Tips to Stay Safe When Bicycling in Busy Urban Areas

When we think of traffic safety, we often think of car crashes or pedestrian accidents. But what about bicyclists? To many people, cyclists lie somewhere in between pedestrians and cars. Some say a bicycle is just like a car when it comes to the rules of the road, and safety precautions, and others say a cyclist is like a pedestrian.

The truth is somewhere in between. Unfortunately, there is not as much attention paid to bicyclist safety, as there is to pedestrian safety, which has led to an increase in the number of bicycle fatalities. Whether you are a cyclist or someone who drives on roads where cyclists are, there are some basic facts you should know about bicycle safety.

If you were injured on your bike in Illinois, the Rolling Meadows bicycle accident attorneys at SJ Injury Law.

Bicyclist Fatalities are Up

Traffic fatalities involving bicyclists have increased dramatically-according to the National Safety Council, deaths have risen by 44% in the previous 10 years (although the number of bicycle accidents that are not fatal has actually decreased). That means that there are fewer accidents-but the ones that are happening, are more serious, and deadly.

Despite 2020 being marred by shutdowns, and people staying home, bicycle deaths actually increased by 16% from the year previous. As you may imagine, the most deaths happen in the summer months, between May and September.

In 2020, about 1,200 people died on a bicycle, with most of those deaths being as a result of a collision with a motor vehicle. According to the study, males were much more likely to be victims of cycling deaths than women were. Age plays a factor as well; the death rate amongst younger riders has actually decreased, while the rate for older riders has gone up.

Although we tend to think of intersections as being dangerous-and they can be-most bicyclists killed in 2020, according to the Department of Transportation, were actually riding in areas that did not have an intersection of traffic.

What Rules or Laws do Bicyclists Follow?

Many bicyclists think that they do not have to follow the same rules of the road that cars do. Others may think that some rules apply while others don’t. This confusion is understandable; there is relatively little information to educate cyclists on safety, and what their obligations are when on their bikes.

As a general rule, you should observe the same rules that cars do. For example, you should ride in the same direction that traffic flows, and if you are on the road—even in a bike lane—you should stop for traffic signals and stop signs. As a cyclist, if you are on the road, follow the traffic light-don’t follow the pedestrian “walk/don’t walk” signs, unless you are off your bike, walking it across a pedestrian walkway, of course.

Helmets, and Their Importance

Some tips for being safe on a bicycle are common sense (although often ignored). Here are some pointers on being as safe as possible when you are on a bicycle.

Wearing a helmet can increase safety dramatically, protecting your head, which will often be the first part of your body to hit the ground below in the event of a collision with a vehicle. Helmet wearing is the biggest indicator of survivability after an accident; some studies say that wearing a helmet reduces the risk of serious brain and head injuries by about 60%.

Statistics bear out the importance of helmets; nearly 60% of cycle riders who were killed were not wearing helmets, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Helmets should not just be used, but they should fit properly. There should be about two finger lengths between the end of the helmet and your eyebrows, and one finger should be able to get underneath the chinstrap. Look for helmets that have a Department of Transportation icon or symbol, which indicates that the helmet meets minimum government safety standards.

Don’t ever re-use a helmet if it has already been in an accident.

The state of Illinois has no uniform helmet law for bicyclists. However, some cities and municipalities do, and helmet laws can vary by locality. Some cities have mandatory helmet laws for riders under the ages of 16 or 17.

Other Important Safety Tips for Bicyclists

-Blind Spots – a bicycle doesn’t have blind spots. A car does. When we drive, we’re often aware of where those blind spots are, but when we cycle, we may give little thought to whether or not we are riding in a car’s blind spot. As a general rule, look for the driver in the driver’s rear view mirror—if you can’t see the driver, you probably can’t be seen either, and you are in the driver’s blind spot.

-Big Vehicles and Right Turns – One blind spot that we may not be aware of, is the one that is created when a large truck makes a right turn. Remember that when a large vehicle like a truck makes a right turn, the trailer on the back may not make that right turn very sharply; it tails behind, and can “cut off” the right of way to the right of the truck, even if the front part of the truck stays exactly on the roadway.

-Beware of Opening Doors – Cycling past or next to parked cars is usually safe. Unless you’re so close to those cars, that you can get hit by a door that swings outward. Be aware that people getting in and out of parked cars may not see you; try not to drive so close to stationary cars, that you can be hit by an opening door. Generally, 3-4 feet is a good amount of space, to make sure that you are clear of any car doors that may potentially open.

-Use Lights, Reflectors, and Sounds– Anything that brings you to traffic’s attention—especially at night—should be used. Your bike should have and use reflectors. Bright clothing should be worn, and lights should be affixed to bicycles if you are riding after dark.

Sounds like bells or horns can help also. Granted, they can be hard to hear from inside of a car, but often they can be heard and may bring you to the attention of drivers, to the attention of pedestrians, or to the attention of people getting out of their cars, who may be distracted, or completely unaware that you are there.

-Learn Signaling – There are basic signal signs that you can use on a bike, the same way that a car uses signals. For example, sticking your hand out all the way to the left signals a left turn, and doing the same on the right, signals a right turn, as does putting your left hand in the air.

-Pay Attention – It should go without saying, to pay attention and stay off your cell phone or their electronics while riding. This means being able to hear what’s around you as well; headphones may be fine on a bicycle if you are riding somewhere deserted or solitary, but in a city setting you want to be able to hear cars or their horns around you.

-Watch for Pedestrians – Certainly, you are looking out for yourself, making sure you don’t get hit by cars. But you are also a vehicle, and you can do serious injury to a pedestrian as well, the same way that a car can do; you are expected to yield to pedestrians the same way that a car would. This also means avoiding sidewalks, which are only intended for pedestrians. Unfortunately, many pedestrians may be very careful about oncoming cars–but may not pay much attention to you, on your bicycle.

-Check and Adjust the Bike – If you are using your bike, it is probably a given that it is the right height for you. But in areas where people rent bikes, you may need to do some adjusting. Make sure the seat is not just the right height, but that it is clamped solid, to avoid it moving in the middle of your ride.

-Make eye contact and be visible – Just as you should as a pedestrian, try to make eye contact with drivers, especially in intersections, to make sure that they know you are there.

-Be Consistent – Don’t weave in and out of traffic lanes. Don’t cross traffic erratically. Stay in designated bike lanes, if they are on the roadway. Generally, you want to make yourself as predictable as possible, and act as much as a car would if you were in one.

-Don’t Ride Under the Influence – Many people may have the misconception that bicycling drunk is somehow better, or safer, than getting behind the wheel drunk. But this isn’t the case. The U.S. Department of Transportation found that 18% of cyclists killed in 2020, had elevated (more than .08 percent) blood alcohol levels.

Call Our Rolling Meadows Bicycle Accident Attorney

Were you in an accident on a bicycle? You may need a Rolling Meadows bicycle accident attorney Call our Illinois bicycle accident lawyers at SJ Injury Law to schedule a free consultation at 847-434-3555 to help you if you have been injured while on a cycle.

