place of safety and walk or run into the path of a vehicle which is so close as to constitute an immediate hazard."⁶ Expect the driver's insurer to argue you stepped off the curb into traffic or crossed midblock. In South Carolina those arguments feed directly into your comparative-fault percentage, and every point that sticks lowers the check.

The caps, and the ones that don't apply to you

Here's the good news for injured pedestrians: South Carolina puts no cap on compensatory damages in an ordinary crash case. Your medical bills, lost wages, future care, and pain and suffering are not limited by statute. The $350,000 cap people sometimes hear about applies only to noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases under Section 15-32-220, not to a car hitting a pedestrian.⁷

Punitive damages are capped, but with an exception that comes up often in these cases. Section 15-32-530 limits punitive damages to the greater of three times compensatory damages or $500,000, rising to four times or $2,000,000 for felony-level or financially motivated conduct. The cap disappears entirely when the defendant intended to harm you, was convicted of a related felony, or was under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time.⁸ That alcohol exception matters, because impaired driving shows up in a large share of pedestrian deaths. NHTSA found that 46 percent of fatal pedestrian crashes in 2023 involved alcohol on the part of the driver or the pedestrian.⁹ If a drunk driver hit you, the usual punitive ceiling is off the table.

South Carolina also allows dram shop claims against a bar or restaurant that overserves. A 2025 law changed the math. Under 2025 Act No. 42 (H.3430), effective January 1, 2026, a new Section 61-2-147 makes a liable alcohol licensee jointly and severally liable for 50 percent of the plaintiff's actual damages when the drunk driver is also charged, and it requires alcohol servers to complete state-approved training.¹⁰

The deadline that can zero out a strong case

You have three years to file a pedestrian injury lawsuit in South Carolina, measured from the date of injury, under Section 15-3-530(5).¹¹ Miss it and the court will dismiss the case no matter how badly you were hurt or how clearly the driver was at fault. The same three-year window covers vehicle and property damage claims under Section 15-3-530(4).¹²

There are exceptions for people who can't protect their own rights. Section 15-3-40 pauses the clock while the injured person is a minor or under a legal disability, though the extension for being a minor is capped at five years, and no more than one year runs after the disability ends.¹³ If a child was hit, don't assume the ordinary three years applies. The timing can be different, and it's worth confirming early.

Why South Carolina settlements skew serious

South Carolina is one of the most dangerous states in the country to be a pedestrian. In 2023 the state recorded 187 pedestrian deaths out of 1,047 total traffic fatalities, and its pedestrian death rate of 3.48 per 100,000 people ranked third-highest in the nation, behind only New Mexico and Arizona and well above the national rate of 2.18.⁹ Most pedestrian deaths nationally happen in the dark (77 percent) and away from intersections (74 percent), and nearly one in four victims is struck by a hit-and-run driver.⁹

Those patterns shape settlement value. Crashes at night and hit-and-run crashes tend to produce severe injuries and messy fault disputes, which is exactly where the comparative-negligence rule and your own UM/UIM coverage decide how much you take home. Order the police crash report early, because the officer's diagram and fault notes often anchor the entire negotiation.

If your injuries are serious or fault is disputed, talk to a lawyer who handles South Carolina pedestrian cases before you give a recorded statement or accept a first offer. You can find an attorney who works these claims.

This article is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

S.C. Code Ann. Section 38-77-140 (minimum liability limits, 25/50/25). https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t38c077.php
S.C. Code Ann. Section 38-77-144 (no PIP coverage mandated). https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t38c077.php
S.C. Code Ann. Section 38-77-150 (mandatory uninsured motorist coverage). https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t38c077.php
S.C. Code Ann. Section 38-77-160 (underinsured motorist coverage; offer and written rejection). https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t38c077.php
Nelson v. Concrete Supply Co., 303 S.C. 243, 399 S.E.2d 783 (S.C. 1991). https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1265650/nelson-v-concrete-supply-company/
S.C. Code Ann. Section 56-5-3130 (pedestrians' right-of-way in crosswalks). https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t56c005.php
S.C. Code Ann. Section 15-32-220 ($350,000 noneconomic damages cap, medical malpractice only). https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t15c032.php
S.C. Code Ann. Section 15-32-530 (punitive damage caps; alcohol/drug, intent, and felony exceptions). https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t15c032.php
NHTSA, Traffic Safety Facts, Pedestrians: 2023 Data (DOT HS 813 727, June 2025). https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/813727.pdf
2025 Act No. 42 (H.3430), enacting S.C. Code Ann. Section 61-2-147 (effective Jan. 1, 2026). https://www.scstatehouse.gov/sess126_2025-2026/bills/3430.htm
S.C. Code Ann. Section 15-3-530(5) (three-year limitation, personal injury). https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t15c003.php
S.C. Code Ann. Section 15-3-530(4) (three-year limitation, injury to property). https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t15c003.php
S.C. Code Ann. Section 15-3-40 (tolling for minority or legal disability). https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t15c003.php

Pedestrian Accident Settlement Amounts in South Carolina