South Carolina High Court Affirms Truck Accident Damages
The South Carolina Supreme Court recently rejected a challenge to a default judgment for damages caused in a serious Greenville truck accident.

November 19, 2011 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The South Carolina Supreme Court recently rejected a challenge to a default judgment for damages caused by a truck accident. In McClurg v. Deaton, the court upheld a 2008 Court of Appeals of South Carolina decision, which had affirmed the trial court's default judgment against a trucking company and its employee and a resulting damages award of $800,000.

The case was based on a 2002 motor vehicle accident in Greenville involving a passenger vehicle and an out-of-state tractor trailer owned by New Prime, Inc. The plaintiffs, the woman who was driving the car and her husband, enlisted a South Carolina personal injury attorney to handle their claim.

Soon after taking on the trucking accident lawsuit, the plaintiffs' lawyer initiated settlement negotiations with Zurich North America, the trucking company's insurer. After negotiations failed to produce a settlement acceptable to the plaintiffs, the attorney informed the insurance company of his clients' intent to proceed to litigation and provided them with a copy of the complaint, which named both the driver and New Prime as defendants. However, negotiations continued for another several months.

Meanwhile, the plaintiffs filed suit against the driver alone, who had left employment two months after the accident, and the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles located him in Texas and served notice of the truck accident claim. He failed to respond or appear to defend against the claim, and the trial court issued a default judgment based on the driver's pain and suffering, past and future lost wages, and mental anguish, as well as her husband's loss of consortium.

Swift and Aggressive Action on Behalf of Injured Clients

After New Prime and Zurich received notice of the legal action, the driver and New Prime (which had been allowed to intervene) moved to set aside the default judgment, and the trial court denied the motions. In affirming the denial, both appellate courts emphasized that the defendants had failed to raise a "meritorious defense," a necessary basis for overturning a default judgment under South Carolina's civil procedure rules.

A car accident lawyer's first duty is to assess evidence of truck driver negligence and other factors such as fatigue, maintenance issues and other truck accident causes to present a clear case for compensation to insurance companies. The next step is to act assertively on behalf of an injured client based on convincing proof of fault backed by a clear record of the harm suffered.

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