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How to Help Your Personal Injury Lawyer Win Your Case

personal injury

When you have a personal injury case, you should be looking for an attorney who can help you in every way possible. That is a good idea, and yes, some attorneys can help you more than others can. Claim Your Justice has the attorneys you are looking for. There are things that you can do to help your personal injury attorney.

What Can You Do To Help Your Personal Injury Case?

You may not be an attorney, and you may have no legal training or knowledge. That’s OK; nobody expects you to walk into court and conduct your own personal injury trial. But there are some common sense things that you can do to help your personal injury attorney win your case or get the result that you want.

Take Pictures and Gather Evidence

Your personal injury attorney (or any experts they may hire) will do most of the necessary investigation for your case, and collect most of the evidence that you will need to win your case. But there are also things you can do, especially at the time of the accident, that can help.

Taking pictures and videos of the accident scene can be a huge help in winning your case. If possible, and if you physically can, take pictures and videos of everything related to the accident, and the scene surrounding the accident, no matter what kind of accident it is.

For example, if you are in a car accident, do not just take a picture of the cars—take a picture of skid marks on the road, or parts of the car that may have fallen off and are lying on the roadway, and pictures of the inside of your car, as well.

These pictures not only tell the story of what happened to you, but if there is a dispute about what happened, these photos may have clues to help your attorney or an expert win your case.

Collecting evidence includes contact information for potential witnesses if you can gather this information. Giving your attorneys the names and contact information of witnesses who have seen your accident, observed your pain or your disability, and can testify as to what you have gone through can go a long way to winning your personal injury case and maximizing your recovery.

Save Evidence – We know what you are thinking, you are the victim-what evidence do you have? But often, accident victims do have crucial evidence, evidence that is often, accidentally, thrown away or destroyed.

Examples of evidence that an injury victim may accidentally destroy include:

  • Shoes and clothes from the day of your accident, which could have debris, blood, tears, or other information that may be evidence in your case
  • Electronic data, like emails, videos, or pictures from the accident, or which detail your injuries of the accident itself
  • Damage to cars by repairing your car before the insurance company or your injury lawyers have the chance to investigate it
  • Products that may have caused you injury

Saving these items, and anything related to your accident or injuries, and giving them to your attorneys can go a long way toward helping your injury attorney win your case.

Additionally, throwing away this kind of evidence can have negative consequences for your case—the court can sanction you, and the last thing you want is to be accused of destroying valuable evidence by the defendant. Sometimes this is referred to as spoilation of evidence.

Get Medical Treatment – Many people do not seek out the medical treatment that they need or follow their prescribed course of treatment. Getting medical treatment does not just help you, it helps your attorney and helps your case.

Why don’t victims get the medical treatment that they may need? Some may feel like they cannot afford medical treatment. Maybe they are “too busy,” or in denial about the severity of injuries. Some may be afraid of taking medicine or undergoing recommended procedures.

Failing to get medical treatment is one of the biggest mistakes a victim can make. Aside from the consequences to your own health, your attorney has no way to tell a jury, a defendant, or the insurance company what you have gone through, and the severity of your injuries, when you have not gone to the doctors you were supposed to or when you are not following your doctors’ recommendations.

Update Your Lawyer About Your Treatment

During the course of your treatment and depending on the severity and type of your injury, you may visit many different doctors. Even if you do not visit multiple doctors, you may go to immediate care facilities, therapists, or diagnostic centers to take scans or X-rays.

You would be surprised how many victims go to multiple doctors, but they never tell their lawyers. Every time you go for therapy, for a scan, or a test, you should let your injury attorney know, so your attorney knows where to get those records.

Keep a Log or Journal of Your Experiences

During the course of recovering from your injuries, you may have good days and bad days. You may find that you have so many painful events and feelings, both physical and mental, that it may be hard to recall them all later on. This is especially true if you recover or heal a bit more as time goes on—it can be easy to forget or just minimize or overlook effects, feelings, or things that happen in your life, which will really paint a picture to the jury or to the defendant, of just how badly your injuries affected you.

Do not leave these important details about your case to your memory; you can help your injury attorney (and yourself) tell your story later on if you keep a journal or a log of all of your pain, difficulties, frustrations, sadness, and disabilities and give it to your attorneys. We sometimes refer to these as “day in the life” journals.

Communicate With Your Lawyer

Yes, many injury victims who choose the wrong personal injury attorney complain that their attorney never calls them or communicates with them. But a good personal injury attorney wants to hear from you and get updates about how you are doing.

You should update your lawyers on your progress periodically. Often, lawyers do not have needed information because the only way they can get that information is from you, the client, and clients may not be diligent in calling every now and then to give their attorney updates on their lives.