July 6, 2022February 7, 2023

Personal Injury Attorney Keith Shindler Discusses The Highland Park 4th of July Tragedy

Hello, good afternoon. I’m attorney Keith Schindler from the law firm of Claim Your Justice. During these regular Facebook Live sessions, we generally provide our viewers and the rest of the Facebook community with valuable and useful information on how to Claim Your Justice. Not today.

Today, my only goal is to remember those who lost their lives and were injured in Highland Park yesterday at our beautiful, what was to be expected Fourth of July parade.

My family and I are members of the Highland Park community. My wife, my brother, and I were all at the parade staging area with the parade participants a few blocks away from the tragedy and heard the gunshots.

We saw a swarm of terrified innocent people coming toward us from the parade route. I will never forget the images, the crime, and the look of fear on everyone’s faces.

I appreciate beyond words, the first responders to many police departments to many fire departments, paramedics, and all their professionals who helped our city during this crisis.

I also appreciate the private citizens who are providing any help they could. July 4 2022 was a very sad day and one that never none of us will ever forget.

Claim Your Justice stands strong with the City of Highland Park, and our prayers go out to all those affected by yesterday’s tragedies.

Thank you

June 22, 2022February 21, 2023

What is the Average Payout for a Back Injury in Illinois?

If you suffer a back injury because of someone else’s negligence, you may be in a desperate situation. Bills are mounting, you may be out of work, and your life may have suddenly changed now that you can no longer – do as much or do as well – the daily things that you used to do. That’s why you may be wondering what you can expect as far as compensation when you make a claim against an insurance company or file a lawsuit after suffering a back injury in Illinois.

Jury Verdicts

The first thing to understand is how injuries are evaluated by insurance companies and defendants when they make settlement offers.

Insurance companies don’t just randomly make settlement offers to accident victims. They make their offers based on what amounts they have settled or juries in other trials have awarded claimants who have suffered injuries that are similar to yours.

Of course, every claimant is different, every case is different, and every jury is different. In fact, one jury doesn’t have to follow what another jury awarded, even if two injuries in two different cases are very similar. There is no book or law that dictates “a herniated disc should be paid $175,000.”

This means that over time, looking at averages, insurance companies will look to see what juries normally award for a given type of injury, and the insurance company will likely make you an offer that falls somewhere below that average. Your back injury lawyer in Palatine will have experience in settlements they have negotiated for clients. It is important to also know that there are data services that provide jury verdicts results. An experienced back injury lawyer will have access to these databases. You must remember that whatever a prior jury gave someone else, doesn’t mean that another jury will award the same thing in any other case.

You Will Be Scrutinized

The insurance company or defendant also may look at your conduct in the accident that occurred to see if you have responsibility for your own injuries. If so, they will reduce what they offer in settlement to you accordingly. In other words, if you were hit by a car, but you were drunk and walking in the middle of the highway, even though you may be catastrophically injured, the compensation you can expect will be reduced because of your own conduct.

There are other factors insurance companies and defendants consider, that don’t even have to do with your back. For example, they will ask whether you are a “sympathetic” plaintiff/claimant. In other words, do you seem genuine, are you likable, and will a jury, at trial, if your case ever proceeds to trial, like and relate to you? How has the injury affected you – do you have young kids, or a physical job, where a back injury could significantly alter the course of your life?

Economic and Non-Economic Damages

The defendant or insurance company will then evaluate what your damages could be at a trial. This is essentially an analysis of your damages, both economic and non-economic.

Economic Damages

In a back injury case, you likely have economic damages. These are the types of damages that you can add up.

For example, a medical bill is economic damage. You can look at the bill and tell exactly what your doctors charged. The same is true for lost wages. You can see how many weeks you were out of work because of the accident, and calculating your income, figure out exactly how much in wages you have lost.

Economic damages also include future medical expenses. For example, if your doctor says that you may need follow-up surgery, or your doctor says that you may need to miss 3 weeks of work every year, because of flare-ups in your back condition, these are future damages that the jury will be persuaded to take into consideration.

Non-Economic Damages

The defendant and insurance company will also look at non-economic damages. These are damages that you can’t count. These damages do not have bills and there is no exact calculation to measure them.

For example, there is no exact price tag on the amount of pain and suffering your back injury has caused you. There is no exact value to the loss of being able to hold your child, being unable to play your favorite sport, or not being able to go to work every day without pain.

Non-economic damages can include anxiety, depression, PTSD, or the loss of the enjoyment or quality of your life caused by your injury. You may notice that these aren’t necessarily injuries to your back – they are psychological or emotional. That’s okay, the defendant still must compensate you for these damages. For example, your depression after your accident isn’t part of your back. But it may certainly be caused by the limitations you now have, or the financial problems you now face, because of your back injury.

The insurance company will put a value on these non-economic damages, which will be based on what your back injury lawyer in Palatine details and explains to the insurance company about your life (and based on what you say in a deposition, should your lawsuit be filed in court).

Types of Back Injuries

The defendant or insurance company will also look at what type of back injury you have. There are a lot of different kinds of back injuries. Some may recover almost completely in time, while others can be permanently debilitating, for the remainder of your life.

Sprains and Strains

Like other parts of your body, the skeletal bones in your spine (called your vertebrae) are connected to each other, and to your musculature, by ligaments and tendons. And, like other parts of your body, those ligaments and tendons can be pulled, stretched, or even tear completely.

When these ligaments pull or stretch, these are called sprains or strains. Although they are sometimes called (in a derogatory way) “whiplash,” in fact these kinds of injuries can be quite serious. It is generally not recommended by a physician to surgically operate on a sprain or strain, and depending on your health, age, and the severity of the sprain or strain, the pain you have may be with you forever.

Disc Injuries

The vertebrae in your back are flexible, as you can tell because you can bend forward and backward. This happens because the bones aren’t rubbing against each other. There is a jelly-like cushion between each vertebra. These are your discs. In a serious accident, the discs can be pushed out of place, start to bulge or herniate, or even rupture. When that happens, they can push against the nerves in your spinal column.

Budging, herniated, or ruptured discs may need surgery. In other cases, they cannot be repaired surgically (or surgery is not recommended), but with therapy, the pain you feel can be minimized. Pain from disc problems can be very significant, and in serious cases, people can lose function, such as bladder control, if the disc pushes too hard on the wrong area of your spinal cord.

The vertebrae themselves can fracture, as they are bones. A fractured vertebrae can be very debilitating.

Paralysis

Of course, all these injuries are much more preferable to what many consider to be the ultimate back injury: paralysis, which can be fully or partially.

When a vertebra or a disc is pushed so far into the spinal column that the spinal nerves are “cut off” or damaged, you can experience paralysis. The degree of severity will depend on where in your back the injury occurred (upper or lower back). Also, to some degree, how quickly you get medical attention. There is some evidence that quick medical intervention and therapy are correlated with the extent of recovery. Your back injury attorney in Palatine has had a case like this and can help you maximize the amount of money you recover.

