Roden Law represents people injured on unsafe property in Columbia, South Carolina and throughout the Midlands — Lexington, Irmo, West Columbia, and Forest Acres. Premises liability is much broader than a slip-and-fall: it covers negligent security and assaults, poorly maintained stairwells and parking garages, pool and apartment hazards, and injuries on government property. We handle every case on a contingency fee basis: you pay nothing unless we win. Roden Law has recovered more than $300 million for injured clients across Georgia and South Carolina and holds a 4.9-star average from hundreds of client reviews. Call (803) 219-2816 for a free, confidential case review.
Why Choose Roden Law for a Columbia Premises Liability Claim
Property owners and their insurers fight these cases hard, usually by arguing they had no notice of the hazard or that you were careless. What separates Roden Law is direct attorney involvement — you work with your attorney, not a rotating desk of case managers — and the investigation needed to prove the owner knew or should have known about the danger. Our office at 1545 Sumter Street, Suite B sits downtown minutes from the Richland County Circuit Court.
- No fee unless we win — free consultation and no out-of-pocket cost to start your claim.
- We prove notice — maintenance records, prior-incident reports, and security history that show the owner should have acted.
- Full range of premises claims — slip-and-falls, negligent security, stairwell and garage hazards, and pool injuries.
Columbia Premises Hazards We Handle
The Midlands’ mix of retail, student housing, government facilities, and large residential communities creates recurring dangers our attorneys handle:
- Retail and shopping-center falls along the Two Notch Road and Broad River Road corridors from spills and uneven surfaces.
- Negligent security — assaults in apartment complexes, parking areas, and near the USC and Five Points district.
- Student-housing and apartment hazards — broken stairs, unlit walkways, and defective railings.
- Government-property injuries at state, county, and city facilities, where the Tort Claims Act applies.
- Grocery and big-box store falls from spills and merchandise left in aisles.
South Carolina Premises Liability Law You Should Know
Two questions decide most South Carolina premises cases. The first is your status on the property: an invitee (such as a customer) is owed ordinary care, while a licensee and a trespasser are owed less — the framework comes from Sims v. Giles. The second is notice: you generally must show the owner knew, or should have known, about the hazard and failed to fix it. For negligent security claims, South Carolina applies the balancing test from Bass v. Gopal to decide whether a crime was foreseeable. One critical wrinkle, common in Columbia: if the property owner is a government entity — a state agency, city, county, SCDOT, or public housing — the South Carolina Tort Claims Act caps damages ($300,000 per person / $600,000 per occurrence) and bars punitive damages. Against a private owner there is no cap on compensatory damages, the injury statute of limitations is three years (S.C. Code § 15-3-530), and the 51% comparative-fault rule applies. Learn more from our premises liability overview, our SC premises liability settlement value guide, and our SC slip-and-fall settlement value guide.
