South Carolina requires drivers to carry minimum liability coverage of just $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident. These limits were set 18 years ago.
A catastrophic injury case routinely involves hundreds of thousands of dollars in past medical bills alone. Add hundreds of thousands more in future medical costs. Then tens or hundreds of thousands in past wage loss. Then future wage loss on top of that.
The plaintiff can also recover for pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, and disfigurement.
The math doesn't work.
When your policy carries $100,000 or $500,000 in coverage and you've caused injuries with damages exceeding those limits, a conflict emerges between you and your insurance company.
You want protection from personal liability. Your insurer wants to minimize payouts.
The Choice Insurance Companies Make
In serious accident cases where damages clearly exceed policy limits, the logical move would be for your insurance company to pay the full limits to protect you from personal exposure.
In many cases, they don't.
After nearly 30 years of practicing injury law in South Carolina, I can say that more times than not, insurance companies choose to drag things out and make recovery as difficult as possible.
The attorney your insurance company hired to represent you is simultaneously representing the insurance company. While the law allows this dual representation, it prohibits it when an actual conflict of interest arises between you and your insurer.
In catastrophic injury cases where damages clearly exceed policy limits, that actual conflict exists.
When Defense Attorneys Hold On Too Long
When plaintiffs' attorneys point out this conflict, the response varies. Some defense attorneys withdraw and send the insured to independent counsel. Others don't.
Far too many times, defense attorneys continue representing both the insurance company and the insured past the point when an actual conflict has arisen.
The real world consequences for you can be devastating.
Many times you could have been protected through a simple mechanism: the insurance defense attorney tenders the policy limits in exchange for a covenant not to execute a judgment against you.
This protects you completely. The plaintiff gets the policy limits. You face no personal liability.
Whether greed, ego, or bad analysis drives the decision not to protect you varies case by case. But when the defense attorney withdraws and you get your own attorney who represents only you, that attorney almost always advises the insurance company to pay the policy limits and protect you.
What Happens When You're Exposed
When your insurance company fails to pay policy limits in a serious injury case, they're exposing you to personal liability for any amount a jury awards above your policy limits.
If the jury awards $2 million and your policy covers $500,000, you're personally liable for $1.5 million.
You have the right to sue your insurance company for bad faith in not protecting you. But here's what often happens: you sign over your bad faith case rights to the plaintiff so the plaintiff can sue the insurance company directly for their bad faith actions.
The plaintiff steps into your shoes. They pursue the insurance company for the full judgment.
Sometimes the insurance company just pays the jury award at that point. Other times they fight it.
Either way, you're harmed by being tied up in unnecessary litigation, worry, and fear for years because your insurance company failed to simply pay the policy limits when they should have.
The Professional Ethics Standard
Professional conduct rules require attorneys to provide undivided loyalty to clients and avoid conflicts of interest.
The American Bar Association's Model Rules emphasize that loyalty and independent judgment are essential in the attorney-client relationship. Ethics opinions make clear that when a conflict develops between the insurer and insured, the defense attorney has a duty to advise the insured to seek independent counsel.
When conflicts arise and cannot be reconciled, withdrawal isn't just appropriate. It's mandatory.
The Protective Step You Should Take
While we represent injured plaintiffs and would never give legal advice to defendants or insurance companies, one professional opinion stands: in serious injury cases, especially when policy limits are low or injuries are catastrophic, seeking independent legal counsel is prudent.
This applies particularly when you're facing South Carolina's minimum limits policies. It applies when injuries are so catastrophic that even large policies couldn't begin to cover the plaintiff's damages.
Independent counsel represents only you.
They owe loyalty to you alone. They have no competing obligation to minimize the insurance company's payout. Their sole focus is protecting you from personal exposure.
In our experience, when defendants obtain independent counsel in these situations, that attorney almost always advises the insurance company to pay the policy limits and protect their client.
The attorney your insurance company provides may be competent and well-intentioned. But when your interests and the insurer's interests diverge, you need someone in your corner who answers only to you.
That's when independent representation stops being optional and becomes essential protection.