Your Age

If you have some idea what your back injury may be worth after accounting for all of these factors, you then need to account for your age. For example, if the medical evidence says that you will miss a month every year because of flare-ups in your back condition, those lost wages will have to be multiplied by how many working years you have left.

How Did You Recover or Heal?

Whatever type of injury you have, the insurance company or defendant will need to see how well or how fully you recover. Everybody claimant’s body is different. The value of your case will be higher, the less that you are able to heal or recover and get your life back to normal (in that case, of course, you would rather get as healthy as possible, even if it means the value of your case goes down). Sometimes, it can take time to see how well you will heal, or how well certain medical procedures help you before your back injury case can be valued.

The Settlement Process

Remember that the defendant or insurance company is trying to resolve the case by paying as little money as possible. It may take time to get the true value of what you have endured. Your back injury lawyer in Palatine can help you evaluate whether any offer made by the insurance company is fair or not, and what your chances are of getting more-or less-are, are by going forward with your case in court.

Call our back injury attorneys in Palatine at Claim Your Justice to schedule a free consultation at 847-434-3555 to help you with your car or truck accident case.

June 17, 2022February 21, 2023

Personal Injury Attorney Discusses Airline Workers’ Compensation

Hello and thank you for taking the time to watch our Claim Your Justice live Facebook session. The purpose of these live sessions is to give our viewers as well as the rest of the Facebook community valuable and useful information on a wide variety of personal injury topics. We want to help you Claim Your Justice. We welcome positive questions and comments. Visit C laim y our J ustice.com or call us at 847-434-3555.

Airline Workers’ Comp Claims

Today I’m going to discuss the injury claims that airline workers may be entitled to make for injuries suffered while on the job. The range of employees that can suffer an injury varies from baggage handlers, flight attendants, mechanics, ramp service personnel, and even administrative personnel.

There can also be a scenario where a member of the flight crew can make an injury claim.

You can have an injury that’s suffered during in-flight turbulence. For example, a flight attendant may lose their balance during a sudden turbulence event and suffer an injury. Frequently, airline workers suffer lifting injuries, you can have a mechanic that is lifting a heavy part into place to install or remove from an aircraft and they suffer an injury to their shoulder or wrist.

You can also have a flight attendant who is lifting a passenger’s bag into the overhead bin trying to help out and be an excellent worker, and they tear a rotator cuff. You can have repetitive trauma type of injuries that wear down over a long period of time from constantly moving a body part. You can suffer what’s termed a repetitive trauma injury. It happens to your wrist, it can happen to your elbows, it could happen to your shoulders, it can happen to your knees.

Repetitive Use Injuries

Let’s say you have a mechanic that uses a ratchet wrench frequently for 5 years, they may develop carpal tunnel on the wrist, they may need surgery to repair that issue, and possibly they may not be able to return to their job as a mechanic. There are many issues involved in the calculation of damages. We’ll talk about that in a minute.

You have issues of venue, where you have a flight attendant or a member of the cockpit crew who’s traveling all over the country and possibly all over the world. If they were working for an Illinois airline, and they suffer an injury outside the state of Illinois, they can make a claim in Illinois. On the other hand, if they’re working for a non-Illinois-based airline, and they suffer an injury while in Illinois, they are entitled to claim their injury in the Illinois Workers Compensation Commission.

This can certainly be tricky, especially in an international type of claim where an injury happens while the person is traveling in Tel Aviv. It may also be difficult to determine where a venue can be if the injured person is not working for an Illinois-based company.

What Is An Injured Worker Entitled To

What is the injured worker entitled to? The injured worker is entitled to compensation for their time off from work while they recover from their injuries, especially if they need surgery. They’re entitled to having their medical bills paid. They’re also entitled to their future medical bills paid. Lastly, the big number is where the lump sum settlement is obtained for the type of injury, based on the permanency of the injury suffered.

That value calculation won’t be made until the doctor who’s treating the client releases them to what is called Maximum Medical Improvement. It’s also called MMI. Once that time is decided by the doctor, it becomes my job as the attorney to calculate the true value of that injury. Is it a small injury where the person has recovered 100%? Or do they have permanent limitations in the amount of weight that they can lift, extension of the limbs, etc?

Finally, you could have something called a third-party claim. Generally, if you’re injured on the job, the only entity you can sue is your employer. That’s the law. You can’t sue a fellow employee directly. You actually can sue a passenger, but it’s through a process called third-party claims.

The most likely example would be where a food service employee working for another company goes to deliver food for the flight and in the process of doing so loses control of the food cart, it hits the flight attendant’s ankle, and ruptures her Achilles. Now that flight attendant has two claims. The first claim against the employer for workers’ compensation. Then there is a negligence claim against the food service company. Generally speaking, negligence claims have much more value than a workers’ compensation claim.

When you hire C laim Y our J ustice for your workers’ compensation and personal injury cases, you’re creating a partnership. The more we recover for our firm, the more we make for our client. The fee is contingent, and that means there is no fee until we win your case. Remember, if you’re injured in any type of work-related accident, call Keith and Claim Your Justice. 847-434-3555. Have a nice week. Thank you.

June 15, 2022February 21, 2023

How Long Does it Take to Settle a Semi-Truck Accident in Illinois?

Trucking accidents are among the most dangerous kinds of accidents on Illinois roadways. The injuries that can result when your average car collides with or is in an accident with a mammoth semi-truck, can be absolutely catastrophic. It’s no wonder that when someone is involved in a semi-truck accident and visits a Hoffman Estates truck accident attorney, their first question is usually something like, “how long will it take my case to resolve?”

The answer to that question is complex and depends on the circumstances of each case. To better understand how long your truck accident will take to resolve, it may help to understand how complex these kinds of accident cases can be. That complexity can add time to the case, which wouldn’t ordinarily be the case in a traditional car-on-car accident case.

A Lot of People and Companies May be Involved

As you will see, there are a lot of potential targets (that is, possible people or companies that may have done something wrong to cause your accident) and things that can go wrong in a truck accident. The more potential defendants there are the more people or companies who may have done something wrong, and the more time your case may take to resolve.

The Rush For-Profits

Unfortunately, many truck accidents are simply caused by the rush for the trucking company or the company shipping whatever is in the truck, to make a profit. The faster-shipped items get to their destination, the more money companies make (and sometimes, drivers as well, as employers may incentivize and pay drivers more for getting the product to its destination faster).

This has led to many drivers being on the roads, longer than they should. Exhausted truck drivers are dangerous drivers.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has established guidelines that limit how long a driver can be behind the wheel before they must be given a rest. They also have rules that dictate how many hours at once, over a period of days, a truck driver can legally be required to be on the roads. However, some companies have ignored these regulations. And, even if the rest is provided, many drivers, anxious to meet financial incentives for getting their payload to their destination quicker, don’t take advantage of these rest breaks.

Federal law requires that drivers’ hours be logged and tracked by trucking companies. Some are recorded electronically, by devices placed inside the truck. These records can take time to get, and for your litigation attorney to interpret once they are obtained. This can add time to your trucking accident case-but it is a vital part of showing the trucking company was negligent.