Let your lawyers know things like hearing something from a witness, if you are in an especially great amount of pain, or if there is a medical bill collector calling you.

If you have a question, like whether to sell the car that was involved in your accident, whether you should post something on social media, or what your upcoming deposition will be like, you should reach out and speak to your lawyers.

Get Requested Documents

During the course of what is known as discovery, the other side (the defendant) is entitled to ask you to produce documents.

These may be documents that show your injuries, your medical expenses, your lost wages, or any other part of your case or injury. Your lawyer will let you know what the other side wants you to produce, and what you legally need to produce.

Some of the documents your lawyer will already have and will produce for you, but for some, your attorney will need you to produce the necessary records or documents.

There are time limits to produce these documents and you can be a huge help to your attorney by getting documents to him or her as quickly as possible. Remember that some documents you may need to request from others, like bank statements, or medical bills, so as soon as your attorney asks you for a document, it is good to begin working on getting it.

Avoid Social Media Posting

No, you do not need advanced approval from your personal injury attorney before you post anything on social media. But you can help your attorney incredibly, by being mindful of what you post online.

Just a single picture or video can portray the wrong image for you, and the defendant and its insurance company will see those images and what you write with them. If you have any doubt as to whether it is a good idea to post something, ask your attorney.

Be Honest

This sounds obvious, but you should never lie or stretch the truth to your attorney. Your attorney cannot help you overcome the “negative” parts of your case or anticipate defenses the other side may bring up if you are not honest about what those negative things are.

Your attorney cannot win your case if they are surprised at something the other side says, which you knew to be true, but did not say it to your lawyer.

There is likely nothing you will say to your injury attorney that they have not heard of or dealt with in prior cases. Be honest with your attorney about everything, including the facts of the case, your pain, and your medical treatment, so that your attorney knows exactly how to manage your case and what to expect in trial.

Contact Our Schaumburg Personal Injury Lawyers

Call our Schaumburg personal injury attorney at Claim Your Justice to schedule a free consultation at 847-434-3555 to see how you and your attorney can help each other get the best result possible in your personal injury case.

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Liability In The Event Of A Mass Shooting

mass shootings

Good afternoon. My name is Keith Shindler. Thank you for taking some time out of your day to listen to our Facebook Live session. The purpose of the Facebook Live sessions is to help our clients, in any situation, learn how to Claim Your Justice.

You can reach us at 847-434-3555, or visit us on the internet at our website claimyourjustice.com. Feel free to send us an email if you have any questions that you’d like to submit to us. You could also reach out to us through Facebook.

Today, I want to talk about a very difficult subject. On July 4th, more than a month ago, we had a terrible incident in Highland Park, Illinois, during an Independence Day Parade, where a mass shooting occurred. Seven people were tragically killed, many others were physically injured, and many beyond that were psychologically and mentally injured.


 

 

Who Is Liable For A Mass Shooting?

My part of the job, in addition to being very sad about all of the events that occurred and all the people that are negatively affected, is how can I help someone Claim Your Justice? The question arises, and it’s a difficult and sensitive subject, but who may be liable to pay for the people’s damages that suffered psychological injuries, need counseling, as a result, have some PTSD or other type of diagnosis, who’s going to pay for medical bills, pain, suffering, and disfigurement.

Of those that were tragically physically injured, some have undergone many surgeries. Most of us know the story of the young boy that is paralyzed as a result. Of course, those sadly and tragically taken from us were killed. You would generally think the first reaction is that no one is responsible for the criminal acts of a third person because generally, those criminal acts are not foreseeable.

We’ll talk in two weeks about a recent event that happened where someone was sued for a repairman entering a customer’s house, an 83-year-old customer’s house, and killing her, and why that person was responsible. Some of the same legal analysis applies. Anyone who’s going to be named or targeted as a defendant in a civil case will say, I’m not responsible for the criminal acts of this mass murder, and therefore, I’m not financially liable for any of the injuries that you’re claiming whether it’s wrongful death, a survival action, medical bills, disfigurement, future medical bills, pain and suffering, lost wages.

First Of All, Who Could Potential Targets Be For Liability?

Well, the number one potential target could be the person or company that sold the weapon to this alleged mass murderer. If there’s a civil action brought, the gun companies are going to say there is a liability statute that protects them from these types of actions.

However, that has been pierced a couple of times, and I’m sure it’ll be challenged again in this particular incident. You also have potential liability for the people who were promoting the event. Why? Because they may have been responsible for providing security.

Then the question becomes, what is the level of security that they should have provided? I don’t think it’s foreseeable that the event promoter should have had people on the roofs of the local buildings looking out for potential terrorists or mass murderers, but it’s arguable, right?

