A spinal cord injury changes everything. One moment, you’re going about your day. Next, you’re facing a future defined by medical appointments, rehabilitation, and uncertainty about whether you’ll regain the function you’ve lost. If someone else’s negligence caused your injury, Illinois law gives you the right to pursue compensation, but these cases are among the most complex in personal injury law.
Attorney Michael J. Lichner handles spinal cord injury claims throughout Will County and Northern Illinois. Your consultation is free, and there’s no fee unless we win. Call 815-258-7877 to discuss your case.
Understanding Spinal Cord Injuries: Complete Vs. Incomplete
Not all spinal cord injuries are the same, and the distinction matters both medically and legally.
Complete spinal cord injuries
A complete spinal cord injury means total loss of motor and sensory function below the level of injury. Paraplegia (loss of function in the lower body) and quadriplegia (loss of function in all four limbs) are the most well-known examples. These injuries typically require lifelong medical care, assistive devices, home modifications, and around-the-clock support.
Incomplete spinal cord injuries
An incomplete injury means some function remains below the injury site. The extent varies widely. Some individuals retain significant movement but lose fine motor control. Others experience partial paralysis or chronic nerve pain that limits daily activities and the ability to work. Incomplete injuries often involve lengthy rehabilitation timelines and uncertain outcomes, making calculating future damages more complicated.
The classification of the injury directly affects the value of your claim because it drives the scope of future medical needs, lost earning capacity, and the overall impact on your quality of life.
Common Causes Of Spinal Cord Injuries In Illinois
In Northern Illinois, the most frequent causes of spinal cord injuries in personal injury claims include the following.
– Car accidents. High-speed collisions, T-bone crashes, and rollovers generate the kind of force that can fracture or dislocate vertebrae and damage the spinal cord.
– Truck accidents. The size and weight disparity between commercial trucks and passenger vehicles makes catastrophic spinal injuries more likely in these collisions.
– Construction site falls. Falls from scaffolding, ladders, and elevated platforms are a leading cause of spinal cord injuries among construction workers in Will County and the surrounding collar counties.
– Premises liability incidents. Dangerous property conditions like uneven surfaces, inadequate railings, and wet floors can cause falls that result in serious spinal damage, particularly for older adults.
Each cause involves different liable parties, different evidence, and different legal theories. A truck accident claim, for example, may involve the driver, the trucking company, and a maintenance contractor. A construction site fall may implicate a general contractor, subcontractor, or property owner. Identifying every responsible party is critical to maximizing your recovery.
What Compensation Can You Recover?
Illinois law allows injured individuals to recover both economic and non-economic damages in spinal cord injury cases. Given the severity and long-term nature of these injuries, the categories of recoverable damages are extensive.
Economic damages
– Past and future medical expenses. This includes emergency treatment, surgery, hospitalization, rehabilitation, physical therapy, medications, assistive devices (wheelchairs, braces), and home modifications. Future medical costs often represent the single largest component of a spinal cord injury claim.
– Lost wages. Compensation for income lost during recovery and treatment.
– Lost earning capacity. If the injury permanently limits your ability to work or forces you into a lower-paying occupation, you can recover the difference in lifetime earnings.
– In-home care and assistance. Many spinal cord injury survivors require ongoing personal care, which is a compensable expense.
Non-economic damages
– Pain and suffering. Compensation for the physical pain and emotional distress caused by the injury.
– Loss of normal life. Illinois recognizes this as a distinct category of damages. It compensates for the ways the injury has diminished your ability to enjoy daily activities, hobbies, and relationships.
– Disfigurement. Compensation for visible scarring or physical changes resulting from the injury or related surgeries.
Accurately valuing these damages requires medical testimony, vocational analysis, and life care planning. Lowball estimates from insurance companies rarely account for the full lifetime cost of a spinal cord injury.
How Illinois Comparative Negligence Affects Your Claim
Under 735 ILCS 5/2-1116, Illinois follows a modified comparative negligence standard. The plaintiff is barred from recovering damages if the trier of fact finds that the plaintiff’s contributory fault is more than 50% of the proximate cause of the injury. If the plaintiff’s fault is 50% or less, damages are reduced in proportion to the amount of fault attributable to the plaintiff.
In practical terms, if you’re found 30% at fault for a car accident that caused your spinal cord injury, your recovery is reduced by 30%. But if the defense can push your fault above 50%, you recover nothing.
Insurance defense attorneys understand this threshold and will aggressively argue contributory fault to reduce or eliminate your claim. Building a strong liability case with thorough investigation and evidence preservation is essential.
The Two-Year Deadline To File
Illinois’s statute of limitations for personal injury is two years from the date of the injury. This deadline is codified at 735 ILCS 5/13-202.
Missing this deadline almost certainly bars your claim. And in spinal cord cases, the sooner an attorney begins preserving evidence, obtaining medical records, and retaining experts, the stronger the case will be. Do not assume you have plenty of time.
Why These Cases Require Significant Resources
Spinal cord injury claims are unlike a standard soft-tissue case. They require substantial investment in medical experts, accident reconstruction professionals, life care planners, vocational economists, and often biomechanical engineers. A life care plan alone can run hundreds of pages and requires coordination with multiple treating physicians to project lifetime medical needs.
Insurance companies and corporate defendants know that many firms lack the resources to develop these cases fully. As part of LiSi Law, LLC, Attorney Lichner has the infrastructure and resources to retain the right experts, fund thorough investigations, and litigate complex high-value claims against well-funded defense teams. Recognized as a Top 100 National Trial Lawyer with over a decade of experience, he builds cases designed to withstand scrutiny from insurance defense counsel.
Talk To An Experienced Spinal Cord Injury Lawyer In Illinois
If you or someone you love sustained a spinal cord injury due to someone else’s negligence in Joliet, Will County, or anywhere in Northern Illinois, you need an attorney who understands the full scope of what these cases require.
Contact Michael J. Lichner for a free consultation. Call 815-258-7877 to discuss your case. There’s no fee unless we win.
Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. Every case is different and depends on its unique facts.