Overloaded Vehicles

In a similar rush for profits, many trucking companies overload trucks. Trucks must be driven differently depending on their payloads, and if a load is too heavy or packed into the truck improperly, the uneven weight balance of the truck, or shifting of the payloads while the truck is driving, can lead to the truck overturning or jack-knifing. Sometimes, the driver isn’t even aware that the company has improperly or overloaded the truck.

Again, if you are in a truck accident, your Hoffman Estates truck accident attorney will need time to see how much was loaded on the truck, whether the payload was an unsafe amount, and whether the driver used proper driving techniques to account for the payload.

Trucks are Different

Trucks are not like our cars. Their shocks, brakes, tires, and other components are built to manage a 40 ton truck and trailed, not a vehicle the size of your car. Those different components require different maintenance than your car requires, and they also need mechanics specially trained to work on them. Unfortunately, many trucking companies don’t maintain trucks the way that they should be maintained or don’t utilize properly certified mechanics.

In your truck accident case, your attorney will want to see if the accident was a result of a mechanical failure of the truck. For example, truck brakes often fail or don’t operate as they should, especially when they are poorly maintained.

The next step will be to see who was repairing the truck and whether they were properly certified. Federal, and some state laws, require that truck mechanics be specifically certified to work on trucks.

All of this will take some time, as your Claim Your Justice attorney both collects records from the trucking company, and the opinions of experts that your attorney may hire, to analyze those records.

What About the Driver?

The driver of the truck will need to be investigated if the accident was the result of driver error. Trucks are driven differently than standard cars. For example, to make a right turn, a truck may need to “swerve out” in order to make a short right turn. In doing so, the truck can run into oncoming traffic.

Large semi-trucks may have blind spots, which makes changing lanes on the highway dangerous. They also may be more prone to bad weather conditions; a slippery road can be way more dangerous when a truck is on the road than when your car is on that road.

When you or I are on medication that makes it unsafe to drive, we may have the option of not driving. But a trucker doesn’t have that option; driving is his or her livelihood. This leads many drivers to go behind the wheel, even if they aren’t feeling well, or if they are on prescription medication that makes it unsafe for them to be driving.

You and Your Medical Treatment

While the investigation into the trucking company is going on, you will be treated for your injuries. Many people want to try to settle their case as quickly as possible, even though they are still being treated for their injuries.

The problem is that people heal and recover at different time periods. Some will completely heal, while others will be permanently injured. Until you follow your doctor’s course of treatment and undergo therapy, diagnostics, or procedures recommended by your doctor, it is impossible to know whether, in 6 months, a year, or 18 months, you will be healed, or still very much disabled because of your injury.

Negotiate and Settle, Or File a Lawsuit?

When you have healed, and when your Hoffman Estates truck accident attorney has an idea of what the trucking company or its driver did wrong, your attorney will present your case and explain your injuries to the trucking company or its insurance company. At that point, there will be a “back and forth negotiation,” as your attorney and the trucking company, try to settle your case.

If we can reach a settlement dollar amount that you are happy with, your case will be concluded. Prior to that your attorney will go over with you the pros and cons of accepting whatever the trucking company offers, and explain the consequences of accepting or rejecting any settlement offer.

The last thing you want is to settle your case early for less compensation, only to find out that your injuries did not heal as fully as they thought that they would, or to find out you need another procedure that you didn’t think you’d need when you accepted the settlement offer.

Filing a Lawsuit and Getting Evidence for Your Case

If you cannot resolve your truck accident case, you will need to file a lawsuit. The lawsuit will allow you to get all the information your attorney needs to conduct a trial of your case, if necessary. However, getting that information can take time, and the truck company may make it difficult to access critical information.

In addition to gathering paper or document-based information, your Hoffman Estates truck accident attorney will have the chance to take depositions of the truck driver and representatives of the trucking company. These are opportunities for your lawyer to ask the representatives of the Defendant questions about the accident, the maintenance of the truck, the driver, and company safety policies and procedures.

Evidence gathered by your attorney will be forwarded to your expert, who will analyze whether the company did something wrong, and if so, what. This can take additional time as well.

Courts also operate on their own schedules, so if a judge must get involved to make the Defendant trucking company produce information, your attorney will have to schedule hearing times based on the court’s schedule.

If your case does go all the way to trial, you will be given a date for your trial by the court. The court will usually schedule your trial at least a few months forward in the future, to give all sides the chance to prepare.

No One Time Frame for All Cases

As you can see, a lot of variables go into a truck accident case. With all of this, it is easy to get discouraged. You should not be discouraged; not all cases take a long time to resolve—in some cases, where the trucking company clearly did something clearly wrong, and where the extent of your injuries are pretty clear from the start, a truck accident can resolve relatively quickly.

Call our Hoffman Estates truck accident lawyers at Claim Your Justice to schedule a free consultation at 847-434-3555 to help you with your car or truck accident case.

May 27, 2022February 21, 2023

Steps to Take After a Car Accident in Kentucky

After an accident, you may or may not be injured, but you will likely feel confused and frightened. That is natural and experienced by everybody. One thing that can help alleviate your fear is understanding what steps to take after an accident and knowing what to do and what not to do after a car accident. Call your Louisville car accident attorney with any questions.

Move Your Car

You should always stop your vehicle after an accident, even if you are not at fault for the accident. Leaving the scene of an accident, even a minor one, is a crime.

The first thing is to decide what to do with your vehicle, assuming that it’s driveable or moveable. If you cannot move your car, either because it is totaled or because you are not in physical shape to move it, you can leave it where it is.

Make sure that you are in a safe place. If you need to leave your vehicle where it is and move somewhere safe, such as the side of the road, you should do so.

Remember that “secondary accidents” are all too common. When your car is stationary after an accident, another car crashes into your immobile vehicle. If you can, you may want to get yourself away from the car, even if you cannot move it.

Towing (or Not Towing)

The police will likely arrange for your car to get towed if it is immobile. If possible, get the contact information for the tow truck company so that you can locate your vehicle quickly when you are ready to get it back.

If your car does not get towed, you should not fix or repair anything on your vehicle by yourself. Your insurance company and the other driver’s insurance company may want to evaluate the damages to your car. You could lose insurance benefits if you fix your car on your own and deprive the insurance company of the ability to have their adjuster review the damage.

Calling 911 or Emergency Responders

You should immediately call 911 for help. Another driver may often offer to “take care of this between ourselves” and avoid the police or insurance companies getting involved. However, that is rarely a good idea.

The police will arrive and often bring or call medical help if needed. If you need medical attention, immediately tell the 911 operator.

The police will ask you preliminary questions about how the accident happened. It would be best to tell the officer what you know or remember, but this isn’t a quiz. You likely don’t remember every detail of the accident. The accident was stressful, happened quickly, and you are likely full of adrenaline.

It would be best not to admit to fault or say that you did anything wrong because you may not know what is legally right or wrong. Just tell the officer what you observed, and avoid coming to legal conclusions about who was responsible for the accident.