You could also have the owners of the buildings where this may have occurred if they didn’t properly secure their building, of course, the owners of the buildings are going to argue they’re not responsible. Again, criminal conduct is not foreseeable. Don’t hang it on us. I would understand that argument. But the fact of the matter is I’m developing theories that may work to help clients recover monetary damages for their losses.

If the event promoter hired a separate security company says that if the event promoter is Company A, and they say we put on events, we don’t provide security, they hire a security Company B to provide security, then similar arguments may be applied to those companies to say, hey, security company, what did you secure, it wasn’t so secure.

Are There Claims Against Law Enforcement?

Sadly, there may be some liability claims against law enforcement, if there were incidences where allegedly law enforcement should have known that this person was a danger to society and should have arrested the person. I don’t know that that applies in this case, I’m not sure that it does, but it’s potential targeting of defendants in these civil cases.

Are The Parents of The Shooter Liable?

There may be claims of liability made against the parents of this person, the liability theory would argue, hey, parents or relatives, did you know that this event was being planned? Did you have reasons to know that this event was being planned? If so, you should have notified the police. Again, I don’t think that that applies here. All of these are allegations, we’re just talking about possible potential theories of liability.

Can An Employer Be Liable?

Let’s say that the shooter was an employee of a company, and he was doing some type of work in the area while clocked in and committed this offense. Well, you would target the employer to say, you hired this employee, you may have had reason to know he was a danger. You let him work in an area that was populated with people enjoying and celebrating the patriotism of our country, Fourth of July, the employers will say I had no foreseeability.

Can A Hotel Or Motel Be Liable For The Actions Of A Guest?

Many years ago in Las Vegas, a Las Vegas hotel was sued. I believe the claim there was that the person who was the shooter was in his room for a certain number of days, didn’t come out, and the maid may have gone in, I don’t remember the exact arguments there, but certainly, those arguments were asserted.

Can A Mental Health Professional Be Liable For A Mass Shooter’s Actions?

You may have a cause of action against a mental health care provider that if a person who was accused of a mass shooting was under the care of a mental health professional, there may be an argument like the mental health care professional, I know that the sanctity of the privilege between the doctor and the patient is sacrosanct. However, sometimes that can be pierced if there’s knowledge of imminent harm or a threat of harm.

Can A Straw Purchaser Be Liable?

Lastly, you have something called a straw purchaser where a person who wants to use a gun and should not be using the gun and cannot legally buy the gun themselves, ask a third party person to buy the gun for them. Well, that straw purchaser certainly may be on the hook for that.

Recap On Mass Shooter Liability

So, these are very sensitive subjects. I felt a little uncomfortable bringing this up and having a conversation about it. I wanted everyone to know that you have got to be thinking about potential ways to recover money because injuries happen to innocent people. Sometimes innocent people are not able to collect the monetary compensation that they should to properly value their injury.

Contact Our Schaumburg Personal Injury And Wrongful Death Attorneys

I’m giving you some ideas on how we would evaluate cases like this. If you, a family member, or anyone you know is injured in a car or truck, any type of work-related accident, slip and fall, reach out to Claim Your Justice. Call 847-434-3555.

Let us explain your rights. We’ll explain how the representation works. There’s no fee for our services until we win your case. Thank you for taking time today to listen and have a great rest of your week.

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How is Wrongful Death Determined In Illinois?

wrongful death

An accident victim can suffer a wide range of injuries, all with long-lasting consequences. The most serious of all consequences accident victims suffer is death. When an accident results in death, the victim and their family have suffered an irreparable loss that cannot be undone. Illinois wrongful death law recognizes the catastrophic nature of this kind of accident, and the family of the deceased can sue the at-fault party or parties for compensation.

Did the Accident Cause the Death?

There are times when it is all too obvious that an accident has caused an injury. Proximity in time between the accident and the death, and the nature of the medical cause of death, as well as just common sense, all can lead to the inescapable conclusion that someone died because of injuries sustained in an accident.

It does not take a lot of medical evidence to show that someone who was alive when he was driving a car and immediately passed away inside the vehicle, died as a direct result of injuries sustained in the car accident.

There are other times when it is not so easy to tell whether an accident was the actual cause of the death, and that is an important question in Illinois’s wrongful death law.

For example, let’s say that there is an elderly person who sustains a fall in a store. He injures his shoulder so badly that he needs surgery the day after. After the surgery, he never truly wakes up from anesthesia, and after three days of lingering unconscious in the hospital bed, he passes away. Did the accident cause his death? Or a complication from the shoulder surgery? Or some other underlying medical condition that made his body unable to withstand the trauma of the surgery or the injury?

