What Kind of Cases Can a Wheaton Personal Injury Attorney Help With?
Personal injury cases include a wide variety of situations, from car accidents to slip-and-fall accidents and many others. In this article, we’ll discuss some of the most common types of personal injury cases, but it’s important to remember that the most crucial factor is negligence.
If another party’s negligence caused your injury in some way, you might have a potential claim against them.
In legal terms, negligence means that another party failed to exercise the care that a reasonable person would in the same situation. For instance, a reasonable person would stop at a red light or clean up a spilled drink to avoid creating a hazard to others.
If another driver runs a red light or a store employee fails to deal with a mess, and you suffer an injury as a result, they may have been negligent.
However, not every case of negligence is this simple. Frequently, injured people are unsure of how their accident or injury occurred or who caused it.
In many cases, the injury happened quickly, and the aftermath was chaotic, making it hard for the injured party to remember details. It’s also very common for the injured person to take responsibility for the injury, even when it was not their fault.
For this reason, if you have any questions or concerns about how you were injured or who was responsible, we recommend speaking with an experienced personal injury lawyer. Your consultation is confidential, and there is no obligation so you can get the answers you need to make an informed decision.
Although a personal injury can happen in almost any situation, here are some of the most common types of personal injury claims and what you need to know about them:
Car Accidents
Car accidents, truck accidents, and motorcycle accidents can cause severe injuries and leave you struggling with medical bills. Often, people don’t think they need a lawyer for their car accident claim because they believe their insurance company, the at-fault party’s insurance company, or both will take care of their losses.
In an ideal situation, this would be true. In Illinois, motorists are required to carry at least $25,000 in bodily injury liability insurance ($50,000 per accident) and $20,000 in property damage. Generally, the at-fault party’s liability insurance should cover other involved parties’ injuries and property losses.
However, there are a number of issues that can prevent you from recovering all the damages you deserve from an insurance claim. Here are just a few frequent problems that people run into when filing a car accident claim:
Undervalued Damages
One way the insurance adjuster might downsize your claim is to undervalue your damages. Your lawyer will carefully consider your injuries and related losses to ensure all your medical bills and associated expenses—current and future—are included in your claim. Additionally, we’ll ask about lost income, pain and suffering, and other potential damages. If the insurance company has missed or undervalued something, we’ll negotiate for a better deal.
Insufficient Insurance Coverage
If your injuries are severe and the other driver has only minimal coverage, their insurance policy may not pay for all your losses. Worse, what if the other driver is uninsured?
These situations can be frustrating, but a Wheaton car accident lawyer will explore other options to recover damages. In some cases, we may be able to sue the other driver directly, sue a third party, or recover from your own insurance policy.
Disputes About Fault
It’s not unusual for two drivers to give very different statements about how an accident happened. Sometimes, this is because they have different perspectives; one person may have knowledge that the other doesn’t.
At the same time, painful injuries and other distractions can make it difficult to recall accident details clearly.
But the drivers’ recollections aren’t the only issue. Both insurance companies will assign a claims adjuster to review the police report, evidence from the scene, and statements from the involved parties.
While you might think an adjuster’s job is to get your claim paid, in reality, their job is to reduce costs for the insurance company. If they see anything that can be construed as indicating you were at fault, this could be a reason to deny your claim.
Fault is also complex, and both drivers can share responsibility under Illinois law. The good news is that you can still recover some of your damages if you are partially responsible but less than 50 percent at fault.
However, the percentage of fault you have will be subtracted from your final settlement.
That means the insurance company could save a significant amount of money if they find you were 10 or 20 percent responsible—but were you? Did they overestimate your share of culpability?
It’s hard to answer these questions on your own, but an experienced personal injury lawyer can review your case, search for additional evidence, and advocate for a fair evaluation of fault.
Other Transportation Accidents
Although motor vehicle crashes remain one of the most common reasons for accidental injuries, we also see other types of transportation injuries, including:
- Aviation accidents. These may include not only plane crashes but also in-flight injuries from unsecured luggage, runaway drink carts, or even assaults by other passengers.
- Boating accidents. Lake Michigan and other surrounding bodies of water can provide recreation opportunities, but another boater’s negligence could leave you with serious injuries.
- Golf cart accidents. Golf carts may seem harmless because of their low speeds, but even so, many people suffer injuries from these carts each year. Sometimes, the negligence of the cart’s driver is to blame, but in other cases, a property owner or cart owner may be liable.
- ATV accidents. While riding an ATV can be fun, there is a potential for serious injury if you suffer an accident. In some cases, another party might have been negligent.