After the accident, you will be able to get a copy of the report that the police file. However, your Louisville car accident lawyer will also do this for you.

Take Pictures and Document the Scene

If you can do so safely, take as many pictures and videos of the scene. Also, if it is safe, take photos of where the cars came to rest after the accident. But if you can’t do that, take pictures as soon as possible, after the vehicles move from the scene.

Take pictures of as much of the area as you can. The images should include the following for both vehicles: damage to the car, interior and exterior of vehicles, debris or markings on the road (such as skid marks caused by the other vehicle), and damage to surrounding areas (for example, if a car veered off the road and hit a tree).

Do not rely on others to document the scene for you. There is no guarantee that you will ever get access to pictures that the other driver is taking.

Another handy tip is to take a quick picture of the other driver’s license plate if they decide to flee the scene before the police arrive. Call your Louisville car accident attorney with any questions.

Call Your Insurance Company

Even if the accident was not your fault, call your insurance policy. You likely have insurance coverage that you can obtain. Regardless of who is at fault, and even if you are at fault, your insurance company has to know what happened in the accident so they can begin preparing a defense for you.

Most insurance companies have 24-hour call centers that do primary intake on new reports, so you should call the insurance company no matter what time the accident happens.

Like the police will likely do, your insurance company will ask you questions about the accident. Once again, tell them what you know, but you are under no obligation to answer every single question they ask you in detail. Avoid volunteering this information. Later, when you get a Louisville car accident lawyer, your attorney will give your insurance company more information about the accident.

Remember that many insurance policies have strict deadlines to report a claim. If you have to wait a few days to report your Kentucky car accident because you are physically unable to do so, such as because you are in the hospital, that is fine. But, report the accident to the insurance company as quickly as possible.

Get Witness Information

Often, observers or other vehicles or people who saw the accident will rush to your aid after the accident. Many, however, may leave before the police get there. If you can and can do so, try to obtain contact information for these witnesses. If the other driver denies how the accident happened, these witnesses may be vital to providing your case later on.

You can also try to get the contact information from the other driver. However, do not engage with or interact with the other driver if they seem violent, angry, or volatile.

Get Medical Help

Right after the accident, you may feel that you don’t need medical help. Perhaps you aren’t in pain, or at least not in great pain.

The police, driver, or witnesses may ask how you feel. Avoid saying you are “fine” or “have no pain” because your body is adrenaline-filled after an accident. Your body can immediately mask the damage done to you in the accident. Do not rely on your pain level right after the accident.

Additionally, many medical conditions after an accident may not hurt at first. Sometimes, the pain won’t show up for hours or even a day. Many injuries take time to develop. Just because you don’t feel pain immediately doesn’t mean you aren’t injured.

Later on, the other side will often try to use the fact that you spontaneously said that you were “fine” against you. It is particularly true if you try to get compensation for injuries that develop later on.

Talking to the Other Driver (and His or Her Insurance)

Sometimes the other driver will say or do things there at the scene, such as an offer to work the matter out between yourselves. They may also try to blame you for the accident. Do not be argumentative or angry.

You should also not accept blame or blame the other driver–your Louisville car accident lawyer will take care of that part. However, if you feel it was the other driver’s fault, you should say that to the police and the insurance company.

A few days after the accident, the other driver’s insurance company may try to contact you. If you have a personal injury attorney, you don’t have to worry about this–your Louisville car accident lawyer will cover all communications.

However, before you have an attorney, either the other driver or their insurance company may propose to settle your case. They may not even say “settle” but may offer you some money. You should never accept money or sign any agreement without first talking to an injury attorney.

Many of these “quick settlements” will never fully compensate you for your damages and injuries. They are offers designed to make you “go away” before you can receive what you are entitled to for your damages.

Contact An Experienced Kentucky Car Accident Lawyer

These are just some of the immediate situations you may encounter after an accident. In the days and weeks after your accident, you may get overwhelmed with problems, pain, phone calls, or requests for documentation.

You don’t have to worry about that–your Louisville car accident lawyer will take care of it for you and guide you through the entire process to focus on getting better and getting yourself back to you.

Call our Louisville car accident attorneys at Claim Your Justice to schedule a free consultation at 847-434-3555 to help you with your car accident case.

May 23, 2022November 10, 2025

Personal Injury Lawyer Keith Shindler On Not Representing Yourself

Hello, I’m attorney Keith Schindler. Thank you for taking the time to view another edition of Claim Your Justice Live.

The purpose of these sessions is to try and help educate the viewers, and the rest of the Facebook community about personal injury cases, personal injury topics, and how to maximize the value of any personal injury claim.

The ultimate goal is to help you Claim Your Justice. We welcome positive comments and any questions you may have. To contact us, visit us on the web at ClaimYourJustice.com or call us at 847-434-3555.

Should You Ever Represent Yourself In A Personal Injury Case?

Today I am going to discuss representing yourself in a personal injury case. You may think this is a self-serving topic because of course, we’re personal injury attorneys. I want to represent clients in personal injury cases. However, there are pitfalls to representing yourself, a glaring comparison is if you had a fire at your house, you would call the fire department. Why? They’re professionally trained in putting out fires. They have the tools that are necessary to do the job.

I have had prospective clients who have called to discuss with me their case and are trying to represent themselves. Why are they trying to represent themselves? They do not want to pay an attorney a fee to represent them in a personal injury claim. If it is a very, very minor type of injury, go ahead and try and represent yourself.

An Attorney Doesn’t Cost It Pays

I rarely say that though. I view it as an attorney does not cost, it pays. Over the past couple of months, I have had two clients call, and they were representing themselves. In the first case, the client was very happy that they were able to secure a settlement of a few thousand dollars, on their own. Sounds great, right? The problem is, my evaluation of the case and medical bills told me the case was worth probably $25,000. Certainly in that situation, having a personal injury attorney representing the client would not have cost, it would have paid because the client would have walked away from the case with significantly more than a few thousand dollars.

Worse, I had a client call and she was representing herself trying to negotiate a settlement. There were a lot of medical records involved. A lot of gathering medical records. There were a couple of different injuries at play. She had a specified type of injury that she was suffering and organized what bills go to what type of injury and what the permanency of the injury was valued at. It took such a long period that the statute of limitations to file a lawsuit had expired. The client had not successfully negotiated a settlement for herself. The case was essentially dead.

The problem with the second example where the statute of limitations expired, is that the client had suffered a significant injury, my guess is the value was over $100,000. Right now the client has zero. Again, the Personal Injury Attorney would not have cost, it would have paid. That client would have been able to get a substantial recovery. Now there are some issues about how a personal injury relationship works. Well, it is a contingent fee relationship. What that means is the attorney fee is contingent on me successfully winning the case. To Claim Your Justice, attorneys have to win. The win is contingent on getting paid.

This creates what I describe to clients as a partnership. We are in this partnership together, the more I am able to recover for my client, and the more I am able to make for our firm. It’s not just self-serving. It is a benefit that pays to the client. I have every incentive to not settle the case for a shorter value, or in a shorter time to get out of the case and make a quick buck. That is not our goal. Our goal is to maximize recovery. It is number one in the client’s interest, because the more money I could collect for the client, the more money I earn for the firm. It is contingent, it is a win-win relationship.