In cases like these, one error, omission, or injury can have a “domino effect” on the deceased’s health, with one injury or medical problem leading to another, until eventually leading to death.

These are all scenarios and questions that come up when a death is not immediate, or where there are “intervening causes” between an accident and a death.

That is why in many Illinois wrongful death cases, the first step is proving that the death was caused by the accident. Often, medical experts will need to be called in to testify as to the cause of the death.

Time Limits for a Wrongful Death Case

If and when it is established that the death is the result of the accident, a wrongful death case can be filed—but that is only if it is filed on time.

In Illinois, you only have two years to file a wrongful death lawsuit, unless the responsible party is a municipality or other governmental entity. Then you only have one year. Your attorney will need time to review your case, look over documents, or even retain experts, who may need their own time to review the facts of your case. Don’t wait to call Claim Your Justice.

When the Death is Not Caused by the Accident

What if the death was not a result of the injury or the accident? You may not be able to file a wrongful death claim.
For example, let’s say that Mary is in an accident where she is a pedestrian who is hit by a car. She recovers, but she is severely disabled because of injuries suffered in the accident. She files a lawsuit. Eight months later, while the lawsuit is pending, she dies from something totally unrelated to the accident.

When the case was first filed, it was not a wrongful death case—she did not die because of the accident, and in fact, lived for eight months afterward. But now she has passed. What happens to her case? Does it have to be dismissed because she is gone?

The Survivors Statute

In Illinois, her case does not die with her. It can be carried on by her relatives, in what is known as survival action, under the Illinois Survival Act. The Survival Act allows the victim, through the surviving family, to recover any and all damages which were incurred by the victim, including their pain or suffering, that was sustained from the accident all the way up until the actual death, no matter how the death was caused.

The time limit to file a survival action is two years from the date of accident. Remember the time limit is one year if the responsible party is a municipality or other governmental entity.

Damages for Wrongful Death and Survivor’s Act Claims

The damages that can be received or paid in both cases are somewhat different.

In a wrongful death case, it is the survivors—the family members of the deceased victim, usually-who are being compensated. Economic damages can also include the deceased’s medical expenses or funeral costs.

For example, family members can receive compensation for the loss of economic support that the deceased would have given if he or she had not passed away. The surviving family can sue for the emotional heartbreak of losing a beloved family member, including emotional distress.

In a survival action, the family of the deceased, through a personal representative that is appointed by a court, will continue the lawsuit filed by the deceased, to recover the damages that the deceased could have recovered if he or she had lived to the duration of the lawsuit.

When and if damages are recovered in a Survivor’s Act case, the damages belong to the estate and will be distributed in accordance with Illinois probate law. Most people do not leave “damages from my personal injury case when I am a victim in an accident” in their estate plans or their wills, so you may need to consult with a personal injury or even an estate law attorney, to see how proceeds of the lawsuit are distributed.

Remember that because the damages in a wrongful death case are damages sustained by the survivors, such as lost income, or love and a consortium of the deceased, those damages do belong to, and go straight to, the victim’s families, and are generally not subject to probate laws.

The damages will generally be distributed based on who needs them—for example, if a minor child has lost the financial support of the deceased parent, that element of damages may be paid to the minor. If a spouse would have received support, and those damages are recovered, that amount would go to the surviving spouse.

Which Action Do You File and Can You File Both?

There are times when both a wrongful death and a survival action lawsuit can be filed at the same time, for the same accident.

Generally, when the death is the result of an accident, unless the death was immediate, both a wrongful death claim and a survival action can be filed. The family will be trying to recover for their damages through the wrongful death claim (both economic and emotional or non-economic), as well as for the injuries, pain, suffering, and expenses that have been sustained by the deceased from the time of the accident to the death, through the survival action.

However, when the death is completely unrelated to the accident, the family likely would not have a wrongful death claim—they would be limited to only recovering the deceased’s losses, pain and suffering from accident to death, through the survival statute.

Likewise, if the death is immediate at the time of the accident, there may be no right to a survival claim, as the victim did not suffer anything before the accident—the entire claim may be for the family, for post-accident/post-death losses and injuries. Here, there may only be a right to file a wrongful death lawsuit.

Death Cases Can be Complex: Get Help

As you can see, a big part of analyzing damages when a victim dies is determining whether the death was caused by the accident and whether a wrongful death, survivor action, or both, can be used. There may be times when using one statute or another or both may yield a higher damages award. Sometimes the facts may make it so that you do not have a choice, but other times, when there is a choice, your wrongful death attorney can make a strategic choice, to try to maximize the recovery to the family.