- Bicycle accidents. Often, these involve a collision with a motor vehicle. Bicycles are considered vehicles in Illinois, and riders are expected to follow the same road rules as vehicle drivers. At the same time, motorists should yield the right-of-way to bikers as they would to another car. Unfortunately, many bicyclists hit by cars suffer severe injuries and have little or no recollection of the accident, making it hard to know what happened. An experienced lawyer can learn more about the collision and explain your options.
Premises Liability
If you suffer an injury on someone else’s property, are they liable? This is a common question for people who have been injured at another party’s home or business.
The answer depends on whether the property owner’s negligence caused the injury. In general, we need to establish four points in a premises liability claim:
- There was a hazard on the property.
- The owner or operator knew about the hazard or should have known.
- This owner or operator didn’t make a reasonable effort to discover potential hazards and either fix them or warn guests—for example, putting up a “Wet Floor” sign.
- This unaddressed hazardous condition caused an injury to a guest or visitor who was legally on the property.
Here are some examples of premises liability cases:
- Slip-and-fall accidents. Hazards might include puddles or wet floors, snagged carpets, uneven flooring, poorly lit stairwells, and other issues that could make a person more likely to trip and fall. Unfortunately, the property owner may claim there was no hazard, so it’s a good idea to take photos of the area after your fall if possible.
- Structural collapse. When buildings aren’t maintained properly, they can become unsafe. For instance, a stairway railing might give way, a floor could collapse, etc.
- Electrical hazards. These might include live wires that could cause electrocution or poor wiring that can lead to fires.
- Property owners and managers must be careful with pools, which can be hazardous, especially to small children. A pool that isn’t fenced off could become an “attractive nuisance” where a child might drown or suffer other injuries.
- Toxic substances. Buildings that contain asbestos, contaminated water, or other dangerous substances can also be hazardous.
- Falling objects. These situations sometimes occur near construction sites or buildings in renovation. Construction workers have a duty to fence off hazardous areas and ensure debris doesn’t fall on an innocent bystander.
- Failure to follow building codes. This type of case could involve fire or smoke injuries, often due to guests being unable to leave in a timely manner. For example, if a store has blocked off the emergency exit with a pallet of merchandise and a fire occurs, you might be trapped there for longer than necessary in an emergency.
- Negligent security. In these cases, a person may be injured in a criminal act, such as a robbery or assault. How is this the property owner’s fault? While no one can prevent every possible crime, property owners do have a responsibility to provide a reasonably safe environment for guests. The owner or operator could be negligent if they failed to take measures like using security cameras and alarms, hiring guards to patrol a large property, installing good quality locks, and increasing security measures after previous incidents.
If you suffered an injury on another party’s property and aren’t sure if they were negligent, we recommend discussing the situation with a personal injury lawyer. We’ll work to learn more about what happened and explain your options for seeking compensation.
In many cases, a business liability or homeowners’ insurance policy may cover your losses.
Daycare Injuries
Young children are prone to injuries because they often don’t understand the dangers around them. When you drop your child off at a daycare or childcare center, you expect them to have appropriate supervision from responsible adults.
Unfortunately, if this doesn’t happen, your child might suffer a serious injury. Here are a few examples of negligence that we see in daycare injury cases:
- Hazardous conditions: As with premises liability cases, there may be an unaddressed hazard on the daycare property, such as a wet floor, uncapped electrical outlets, sharp or heavy objects left near the edge of a table, toxic cleaning chemicals left out, and numerous other situations that can be dangerous to a small child.
- Lack of supervision: Sometimes, a child is injured because there are not enough qualified adults to supervise the number of kids on hand. Or, a daycare worker might leave the children unattended briefly, and an accident happens.
- Lack of safety equipment like car seats: If the daycare takes children on excursions, they should have an unexpired car seat for each child.
- Poorly maintained toys, playground equipment, or other items: Daycare staff should regularly check recall notices to ensure no dangerous toys or equipment are in use. Additionally, all equipment and items should be routinely inspected for wear and tear that might render them unsafe.
- Negligent hiring: A child could be injured if the daycare fails to screen and train employees properly.
How Can You Get Help From a Wheaton Personal Injury Law Firm?
The Personal Injury Lawyers™ team is always available for a free consultation about your injury, no matter how it occurred. If you aren’t sure what to do or who is at fault, we’re happy to review your case and answer your questions.
Please contact us at 312-999-9990 to learn more about your options for recovering damages.
Founded by attorney Robert S. Fakhouri, The Personal Injury Lawyers™ has recovered millions of dollars in compensation for injured people and their families. They are ready to assist you with your case, so please schedule a free consultation today.
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