Pitfalls Of Self Representation

As for the pitfalls, you can suffer when you are trying to negotiate a settlement yourself. Some are obvious, right, we have already discussed it, you are going to recover significantly less than your case is worth. That is bad. You cannot unwind that clock, you cannot un-ring that bell. Once you sign the release document, case closed, you’re going to get a check, you’re going be talking to someone along the way afterward, you’ll say “Look at me, I represented myself and got $7,000.”

The person will say, well, I know a little bit about personal injury, I think your case was worth upwards of $25,000. It is a sad day, but it happens all the time. Who wins in that situation, the insurance company. Not the injured party. You could also miss out on recovering what you might need for coverage for future medical services.

Let’s say you have a scar where your injury was, and eventually, you need plastic surgery to reduce the visibility of the scar. You signed that release … case over, if you did not include the value of those future medical services in your settlement, that surgery will not be covered.

You also have issues of not being able to properly evaluate if other insurance coverages apply. Let’s say you’re in a car accident, and the other side has a $25,000 minimum statutory insurance policy, and the insurance company offers that $25,000 for your injury. The problem is if you don’t have experience and knowledge in dealing with this, maybe you forgot to notify your underinsured motorist carrier. Maybe you forgot to see who the owner of the car was. If it’s a company, maybe they have a larger policy.

You get my point, hopefully. Then there is the, usually very minor issue of lost wages. Let’s say you missed a week or two of work and you didn’t get paid. You likely won’t know that you’re supposed to include those lost wages in your claim. Again, the insurance company wins, and you lose.

Another benefit of having a personal injury attorney represent you in a personal injury case is that after the case, we will frequently get involved in negotiating the medical bills. If there’s not a sufficient amount of money to cover all the medical bills, we will help you. There may be a $19,000 hospital bill that we could reduce down to $11,000. It’s a big number, these numbers matter.

May 12, 2022February 21, 2023

What are the Most Common Personal Injury Cases in Kentucky?

The terms or phrases “personal injury” or “personal injury case” get used often in the legal world. However, a personal injury case is a broad term and a phrase that includes various situations. The basis of a personal injury case comes when there is negligence involved, meaning that one or more parties behaved carelessly, which causes an accident that results in harm to others.

What is a Personal Injury Case?

A personal injury case is any case where someone else’s actions or a business’ actions or inaction injures someone. Those actions can be affirmative acts—such as when someone runs a red light. Or, they can be an omission, where someone doesn’t do something that they should have—such as when someone fails to clean a floor. They can also occur when a doctor fails to prescribe a prescription or a medical procedure.

Saying a personal injury case is any case where you get injured is very broad. But there are many different kinds of personal injury cases, and certain types tend to happen or occur more often than others.

Car Accidents

A typical personal injury case is a car accident. However, saying that every case involving a car is the same is certainly not true. Even within the vast category of car accident cases, different car accidents happen very commonly.

For example, a car or motorcycle accident case can include:

A rear-end accident.
An accident in an intersection caused by the other person running a red light or a stop sign.
A lane change accident, where someone doesn’t look to see that the lane they are going into is empty.
Hitting a pedestrian, bicyclist, or motorcyclist.
Hit and run accidents, also known as “phantom” or unknown drivers.
Commercial truck accidents.

Because there are so many cars on the road and so many ways that people can get in accidents while driving cars or motorcycles, this is hardly an all-inclusive list. Additionally, anybody in a car can be a car accident victim, including passengers.

However the accident happens, car accidents remain one of the most common personal injury cases. Call your Louisville car accident attorney with any questions.

Slip and Falls

A slip and fall is a case where someone falls while on or on someone else’s property, usually because a foreign object or substance was on the floor. It may be accidental, such as when something spills, or purposeful, such as when a worker is actively cleaning the floor, but if the store just doesn’t put markers or cones around the dangerous area to alert people that the floor is dangerous.

Slip and falls also can include situations where there is no foreign object on the floor. Perhaps there is a condition on the floor that is dangerous. Examples may be when someone leaves an object on a walkway or a crack or a brick on the floor that creates an uneven walking surface that causes someone to fall.

Slip and fall cases don’t just happen in stores or businesses-they can also occur in people’s homes. Homeowners have the same obligation to keep their property safe as business owners do. Call your Louisville personal injury attorney with any questions.

Negligent Security

Businesses must keep their property safe. That includes keeping the actual physical premises safe by minimizing, lowering, or eliminating the risk of criminal activity that could end up causing someone an injury.

A negligent security case involves three “actors”: You (the victim), the store or property owner, and the perpetrator or criminal. Although it seems like criminals act independently, and a store owner has no responsibility for your being a victim of violent crime, that is not the case. Stores located in high crime areas must take proper security measures to lower the chance of crime happening on the premises.

Standard safety measures are employing security guards, using gates or fences, proper lighting in parking lots, and using video cameras to deter criminal activity.

Products Liability

Often, products do not work the way they are supposed to, and people get injured. Many product liability cases make national news when things like cars, airbags, drugs, or other products don’t function properly.

Product liability cases can involve an item that is just a “defect,” such as where a single product comes off the assembly line differently from other similar products. Product liability cases can also involve a product that works as it is supposed to. It’s just that the product was made or designed dangerously.

In a product liability case, you or your Louisville personal injury lawyer must do the following: hire experts who will look at a product, analyze what went wrong, how the product was made or designed, and render an opinion on whether the product was made or designed dangerous.

All parties responsible for the sale of a defective product are liable for the injuries the product causes. In other words, not only the manufacturer or maker of the product is liable for your injuries, but also distributors or retailers.

Medical Malpractice

Medical malpractice is an action or omission taken by a medical provider that falls below the accepted standard of care. It is where a medical provider does something different than what most other medical providers in the same field or specialty would do.

Any medical provider can get sued for medical malpractice—not just doctors or doctors who treat you. Nurses, acupuncturists, radiologists, anesthesiologists, and other medical specialties can all commit medical malpractice.

Not every bad medical outcome means that there was medical malpractice—medicine is, after all, still an inexact science. Your Louisville personal injury lawyer will need to retain and hire an expert to evaluate your medical records and what your medical providers did or didn’t do to see if you have been a victim of medical malpractice.

Nursing Home Negligence

Nursing homes get charged with safeguarding the most vulnerable members of the population, a population that is generally not able to care for themselves-the elderly and infirm. Unfortunately, many nursing homes are understaffed, have untrained employees, or the team doesn’t know how to deal with difficult patients or patients with complex medical needs.

Nursing home personal injury cases can include a broad range of situations. For example, a resident may be mobile and walking and then fall because it was not medically advisable for the person to be walking about. Someone can be walking about and fall on items on the floor.

Even the things supposed to protect nursing home residents, like bed rails, can cause injury.