Contact Our Schaumburg Wrongful Death Attorneys

Certainly, a lawsuit is no replacement for a loved one. However, when a family is suffering from emotional loss and the financial losses of a beloved family member, a wrongful death action can help the family recover and provide some financial stability for the family going forward.

Call our Schaumburg wrongful death attorneys at Claim Your Justice to schedule a free consultation at 847-434-3555 to help you if a loved one has passed away because of the carelessness or negligence of someone else.

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Serious Back Injuries You Can Receive Compensation For

back injury

When people are in an accident, one area that you hear them say they injured is their back. It may seem like the back is a relatively simple, singular, large part of the body. However, the back is actually made up of a number of complex structures, which can lead to a number of different kinds of injuries that can vary in their severity, seriousness, and how much they can disable you after an accident.

To understand the different types of back injuries, it is important to try to understand the anatomy of the back, and how your back actually works.

The Structures and Anatomy of Your Back and Spine

You may have seen skeletal models or pictures, showing the individual, bony structures that go up and down your back. These bones are there for a reason: They protect the delicate nerves that make up your spine. Your spinal nerves or the spinal column run through these bones, and these bones act like a shield so that you are not paralyzed from a slight impact to your back.

But of course, bones do not move, which is why each bone is separate—specifically, each one is a vertebra. To keep the vertebrae from rubbing against each other and causing pain as you move, there are soft, jelly-like substances between each one, called discs. These discs allow you to flex your back, and move it in any position that you want.

The vertebrae are held to other vertebrae by ligaments, which attach bones to each other. Ligaments are everywhere in your body, not just your back (in fact you may have heard of popular athletes suffering anterior cruciate ligament injuries in their knees). Ligaments also connect your bones to muscles.

Because they connect your skeleton to itself and to your muscles, ligaments are always moving and can be easily stretched or torn in an accident.

When a ligament is injured in the back (lumbar) or neck (cervical) area, it is called a sprain or a strain (sometimes, these injuries are called “whiplash,” but they certainly can be more serious than what that word implies).

Sprains and strains often do not show up on traditional scans or X-rays, certainly not on ones that are done at the typical emergency room. Additionally, it can sometimes take a few hours, even a full day, before the victim feels pain.

Just as these injuries are slow to manifest themselves, they can be slow to heal—although not considered the most serious back injury, sprains and strains can be debilitating, painful, and though they may improve over time, in many cases, they never fully heal, and the victim will have pain that can vary between daily and intermittent.

Fractured Vertebrae

Since vertebrae are bones, they can break or fracture. Vertebra can be damaged by being pulled apart, being “squeezed” due to an impact such as a fall, or when there is compression of some kind on the spine.

Fractures to vertebrae usually can be seen on traditional X-rays, and often are diagnosed in hospital emergency rooms right after an accident.

Just like anywhere else in your body, the severity of a spinal fracture can vary. Thankfully, smaller fractures can heal on their own, with some rest and immobility, and most fractures do not affect the spinal nerves or the use or function of the body.

But more significant fractures may displace parts of the vertebra and may require surgical intervention. Very serious fractures can move the vertebrae enough that they threaten the spinal cord, and thus, carry a risk of paralysis, and surgical intervention may be needed.

Ruptured and Herniated Discs

Remember those jelly-like discs that allowed your vertebrae to move around freely, and kept your vertebrae from rubbing against each other? They can be injured also. Often, in an accident, the vertebrae in your spine can have so much force put on them, that they can squeeze the discs in your back too much, and the discs can either jut out of place, or they can rupture, spilling part of what is inside of them.

In either case, you can be in serious pain because of how close those discs are to your spinal cord. If a disc juts out just enough to touch or rub against your spinal cord, you can be left with serious, ongoing pain. The pain may also show up as numbness, tingling in your extremities, or feelings that your extremities are burning.

In more serious cases, the discs can impinge on your spinal cord so much that you may lose bladder or bowel control. You may experience weakness in your muscles or shooting pain.

Even if the ruptured or herniated disc does not intrude on the spinal cord, the disc can be flattened enough that vertebrae in your back start to rub against each other, causing you pain as they grind against each other, wearing down. In the long term, osteoarthritis or bone spurs in the back can result from a lack of cushion from the discs.

There are some surgical options for disc injuries, such as having a disc removed, and then fusing the surrounding vertebrae together, or implanting an artificial disc. Short of surgery, the victim may need to get epidural steroid injections, which can, for extended periods of time, alleviate pain, but they are not a permanent solution or repair to the ruptured or herniated discs themselves.

It is true that your discs naturally flatten, or jut out of place, over time, as you age, especially if you engage in a lot of physical activity. Your doctor can assist you in determining whether your herniated disc is a result of your accident or some other cause.

