When an injured worker is out of work receiving temporary total disability payments insurance carriers will often pester the treating physician into returning the injured worker back to light duty work. If that happens, the employer has a choice. They can either; (1) refuse to provide light duty and continue paying weekly benefits, or; (2) provide light duty and try to deny further weekly benefits. It is almost always to the employee’s advantage to attempt to return to work within his restrictions. If the employee successfully returns to work, he earns more money than he would on workers’ com ..read more

According to data from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 3 million middle and high school students admitted to using tobacco products in a 2022 study—that’s more than 1 in 10 students in the U.S. Of those students, about 9.4 percent said e-cigarettes were their most commonly used device for tobacco use, making them the most popular device for teens by far. By contrast, only about 1.6 percent of teens reported that cigarettes were their preferred tobacco device. The increased popularity of e-cigarettes may be, in part, b ..read more

At Chappell Smith & Arden, P.A., we’re dedicated to helping injured clients across South Carolina get the justice they deserve, and we also want to extend that dedication to students in their pursuit of higher education. That’s why we’re proud to offer a privately funded scholarship to help college students obtain their degrees and build a better future. For our second essay contest this year, we asked college students to answer the following prompt: Vaping and manufacturer liability: Should electronic cigarette manufacturers be held liable for injuries and sustained lung damage as a resu ..read more

For the fifth year in a row, Chappell Smith & Arden, P.A. challenged employees and other law firms in the Columbia and Greenville areas to participate in the CSA Christmas Challenge. From November 1st through December 1st, we collected food and other essentials for Harvest Hope and new, unopened toys for Toys for Tots. Harvest Hope is South Carolina’s largest food bank and their mission is to eliminate hunger and food insecurity in the state of South Carolina. With locations in the Upstate, Midlands and Pee Dee of South Carolina, they provide an average of 20 million meals to those in nee ..read more

Chappell, Smith & Arden is happy to announce that a Richland County jury returned a verdict for $2,136,950.00 in favor of one of our minor clients the evening of September 12, 2022. Two of our partners – Mark Chappell, Jr. and Jacob Born – represented our client at trial and tried her case. The jury’s verdict was for $1,386,950.00 in actual damages and $750,000.00 in punitive damages. The last offer from the Defendant before trial was $150,000.00. This case arose out of a 15 month old toddler sustaining second and third degree burns to her feet after encountering an uncoated metal plate t ..read more

Pictured (from left to right) is: CSA Law COO Bill McArtor, Ovarian Cancer Coalition of Central SC Chair Janet Prince, and CSA Law attorney Graham Newman. Chappell Smith & Arden, P.A. joined forces with the Ovarian Cancer Coalition of Central South Carolina for the 7th Annual Teal Day 5k on September 24th in an effort to raise money and awareness for this awful disease. There is a severe lack of education about Ovarian Cancer. An estimated 21,750 women will receive a new diagnosis of ovarian cancer this year. About 13,940 women will die from ovarian cancer. Ovarian cancer ranks fifth in ca ..read more

Distracted driving, which includes activities like texting, eating or talking on the phone, has become a major cause of accidents across the United States in recent years. In fact, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in 2020 alone, 3,142 lives were lost in accidents involving distracted drivers. Most states have laws against texting and driving, but with so many people dying every year in accidents involving distracted drivers, we have to stop and consider if those laws are truly effective at discouraging drivers from texting on the road. So we asked colle ..read more

Chappell Smith & Arden, P.A. is dedicated to helping injured clients get the justice they deserve, and we also want to extend that dedication to students in their pursuit of higher education. We’re proud to offer this privately funded scholarship to help students obtain their degrees and build a better future. For our first essay contest, we asked college students to answer the following prompt: Texting and driving: In South Carolina and other states, all drivers are prohibited from using a wireless communication device to compose, send or read a text message (or other text-based communic ..read more

Official investigations revealed in 2020 that a Greensboro, North Carolina, mailroom mechanic lost his arm from a machine with its safety guard removed. A report by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) found “repeat and serious safety violations, including failure to ensure that safety guards were in place as required and allowing conveyor guards to be routinely removed, leaving workers at risk of injuries.” According to the report, USPS workers were not provided with the necessary protective equipment or training to safely work near conveyors an ..read more