Our Chicago personal injury lawyers have a history of experience helping clients recover damages from a wide range of accidents through personal injury cases, and the sooner you contact Balkin Law Group Injury Lawyers, LLP, the sooner we can help you make sense of your situation. Our law firm has the personal injury attorneys that you need fighting for your rights, whether you are the victim of medical malpractice, a car accident, a slip and fall, lost a loved one due to wrongful death, or any other type of accident that someone else caused.
Read more below about Chicago, IL personal injury law, and contact us now for a free consultation. Trying to find the right accident lawyer near you to take on your personal injury case can feel like one more complicated step in an already difficult process, but our Chicago, IL personal injury lawyers will give you the confidence that you need to move forward and fight for what you are rightfully entitled to. Our Chicago, Illinois injury attorneys have recovered millions of dollars for their clients with years of experience with injury law and will be happy to help you fight for compensation today.
What Is a Personal Injury?
Simply put, a personal injury is any type of injury that is caused to someone’s body (as opposed to their property) due to the responsible party’s recklessness, negligence, or malice. Essentially, a personal injury case seeks compensation for an avoidable injury caused by someone else’s bad behavior. Whereas criminal law cases are carried out when someone breaks the law and results in fines such as jail time and criminal records, personal injury cases are civil cases, and the plaintiff in the case is seeking monetary payments for the impacts of their accident. An experienced personal injury lawyer in Chicago, IL will be able to explain to you in specific detail how your accident will be addressed through personal injury law during your free consultation.
Determining If a Personal Injury Has Occurred
Personal injury law falls under a wider branch of law called tort law, and it handles cases that meet a few basic requirements:
- The defendant had a “duty of care” to act in a certain way to keep those around them safe, which they failed to uphold. This duty of care could be to drive safely and obey the Chicago, IL traffic laws, avoid medical malpractice by providing patients with safe and reasonable care, or to maintain a safe property to avoid hazards that cause an accident
- The failure to uphold the duty of care caused an accident
- The accident caused measurable injuries, such as a crash with broken bones, a construction accident, a wrongful death, or any other measurable injury as a result of the defendant’s actions (or inactions)
- The injuries have financial values that can be connected to them, either directly or indirectly. Personal injury law in Chicago, Illinois focuses on calculating and negotiating for the amount that clients are rightfully entitled to, and working with an experienced personal injury lawyer is a proven way to make sure that your voice is heard
If your accident in Chicago, IL follows along these lines, or if you are unsure, contact Balkin Law Group Injury Lawyers, LLP now for a free consultation with an experienced personal injury lawyer who will be able to help you make sense of your situation. No two injury cases are alike, and our lawyers are here to help.
Determining Fault After a Personal Injury Case In Chicago Illinois
Before you can even begin to think about how much money you are entitled to after a personal injury accident, the first step is to determine who is at fault and make sure that it is extremely clear so that you are able to pursue the full amount that you are rightfully entitled to in a Chicago, IL claim. Illinois uses a rule known as “pure comparative negligence” to assign fault, which means that a victim can seek compensation even if they are partially at fault for the accident. In states that do not use comparative fault, any amount of responsibility for the accident, even 1%, would invalidate a victim’s claim and leave them without option. However, after a Chicago injury, you and your personal injury lawyer will be able to accept partial fault if necessary so that you can continue to focus on getting the money you need.
How Pure Comparative Negligence Works in Chicago, Illinois
How it works is that the plaintiff and defendant (or, more likely, the law firm representing each involved party) will agree on a level of fault, and then the victim’s final award will be reduced by the amount that they were faulted for the accident. For example, if you and your personal injury lawyer accept 10% responsibility for an accident and reach a settlement agreement for $100,000, it will then be reduced by 10%, or $10,000, leaving you with a final award of $90,000.
This legal tool is very helpful, but in many cases, the insurance company will use it to their advantage as they attempt to shave off as much money as possible from each personal injury case they are working on. Remember that an insurance company’s primary focus is to stay profitable, and paying the full amount for all of the injury cases they handle is an easy way to go out of business. The tactic of pinning additional blame on a victim is one of the many ways that they will work to save as much money as possible and that an experienced personal injury lawyer will be able to fight back on.
Calculating Damages After a Personal Injury in Chicago IL
Concurrent to exploring the matter of fault in a Chicago, IL personal injury case, you and your lawyer will work on calculating the damages that you have suffered. This is a complicated process, and at the end of it, you and your personal injury lawyer will need to negotiate with the insurance company based on these calculations, in opposition to the low offer that the insurance company will almost certainly make to you for a settlement. The work that goes into these calculations is extensive and should be left to your lawyer while you focus on recovering from your injuries, but the following is a general guide to the types of things your attorney will need to account for before beginning negotiations:
Common Injury Practice Areas Our Chicago, Illinois Law Firm Cover
The following are just a few examples of the types of cases the Chicago personal injury lawyers at our firm handle. Whether or not you see your own type of case listed below, contact us as soon as possible to learn about how you can get the support that you deserve as one of our valued clients.
- Car accidents
- Drunk driving accidents
- Motorcycle crashes
- Hit and Runs
- Commercial truck accidents
- Uber accidents
- Wrongful death
- Medical malpractice
- Workers compensation
- Nursing home abuse
- Product liability
Again, whether or not you see a situation in this list that resembles your own Chicago Illinois injury, contact our law office as soon as possible to discuss your situation with an experienced personal injury attorney, and learn more about the way we have helped our clients in the past, and how we can help you as one of our valued clients today.