Paralysis and the Kinds of Paralysis

Of course, the worst back injury someone can have will result in paralysis. Paralysis is where a vertebra or a disc has been so moved out of place because of an impact, that it “cuts off” or completely severs the nerves in your spine, which are how your brain tells your body to move or perform other vital functions.

Think of paralysis as being a bridge that is missing a piece or a roadway that has been blocked by a large boulder. The signals that need to move along the “roadway” of your spinal nerves cannot get from Point A to Point B.

The location of the injury can determine what areas of the body are affected. Paraplegia is when only the legs or lower body is affected, and full quadriplegia is paralysis everywhere below the neck.

Immediately after a serious accident, doctors may suggest emergency surgery to try to alleviate as much pressure on the spinal nerves as possible, as quickly as possible, to minimize the severity and extent of any long-term paralysis.

Contrary to popular belief, paralysis is not all or nothing; many people suffer partial paralysis, which may leave them with some function or feeling in the affected areas.

There is some evidence to show that getting immediate medical attention and therapy after a potentially paralyzing injury, can return some function to paralyzed areas. However, the research also shows that the therapy and treatment must be given quickly after the accident for it to be effective.

There is currently no complete cure for paralysis, and lifelong medical attention for paralysis victims can be very expensive, depending on the nature and extent of the disability and injury that is suffered. In many lawsuits involving paralysis, experts will be brought in to explain to the jury the lifelong expenses that the victim will incur because of the paralysis (which can grow into millions of dollars).

Get Legal and Medical Help

As you can see, there is a wide variety of anatomy in your back that can be injured, when you are involved in an accident. Your back is a complex structure which is why every back injury should be taken seriously.

In many cases, hospital emergency rooms are not equipped to do a full diagnosis. That is why you should get medical help and attention from a specialist immediately after an accident. Never ignore signs and symptoms immediately after an accident, as they could indicate more serious problems. As you have seen, many back injuries can more effectively heal when they are treated right away.

Contact Our Schaumburg Back Injury Lawyers

If you have a back injury of any kind, serious or minor, you need legal help. The insurance company will not simply admit you have a back injury–in fact, back injuries are injuries that insurance companies and defendants often fight the hardest.

Call our Schaumburg back injury lawyers at Claim Your Justice to schedule a free consultation at 847-434-3555 to help you if you have suffered any kind of back injury.

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Claiming Your Justice in the Event of an Uninsured or Underinsured Motorist Case

uninsured motorists

Hello and welcome to another Claim Your Justice Facebook Live session. The purpose of these sessions is to give you, our viewers, as much information as possible regarding a wide range of personal injury matters.

The goal is to help you understand how to Claim Your Justice when an unfortunate event arises, such that you, a loved one or a family member is seriously injured in any type of accident. We welcome positive questions and comments. Please feel free to visit Claim Your Justice or call us at 847-434-3555.


 

 

 


I’ve spent several sessions previously discussing the different types of personal injury cases and different types of personal injuries, physical and psychological injuries that many people suffer. That’s, of course, the start of any personal injury case. However, another very important part, if not the most important part is how the attorneys at Claim Your Justice, actually get you the money you deserve for your injuries. There are many ways that may apply in this recovery process.

Uninsured Motorists

Today I want to talk about what happens when you have arbitration and there’s an uninsured motorist.  We call them uninsured motorist or underinsured motorist cases. Most insurance policies will have language that if you as a driver or as a passenger in a car, are injured by another vehicle that didn’t have insurance, Your insurance policy’s uninsured motorist coverage kicks in.

Underinsured motorist coverage is where you have a person that causes an accident, let’s say a car rear-ends the car you’re in, either as a driver or passenger. That person has let’s say $50,000 of liability insurance. However, your injuries are more serious than that, and let’s say your injuries are worth $250,000. That car that caused the accident is considered an underinsured motorist. Therefore, you look at the underinsured motorist portion of your own insurance policy.

Generally, whether it’s a UM or a UIM case, the language in that uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage will require what’s called arbitration. So that if the case cannot be resolved through settlement, where I demand $125,000, and the insurance company offered me only $70,000, you go through a process called arbitration. The language on how the arbitration process works are contained within the policy.

It’s important someone reads that policy.  An attorney at our firm that reads the policy. So we understand the exact language and what the requirements are because although generally, the language is consistent and similar, there are some variations. Some insurance companies could require notice by certified mail, some policies may not require certified mail. So those details must be understood.

After you read the information, we must follow that language. We also must give timely notice, so you can’t wait three years later down the line to pursue the money you were once entitled to. If you didn’t give the notice to your insurance company, three years is too late in Illinois.

