Accidents are enormously disruptive events. Injured victims and their families often suffer staggering financial losses as they need to pay for medical care and survive when the victim cannot immediately return to work. Unfortunately, obtaining monetary compensation for an accident can be challenging – the insurance companies make more money by denying claims and offering low settlements.
Call Michael J. Lichner today for assistance. He has over a decade of experience as a Joliet personal injury lawyer, helping accident victims and their families. You deserve to be treated fairly by everyone in this process, from insurance companies to judges. Michael J Lichner can advocate for you and ensure your voice is heard and your injuries are taken seriously. Contact us to schedule a free consultation to discuss your claim.
Our Personal Injury Experience
We can help those injured by:
- Car accidents
- Truck accidents
- Motorcycle collisions
- Rideshare accidents
- Pedestrian accidents
- Bicycle collisions
- Construction site accidents
- Defective products (product liability claims)
- Property defects (premises liability claims)
- Dog attacks and bites
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Wrongful death
Our experience is broad. A personal injury attorney in Joliet, IL, who serves Will, Cook, DuPage and other collar counties, can review whether you have a solid legal basis for demanding compensation. We often negotiate with the defendant’s insurance company. Reach out as soon as possible, so we can begin the process of finding, preserving, and analyzing the evidence. The longer you wait, the less chance you will have a positive outcome. People’s evidence is destroyed, and witnesses move out of town. Don’t wait; call now.
How to Analyze a Personal Injury Claim
Many people are badly hurt following an accident. However, that doesn’t automatically give you the right to sue for compensation. Instead, we need to analyze a claim to determine fault.
Many personal injury cases are based on negligence. This is the failure to use reasonable care, which ends up injuring someone. For example, a motorist might be distracted because they were reading a text message as they drove. This type of distraction represents a failure to drive carefully, and a driver is liable if they crash. Other accidents that are examples of negligent behavior are car accidents caused by fatigue or intoxication.
Other personal injury cases might be based on strict liability. This is a different legal theory. For example, a dangerous product could have a manufacturing or design defect, or it is missing critical instructions or warnings. The product could be unreasonably dangerous as a result, and a manufacturer is liable if the product harms someone.
We might also need to look at other evidence, like a police report or a damaged product. The sooner you reach out, the better.
What Compensation Can You Receive?
Our firm has spent decades fighting for the maximum compensation available for our clients. We can seek both economic and non-economic damages.
Economic:
- Medical bills: Any accident will likely cause bodily injuries that require treatment. Medical care is expensive, and you should request compensation to pay for all emergency care, as well as prescriptions and rehabilitation.
- Lost income or wages: You may not be able to work right after being hurt, but you shouldn’t have to suffer a drop in income if someone else is liable for your injuries. We can seek lost income, wages, self-employment income, and job-related benefits.
- Property damage: Your car, bicycle, or motorcycle could be damaged in an accident. You should request compensation to cover the cost of repairs.
- Future Medical Care: You may also receive compensation for future medical care.
Non-Economic:
- Pain and suffering: A personal injury settlement should pay compensation for bodily pain and related distress. A broken hip could throb uncontrollably for months. This is a type of non-economic loss that is not easy to calculate, but we can advocate for fair compensation.
- Loss of a normal life and the enjoyment of life: This loss is based on your loss or diminished ability to enjoy life and activities.
- Mental anguish and emotional distress: Bodily injuries cause mental or emotional distress. In addition to pain or anxiety, some victims struggle with flashbacks and other symptoms of PTSD.
- Disfigurement (non-economic loss): Such as scarring and permanent changes to your anatomy, such as the loss of an arm or leg.
In some cases, we might also seek exemplary or punitive damages against the defendant for intentional or willful and wanton conduct. We can ask a jury to consider the reprehensible nature of the defendant’s conduct and award punitive damages to punish them and to deter others from similar behavior.
Some common situations include drunk driving accidents or situations where a property owner knew of a dangerous defect but did nothing to remedy that situation before a person was seriously injured or killed.
Impact of Contributory Negligence
Illinois has a modified contributory negligence rule which may play a role in your case. A victim can receive compensation for an accident only if their negligence made them 50% or less responsible.
Illinois’ rule requires comparing our clients’ potential negligence to the defendant’s. If our client is more than 50% to blame, then they can’t receive monetary compensation.
If you are 50% or less at fault for an accident, your compensation will be reduced in proportion to your share of the blame.
For instance, if you were involved in a car accident where another driver ran a red light, but you were also speeding, the fault might be divided as 80% to the driver who ran the red light and 20% to you. In this case, if you are awarded $100,000 in damages, your compensation would be reduced to $80,000 to account for your share of the fault.
We routinely reject unfounded and frivolous allegations that you claim are partly to blame for what happened. As an example, the defendant often claims you were distracted by a cell phone when you were driving or failed to keep proper lookout while driving.
We can review your records to see if you were talking on the phone at the time of the crash or sending a text message. Any allegation that you share blame deserves a vigorous response.
Contributory negligence can make a big difference in the outcome of your case. You need a Joliet personal injury lawyer who knows how to use this law to your benefit.
Contact Our Office for a Free Consultation
Michael J. Lichner became a lawyer to help vulnerable people seek justice after serious accidents left them in pain.
Throughout his decade-plus-long career as a personal injury lawyer, he has successfully helped countless individuals secure the compensation they deserve.
We also proudly serve personal injury clients in DuPage County, Cook County, and all other Northern Illinois counties. Contact us today for a free consultation.