Piedmont Personal Injury Lawyer

Personal Injury Attorney Serving Piedmont, South Carolina

Piedmont exists because of the Saluda River. Henry Pinckney Hammett organized the Piedmont Manufacturing Company here in 1873, and by 1876 Mill No. 1 was running on the river's water power. Mill No. 2 followed in 1888 — on the other bank — and by 1892 the mills across the river from each other ran some 47,000 spindles and 1,300 looms, one of the largest textile operations in the world at the time. The mill village that grew up around them became the town.

The mills are gone — J.P. Stevens ran them after 1946, production stopped in the 1970s, and fire destroyed the vacant landmark mill in 1983 — but the geography they created still runs the town. The Saluda still pours over the dam in the middle of Piedmont, and that river is not just scenery: it is the county line. The east side of Piedmont is Greenville County; the west side is Anderson County. One community, two counties — a detail that decides real things, from which school district your kids attend (Greenville County Schools feed Woodmont High on one side, Anderson District One feeds Wren High on the other) to which county's courthouse hears your injury case. More on that below, because almost nobody in a wreck knows it until it matters.

Tom Conits represents injured people on both sides of the river, and he does it in person. Tom has worked in his family's Greek restaurant since he was fifteen — he still works shifts there — and after Charleston School of Law and years with several of South Carolina's top personal injury firms, he built his own practice around a simple rule: the client never chases the lawyer. He answers his own phone, he gives every client his cell, and he drives to Piedmont.

Every case is on contingency — no fee unless we win — and every consultation is free. Call or text (864) 777-1000 and you'll talk to Tom, not a screener.

One Town, Two Counties: Where a Piedmont Injury Case Gets Filed

Here is the honest answer, which is more useful than a simple one: a Piedmont case can be filed in either Greenville County or Anderson County, and which one is correct depends on the facts of your case — not on your mailing address. The Saluda River through the middle of town is the county line. Cross the bridge and you have changed counties, changed court systems, and changed jury pools. It has been that way since the mill company built No. 1 on one bank and No. 2 on the other.

• Greenville County cases are filed in the Court of Common Pleas at the Greenville County Courthouse, 305 E. North Street in downtown Greenville — a few blocks from Tom's office.
• Anderson County cases are filed in the Court of Common Pleas at the Anderson County Courthouse, 100 S. Main Street in downtown Anderson.

Which is right for yours? Under South Carolina's venue statute, S.C. Code § 15-7-30, a suit against a South Carolina resident generally belongs in the county where that defendant lived when the claim arose; against an out-of-state defendant, it's generally the county where the most substantial part of the events happened, or where you live. So a wreck on the Greenville side caused by a driver who lives on the Anderson side can raise a genuine venue question — and the answer shapes the case, because Greenville and Anderson juries are different audiences. Tom works that out on day one. Filing in the wrong county hands the insurance company a delay it did not earn.

Either way, the courthouse is Tom's job, not yours. Most injury claims settle before a courtroom ever enters the picture, and clients rarely need to set foot in either building.

After a Piedmont Wreck: The Two Clocks Running Against You

The legal clock. South Carolina generally gives you three years from the date of injury to file suit under S.C. Code § 15-3-530 — three years from the date of death in a wrongful death case. Claims against government entities run on different, shorter deadlines. Three years sounds like plenty. It isn't, because of the second clock.

The evidence clock. Skid marks on 86 wash away. Totaled cars get crushed. A gas station's camera at the crossroads overwrites itself in weeks. A trucking company's electronic data can vanish in the ordinary course of business unless a preservation letter arrives early. The case you can prove a month after the wreck is bigger than the case you can prove a year after — same injuries, same facts, less proof.

And watch the blame. South Carolina follows modified comparative negligence: you can recover as long as you were not more at fault than the other side, but your compensation is reduced by whatever share of fault gets pinned on you. Adjusters use that rule aggressively — "you were going a little fast on 20," "you could have seen him pulling out." Every percentage point is money out of your pocket. Their fault split is an opening offer, not a verdict, and Tom negotiates it like one. Don't give a recorded statement to the other side's insurer before you've talked to a lawyer: (864) 777-1000.