Arbitration

Now, when you go through arbitration, it’s a formal process. It’s like a court, but it’s not a true court. Generally, you pick three arbitrators for this process. The injured party picks one arbitrator, the person that’s representing an insurance company picks another arbitrator, and those two arbitrators pick a third arbitrator. Therefore, you need a decision from two of those three, to decide the value of your case.

Arbitration proceeds generally like you’re in court, however, it’s faster, and it’s a little less painful to get through the process. There will still be testimony, there is still the introduction of medical records, medical bills, and presentation of damages, and then the arbitrators will render a decision and that decision is binding. Another way is called mediation.

Mediation

Mediation is where the injured party and the insurance company choose, generally a former judge, as a mediator. The mediations can be binding, or they can be nonbinding. In a nonbinding situation, the case is presented to the mediator, the mediator gives a recommendation, and there’s negotiation back and forth. Sometimes it can take several hours, I was involved in a mediation that took several months. It depends on the value of the case and how far apart the parties are and how effective the mediator is.

I had a case this morning, where my demand on the insurance company in a UM case was $1,000,000. Because that was the extent of the policy and I argued that my client’s damages were in excess value of $1 million. Unfortunately, the insurance company’s offer was zero. We went to mediation, we had a very successful mediation, and I recovered close to the full value of my client’s policy. That’s called mediation. That’s nonbinding. We didn’t have to agree and if the mediator didn’t come to a fair and equitable decision among all parties, the case would then proceed to arbitration.

These are the nuts and bolts, I want you to understand the processes and when out get injured, you will wind up with a check. When there’s an uninsured motorist case, they’re generally easier to handle through the system.

Call Our Schaumburg Personal Injury Lawyers

Remember, when you hire Claim Your Justice, you’ll get effective representation, you’ll get experienced representation, and you’ll get lawyers that care about you, your family, and your case. When you have been injured in an accident, call 847-434-3555, or feel free to visit us on the web at ClaimYourJustice.com Have a nice day and a successful rest of your week. Thank you for listening.

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Fatalities From Car Accidents Increased Dramatically in 2021

traffic accidents

As time goes on, we tend to think that things get safer; technology helps protect us and do things that we, as humans can’t do. When it comes to cars, the technology in our cars is advanced enough to help us avoid accidents. But for a number of reasons, traffic accidents—and deaths—keep increasing.

In 2021, a lot of things changed, because of the changing conditions after the pandemic. Some of those changes were good positive changes. But some were not. One not-so-good change was the rapid and dramatic increase in the number of traffic fatalities on our roadways.

After a crash in Illinois, victims may be able to secure compensation for their losses. If you or someone you love was injured in a crash, please call the talented Schaumburg car accident lawyers at Claim Your Justice.

Early 2021 Statistics are Grim

Statistics are not available for all of 2021, but according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), over 31,000 people died in traffic accidents from January to September of 2021. That represents an increase of about 12% from that same time period in 2020. That isn’t just a big increase—it’s the biggest increase during the initial 9 months of any year for the previous 15 years.

As you may imagine because of the 2020 shutdown, there were more miles actually traveled in the first months of 2021 than in the previous year. But even taking that into account, and adjusting on a per-mile basis, the fatality rate still went up in 2021, increasing to about 1.36 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled nationally.

Even 2020 Was Pretty Bad

But the 2021 upward trend is not an isolated event; traffic fatalities even increased on a percentage basis the year before, in pandemic-stricken 2020. Annual traffic data for 2020 showed the highest amount of traffic deaths since 2007 even though the total number of crashes actually decreased from the year previous.

If you think these increases are high, it gets worse–these 2020 and 2021 statistics are only on public roadways. They do not account for accidents in private driveways, or parking lots, which, when taken into account, would raise the fatality rate and total even higher than it is.

The NHTSA is putting together these statistics also only accounts for immediate or near immediate deaths; it does not account for deaths that are caused by a car accident, but where death may not actually happen until a few days after the actual accident (for example, if someone were to wane in the hospital and pass a few days later, or if a car accident were to cause a fatal heart attack days after the accident).

The trend is continuing, even into the first months of 2022. As of March 2022, there are estimates that traffic deaths will be at 3,570, which represents a 3% increase from 2021, and a whopping 25% increase from 2020. However, the deaths per mile have increased less dramatically, increasing only .08%.

State by State Data

These studies don’t just rank traffic fatalities by the entire nation, but also by state. According to a study by Uplift Legal Funding, research shows Texas as being one of the more dangerous states to drive in, at least in 2018 (note that numerous sources compile state-by-state data, and all may differ slightly). Part of the reason for Texas’ high death rate is that in some places, Texas has speed limits of up to 85mph.

