Author Archives: Jay Butchko
How South Carolina Courts Decide Whether a Shooting or Assault Was Foreseeable
When someone is shot, assaulted, or robbed on someone else’s property, a common question follows almost immediately: could this have been prevented? In South Carolina, that question often determines whether a victim has a viable negligent security claim against a property owner, and the answer turns on a legal concept called foreseeability. Property Owners… Read More »
Two Shootings, One Night: What Columbia’s Latest Violence Says About a Property Owner’s Duty
Overnight violence struck two different corners of Columbia within minutes of each other recently, leaving one person dead and five others wounded. Separate as the incidents may look on a police blotter, both raise the same underlying legal question that surfaces again and again in South Carolina: when does a business become responsible for… Read More »
A Tragic Go-Kart Death Raises a Sharp Legal Question: Was This Ride Even Regulated?
A South Carolina family is grieving after a young pregnant woman and her unborn son died following what officials are calling a freak accident at a go-kart track. The tragedy is heartbreaking on its own, but it also exposes a legal wrinkle that most people never think about until it is too late: not… Read More »
A Toddler’s Death in North Charleston Shows Why Criminal Charges Aren’t the End of the Story
A hit and run case out of North Charleston has resulted in two arrests, but criminal charges rarely settle the financial and legal questions that follow the death of a child. When a two-year-old girl was struck and killed near Rivers Avenue and Eagle Drive earlier this month, the aftermath touched on two separate… Read More »
When the Truck Driver Walks Away Unhurt: What a Fatal I-95 Crash Says About Fault
Three people are dead after a crash on I-95 in Dorchester County, and the driver of the tractor trailer involved did not suffer a single injury. That contrast is jarring, but it is also common in truck crash litigation, and it raises a question that matters far beyond this one case: how do you… Read More »
Pedestrian Killed Crossing SC 421 in Aiken County
A quiet Friday night in Aiken County ended in tragedy when a pedestrian attempting to cross the road was struck and killed by a pickup truck. Cases like this one highlight an important, and often misunderstood, area of South Carolina law: the legal duty every driver owes to pedestrians, even outside of a marked… Read More »
Two-Vehicle Rollover in Oconee County Leaves One Driver Dead
A predawn crash in Oconee County last week left one driver dead after a collision at a rural intersection sent an SUV off the road and rolling over. The case is a reminder of how dangerous side-road intersections can be, and how quickly a failure to yield can turn deadly for everyone involved. How… Read More »
Greenville E-Scooter Death Exposes a Gap in South Carolina Law
Early on Thursday, September 24th, 2026, a northbound car struck a person riding an electric scooter on South Pleasantburg Drive near I-85 in Greenville. The rider died at the scene, according to FOX Carolina, and state troopers described the scooter as being illegally in the roadway. The car’s driver was not injured. That detail… Read More »
Fatal Horry County Motorcycle Crash Raises a Hard Question About Right-of-Way
On Saturday night, September 26th, 2026, a motorcycle carrying two people tried to cross SC-410 from SC-19 in Horry County. An eastbound SUV struck the motorcycle at around 8:00 PM, and both the operator and the passenger later died at a local hospital, according to Live 5 News. The SUV’s driver was also hospitalized,… Read More »
Can a Charleston Driver Legally Squeeze You Out of Your Own Lane?
Motorcyclists riding through Charleston traffic, whether crossing the Ravenel Bridge or working through the tourist congestion around the peninsula, often deal with drivers who treat a motorcycle’s lane as extra space to share. South Carolina law says otherwise, and it says so in fairly direct language. The Law Gives Motorcycles the Whole Lane Under… Read More »