Many residents are injured when the staff ignores their needs, such as not being moved in bed or in pain, and staff may be non-responsive in coming to their aid.

Because many nursing home residents have medical needs and get treated by doctors inside the home, a nursing home resident can also be the victim of medical malpractice while in a nursing home.

Some residents may even find themselves victims of physical or sexual abuse, either from fellow residents or the home staff.

Dog or Animal Bites or Injuries

The owner of an animal is liable for the injuries caused by that animal. The animal owner doesn’t have to have known, in advance, that the dog could bite or cause injury. The fact that an owner is “surprised” that their dog injured someone is not a defense either.

Many animals can injure other people not out of anger or aggression but just accidentally. For example, an exuberant dog may jump on someone and cause them to fall or scratch them. Even if the dog injures someone else just being playful, the owner can be liable.

Speak To A Louisville Personal Injury Attorney

These examples are hardly an exhaustive list of all the kinds of personal injury cases. Many other personal injury cases can be pretty standard. Examples include injuries at amusement parks, gun shops negligently selling weapons to unauthorized individuals, or where a daycare or school fails to supervise children, resulting in personal injuries.

The law doesn’t require that you categorize your personal injury case, and where it does, your Louisville personal injury lawyer can help you. You don’t need to worry about what kind of personal injury case you have. So long as you are injured and believe that someone or a business may have been responsible, you have a right to sue for your injuries.

Call our Louisville personal injury attorneys at Claim Your Justice to schedule a free consultation at 847-434-3555 to help you with your personal injury case.

May 4, 2022February 21, 2023

Personal Injury Attorney Keith Shindler On Bicycle Accidents

Bicycle Accidents And Personal Injuries

Hello, this is Keith Shindler coming to you with another edition of Claim Your Justice Facebook Live. Personal injuries happen in many types of scenarios, some of which we’ve talked about throughout the weeks. My purpose in having these live sessions is to try and give you information.

I want to provide information to you so that if some tragedy befalls you or anyone you may know, and they’re injured as a result of someone else’s negligence, you will be prepared and know the proper course of action to take. I’m teaching you how to Claim Your Justice. Call Claim Your Justice at 1-888-88 KEITH, that’s 1-888-885-3484 and one of our lawyers will professionally help you recover the proper amount of money for the particular injury and the scenario that may have occurred.

Summer Brings More Bicycles

Today we’re going to talk about bicycles. Summer is almost here, soon enough there are going to be lots of bicycles on the road, you are going to be out on a bicycle, your kids will be out on a bicycle, and your adult-grown parents will be out on bicycles.

Unfortunately, there are lots of injuries that happen when someone is out on their bike. The type of injuries that occur can vary greatly. In the worst-case scenario, you have a bike rider who’s run off the road, hits some type of cement pole or median, or falls into a ditch, and is seriously injured. Sometimes those accidents result in someone’s death. That’s rare, but it’s possible.

Frequently, you have someone who suffers an injury like a broken arm, a broken wrist, a broken leg, or head injuries where someone breaks the skull or the orbit around their eye, it’s called an orbital fracture, and you could have a combination of those injuries.

Bike Riders Have Rights

Regretfully, when you have a 20-pound bike versus a 2,000-pound car or a 30,000-pound tractor-trailer, the injuries can be massive. You have got to be careful out there. Bike riders have rights!

A simple fact pattern for when these types of accidents occur. You could be making a right turn at an upcoming street and a car behind you thinks that they can make their right turn before you’ll hit the intersection. They may speed around you and make that right turn, and either turn right into you. Or, in the middle of their turn, your momentum carries you right into the passenger side of their car.

They shouldn’t be doing that, of course, but everyone is in a rush these days as they want to get places fast and there is minimal regard for bike riders out there.

Another scenario you could have is where someone’s trying to make a left turn at an intersection, the bike rider is coming in the opposite direction.

Whether there’s a red light, green light, or no traffic control device at all, the car turns left in front of the bike rider, the bike rider again runs into the passenger side of the car. Or the bike rider comes through an intersection, and the driver makes their left turn smashing right into the bike rider. Drivers often can’t really evaluate how quickly a bike is approaching. It’s much easier to evaluate and guess the speed of an approaching car than it is to guesstimate the speed of a bicycle. The speeds vary up and down greatly with a bike as opposed to a vehicle.

Distracted Driver And Annoyed Driver Accidents

Those are two types of kinds of injuries. What else do we have? This is the worst…You have a distracted driver, who is texting, tuning the radio in their car, or doing something other than paying attention to the road. That distracted driver, as a result, is going to swerve, run into the bike, and run you off the road.

The law is on your side.

One other type of injury you could have is with the driver who’s just annoyed with you being a bike rider on the road. They think roads are meant for cars. You’re on a bike, stay on the sidewalk. Well, personally, I’m a road bike rider. I’m out on the road a lot. I see some of these drivers, they just think that you should not be there.

So, you could have an annoyed driver, and you’ve read some of the news articles about this possibility. Recently, in the past year or so a pickup truck ran into a group of bike riders killing at least a few of them. First of all, criminal, yes, for sure. From a damage perspective, that would be more of an intentional act.

In that particular scenario, we’d ask for what’s called punitive damages. Those damages are meant to punish the person who causes the accident. The law is on your side.

Of course, most of us have seen road signs that say “share the road” or for bike riders not to ride side by side as opposed to single file. I prefer the single file method. I think it’s safer. There are many bike riders out there that will go side by side.

Illinois State Law On Bicycles And Automobiles

There’s a state law in Illinois and at least two Chicago ordinances covering bicyclists. The State law is found in the Illinois Compiled Statutes and it provides that as a car driver when you’re passing a bike, you need to give at least three feet on the side before you pass the bike. Very rarely are there three feet to give. There is a law out there that protects you when you have a driver who hits a biker and didn’t give that three feet to pass. they violated not only traffic rules, but they were negligent as well.

When I’m driving and I see a biker I go as far as the other lane when passing them. This assumes there is no oncoming traffic.

Personal Injury Compensation You Are Entitled To

Let’s talk about the damages you’re entitled to. You get your medical bills paid for sure. You are entitled to future medical bills paid as well. Pain and suffering. Plus, there could be a permanent disfigurement, someone fractures their hip as a result of being hit by a car. If you have someone who fractures their hip, they could have a limp. If this occurs, that person has permanent disfigurement, and that limp is a permanent disfigurement. Lost wages. Then sometimes bikes are a couple of hundred dollars. Well, when you have a road bike, some of these road bikes out there can cost thousands of dollars. You’re entitled to get your property damage compensated for in addition to these other damages.

What can a bike rider do to make their life safer out there? I’m not preaching to anybody, but I’m just telling you, as I do personally, wear a helmet. I try and wear a brighter color shirt. I want to make sure that people can see me out on the road. I have a front blinking light and a rear blinking light. I observe the rules of the road and try not to ride in the middle of the street. I see some bikers out there, that may be great bikers, but are kind of jerky where they’re right in the middle of the street. This can result in annoying somebody like we were talking about a little earlier.