Rhode Island was on the opposite end of the spectrum, with only 56 accidents in 2018. Although Illinois has a high population, it fared pretty well in the study, with only 948 traffic fatalities in 2018.

Interestingly, when fatalities are adjusted for state population when calculating deaths per 100,000 people, many of the numbers and states affected, dramatically change. More rural states like Alabama, Arkansas, Wyoming, and New Mexico tend to rank higher in traffic fatalities (Illinois still ranks relatively low, with 5-10 deaths per 100,000 people).

The states on track for the largest increases this year, in 2022, include Delaware, Connecticut, Vermont, and Nebraska, all of which are looking at increases in traffic deaths of over 50%.

Why All the Fatalities?

The federal government is calling the number of deaths on the roadways “a national crisis.” Government officials rate even cite an effort to combat feelings that the public has of traffic fatalities just being “inevitable.”
Why the increased numbers? The study cited things like speeding, driving under the influence of alcohol, being distracted, or not wearing a seat belt as potential causes. For example, fatalities for unrestrained occupants of cars, and for people driving under the influence shot up 14% in 2020. Even bicyclist fatalities and pedestrian fatalities increased in 2020. All this despite total vehicle miles having decreased by 11% from the year previous.
Online news site vox.com called the car crashes and deaths in America an “epidemic,” saying just being in our car and driving around is one of the most dangerous things that we do on a day-to-day basis.

Speed Kills

Although many factors cause accidents, high speed is a huge indicator in which crashes end up fatal and which do not. Experts have assumed that Texas’ 85 miles per hour speed limit may have accounted for its nation-leading traffic fatality rate.

There is something to that because experts also say that speeding is the reason why there were so many deaths in 2020, despite there being a national shutdown for part of the year. Experts say that with shutdowns came empty roads, and with that, came people driving at higher speeds.

Shutdowns and people have something to do for part of 2020, they have also led to more drunk driving or more reckless behavior like driving without a seat belt. Still, fatalities have increased, all the way into 2021 and 2022.

Pedestrian Deaths

One way to lower the overall fatality rate in car accidents is to try and lower the number of pedestrians that are killed. This is considered only a starting point in lowering traffic crash deaths (it should be noted that the studies did not look into the causes of accidents; sometimes, pedestrians are partially responsible for accidents as well).

In 2019, over 6,000 pedestrians were killed which was up 51% from 2009. Sadly, many people who are walking are doing so in neighborhoods where people may not be able to afford cars. Statistics also show people in low-income areas are more likely to be hit and killed as pedestrians. Plus, much of the technology that we have in our cars is designed to avoid collisions with cars—not with pedestrians.

It also is no coincidence that pedestrian deaths are increasing, as the popularity of large SUVs and trucks is increasing–statistics have shown that when these larger cars hit pedestrians, the result is more likely to be fatal than when a smaller car hits a pedestrian.

Even single-car accidents cause deaths, such as when cars crash into trees or posts or drive off of freeway ledges or cliffs.

Are Our Roadways Built Wrong?

Another contributing cause may be our roadways themselves. They are designed for speed and to get people where they are going quickly; that often conflicts with basic safety features. Our roadways try to do dual-duty: On the one hand, people want convenience, which means stores, restaurants, and shopping, but we also want those roads to be fast and efficient for us to commute on.

These roads are lined with shoppers, bicyclists, people slowing down to get in and out of parking lots, and (often missed) stop signs. The result is these kinds of roads end up doing neither thing well.

What are the Solutions?

The recent infrastructure bill may help things. It was passed by Congress and doesn’t just improve roadways and bridges but does include funding to try to make the roadways and traffic safer. The government is hoping that those improvements lower the fatality numbers in the future.

Still, there are no easy solutions. Certainly, lowering speed limits may help, but doing that tends to be unpopular, and speed limits are easily ignored. Some suggest that narrowing roads, installing roundabout intersections, or putting in more speed bumps may help, but that is a long-term and more expensive solution (and in many denser areas, there simply is not room to build things like roundabouts).

The good news is that cities that have used some of these measures have actually been successful at lowering traffic-related deaths.

Contact Our Hoffman Estates Car Accident Lawyers

If you need help or have questions about what your legal options are for obtaining compensation after your car accident the talented legal team at Claim Your Justice can help. Call our Hoffman Estates car accident lawyers at Claim Your Justice today to schedule a free consultation at 847-434-3555. We look forward to helping you with your car or truck accident case.

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Tips to Stay Safe When Bicycling in Busy Urban Areas

bicycle accident

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.

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

Highland Park


 

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

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

back injury

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.

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Personal Injury Attorney Discusses Airline Workers’ Compensation

aviation 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 ClaimyourJustice.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 Claim Your Justice 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.