Moncks Corner Legal Issues Blog

The perception of those who initiate personal injury claims in South Carolina may be that such people are simply looking for a quick payday. What may be lost in this assumption is the fact that accidents (even seemingly mundane slips and falls) can produce devastating injuries that not only exact a heavy financial toll from victims, but an emotional one, as well. The net effect of such can be monetary deficits that one may simply not be able to afford on his or her own. In such a scenario, one might be left with no choice but to seek compensation. 

The compensation gained through civil action may, however, be only enough to cover the exact expenses one was forced to deal with. Take the recent case of a Pennsylvania woman: she slipped and fell at a local store, and later required surgery to repair a meniscus tear in her knee. She sued the store of for liability and was awarded $7,481, or just enough to cover the costs of her injury. In an appeal, the woman argued that the judge who initially heard the case did not let the jury know that they could consider the weight of the evidence against the store when deciding how much she should receive. The appellate court, however, upheld the earlier ruling. 

Every day you hear about people dying due to heroin in South Carolina. It may make you wonder how so many people started using such a dangerous drug and continued to the point of addiction. It all leads back to the overprescribing and overuse of prescription opioids. Heroin is cheaper and easier to get opioid that provides the same feeling or high as the prescription alternative.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the opioid abuse issue began in the last 1990s. Pharmaceutical companies wanted to sell more prescription opioids. They pushed their agenda that these drugs were not addictive and not harmful so that doctors began prescribing them more often and in larger quantities. This is when many people first began using the drugs.

Someone called the police, and it may have been you. However, when police arrived and found you in a physical altercation with one or more people, officers probably just arrested everyone in order to break up the fight with the intention of sorting things out once all was quiet and anyone who needs it received medical care.

Afterward, it's possible that you could face a first-class game of "he said-she said" as police interview everyone involved. You could find yourself facing the possibility of defending yourself against charges for assault, battery or both. You know that your part in the altercation was self-defense, but you may need to do some work to make officials see it.

College students or other people early in their working lives in South Carolina who have been convicted of drunk driving offenses may face a wide range of consequences that include fines, the use of an ignition interlock device and more. Another concern for many people is how the criminal conviction for driving under the influence or driving while intoxicated may impact their future ability to get a job. 

In today's world, a background check has become all but standard procedure for any job hiring process. According to Monster.com, it is definitely possible to secure a good job even with a criminal mark on one's record. One factor that employers generally taken into consideration is the nature of the offense and its relation or not to the type of position a person is applying for. For example, if a person is applying for a position in which they must drive a company vehicle, a drunk driving conviction may carry more weight than if the person is applying for a position in which driving on behalf of the company has no part.