I do have personal experience here. I was coming down a street in a suburb. I was going through the intersection and a woman, a young lady, maybe in her 30’s driving a minivan with a young kid in the car, paid no attention to me, ran right into my front tire, and knocked me off my bike. Thankfully not a serious injury. My bike was damaged. I did have some blood and cuts on my hands. Worse and believe it or not she just kept going. She couldn’t care about the bike.

Contact Our Experienced Bicycle Accident Lawyer

So I’m very sensitive about this. I have a lot of emotion representing anyone injured while riding their bicycle, or groups of people injured at the same time.

If you’re injured in any type of work accident, car accident, trip-and-fall, medical malpractice, wrongful death, or for this topic of this today, a bike accident injury call Claim Your Justice. Call 847-434-3555 we’re here to help you Claim Your Justice. Have a great rest of your day.

April 30, 2022February 21, 2023

Why you Should Hire an Attorney After a Serious Car Accident

Let’s say that you are in a bad car accident. You may not be an expert in the law, but you know one thing: The accident wasn’t your fault. It seems like an easy, open, and shut case. A drunk driver runs a red light or a stop sign and hits you from behind. You are significantly injured. It seems like an “easy” case…why hire an attorney?

There are many reasons to hire an attorney–especially if your injury or the accident was severe. After a car accident in Chicago, you may face more problems and questions than you anticipate, and a Schaumburg car accident attorney can help you with those issues.

The Insurance Company Has More Legal Knowledge Than You

After an accident, you can expect to be contacted by the responsible side’s insurance company. The insurance company will use an adjuster to speak to you about your claim. That adjuster will be well trained in the law and how to negotiate. Just when you thought you had a great case, the insurance company adjuster may tell you that you may have problems you didn’t anticipate.

Maybe you were at fault, in full or partly, for the accident. Perhaps you weren’t following the rules of the road. Maybe the other driver isn’t at fault because they were trying to avoid another unknown careless driver.

What will you say when the insurance adjuster says these things? Would you know what to say and whether the adjuster is correct or not?

A Palatine car accident attorney has heard these same excuses from insurance companies over and over and knows how to deal with them. The insurance company’s adjuster is no match for your car accident attorney at Claim Your Justice.

The Insurance Company Has More Resources

The insurance company has a lot of resources at its disposal to investigate the accident that you don’t have.

For example, the insurance company may have experts take pictures of the accident scene. They will have their mechanics analyze the damage from all the vehicles in the accident. They may have accident reconstruction experts that will try to “recreate” the accident (no doubt, in a way that shows they are not at fault).

How will you get any of this information? Do you have experts of your own? Your car accident attorney certainly will. Your attorney will have some of the same resources that the insurance company has and will be able to request the information from the insurance company to counter their investigation.

How Will You Pay Your Bills?

After an accident, you will have medical expenses that insurance will cover, and you may have some costs that insurance doesn’t cover. A Buffalo Grove car accident attorney can help you in both cases. There may be questions about which insurance will cover the expenses.

You may have your car insurance, health insurance, and the other side’s insurance. Each of these insurances may have an adjuster. They will want information and documentation to pay your bills. However, what about your insurance coverage to repair your car? Your car accident attorney can also help you arrange those matters.

Your Claim Your Justice car accident attorney can work with all the insurance companies so that you don’t have to worry about paperwork or which insurance company is paying what–or worse. You don’t have to worry about potentially being denied insurance benefits if you don’t fill out paperwork or information correctly.

That’s just your bills that insurance does cover. What about uncovered expenses? Your car accident attorney can work with your medical providers to keep your unpaid bills from going into default or collections while you are waiting to settle your car accident case.

Watch What You Say

As time goes on, the insurance company on the other side may ask you questions about the accident. You may want to be helpful and tell them everything that you can. However, your statements can unwittingly lead you into saying something that could harm your case or which would justify making you a lower settlement offer.

Your Hoffman Estates car accident attorney can communicate with the other side’s insurance company for you so that you don’t have to worry about saying something incorrectly or carelessly that could hurt your case.

Should You Settle?

The insurance company may offer you a settlement to your case, sometimes soon after the accident. What is a fair settlement offer? You would only know that if you have experience settling or trying injury cases in court the way Claim Your Justice car accident attorneys do.

And if you do settle for less than what your case is worth, you are done–you can’t come back later and ask for more money if something “unexpected” arises (for example, surgery or other medical complication).

Is the offer the insurance company is giving you a fair amount? You could file a lawsuit and try to go to trial. Claim YOur Justice accident attorneys can discuss what you can expect to happen in a trial. Not just what your outcome may be, but what the lawsuit process will be like for you.

Of course, you can expect the insurance company to mislead you into believing that they are giving you “an incredible offer,” and they may say things like, “you should take this offer–you’ll never get this much in court!” Should you believe the insurance company and take the offer? Your Palatine car accident attorneys can tell you this.

Reading the Settlement Agreement

Let’s say that the settlement offer the insurance company makes seems fair. You want to take the offer. But they don’t just hand you money. Before that happens, you have to sign a multi-page document with legalese. Do you know what is in the release or settlement agreement that the insurance company wants you to sign?

These releases can have confidentiality agreements, indemnity agreements, or overbroad releases. The insurance company knows what’s in there and what it says. You may not, and you can’t be sure they will give you an honest answer if you ask.

Your Palatine car accident attorney can review your settlement agreement and tell you whether the money you are receiving is reasonable and whether the settlement agreement you sign is fair.

Do You Have to File a Lawsuit?

If the insurance company doesn’t want to settle or doesn’t want to settle for what you consider to be a fair amount, and you didn’t get an attorney, you now may have a problem. Now you have to file a lawsuit, but whatever attorney you choose will not have been with your case from the beginning. It can put you at a disadvantage.

Remember that there may be time limits to filing a lawsuit. If you hire an attorney too late, the attorney may not have time to thoroughly investigate your case and determine whether they want to represent you. The last thing you want is to hire an attorney that will be in a rush to evaluate your case.

After You Get The Money

After your case is over, whether you settled or went to trial, getting your settlement money isn’t the end of your worries.

Someone may need to negotiate with your medical providers to lower the amount you owe to them. Even your health insurance might want to get reimbursed if you used health insurance for your medical bills.

A car accident attorney can take care of this to ensure that no outstanding medical bills are lurking out there when you get your settlement. The last thing you want is a medical provider who treated you, contacting you a year after settling your case, saying, “we never got paid.”

Questions You May Not Have Thought About

During your case, you may have questions or problems that you never even anticipated–all issues that your Claim Your Justice car accident attorney has dealt with before and can help you.

You may ask yourself, “Can the tow company charge that amount? Do I have to pay that emergency room bill now? Can my employer fire me because I was in an accident? Will a misdemeanor I had a few years back affect your case? Will my bankruptcy affect the car accident case?”

Almost every question you can imagine may come up, and your attorney will help you answer them or deal with them entirely for you.

Call our personal injury attorneys in Palatine at Claim Your Justice to schedule a free consultation at 847-434-3555 to help you with your car accident case.