Personal injury law encompasses a wide range of lawsuits from various types of injuries. Injuries you can sue for include slip and falls, car and pedestrian accident injuries, workplace injuries, medical malpractice, product liability injuries, assault and battery, nursing home abuse, dog bites and wrongful death. If you suffer an injury due to someone else’s negligence, you might have the right to file a lawsuit against them to seek compensation. You can seek financial reparation for medical expenses and lost income caused by your injuries.
If you’ve been injured from someone else’s negligence, contact Chute, O’Malley, Knobloch, and Turcy, LLC at (312) 775-0042.
The Basics of Personal Injury Law in Illinois
Personal injury is the damage caused by someone else’s negligence or deliberate actions. A personal injury lawsuit is a legal step taken by an injured person against the responsible party to recover compensation for various losses, including medical expenses, lost wages, and emotional distress. To win the case, it’s necessary to prove negligence or fault with the assistance of a personal injury lawyer. If successful, the court will determine the value of the damages, or an out-of-court settlement can be reached. The personal injury case timeline is unique to each case.
What Are the Elements of a Personal Injury Case?
In Illinois, after suffering an injury due to another person or entity’s actions, you may seek compensation for negligence or unlawful behavior under personal injury laws. While personal injury cases may differ, all cases in Illinois require you to prove the elements of negligence to obtain compensation:
- Duty
- Breach of duty
- Causation
- Damages
Duty
In a personal injury case, the plaintiff must prove that the defendant owed them a duty of care. Duty of care involves upholding standards of care and behavior towards another individual. For example, drivers have a duty of care towards others on the road, while medical professionals owe a duty of care to their patients. Without a duty of care, there are no grounds for liability.
Breach of Duty
Once duty is established, the plaintiff must provide evidence of its violation. Proving a breach of duty involves demonstrating that the alleged actions do not meet recognized safety or care standards.
For example, a driver who is speeding has failed to fulfill their duty of care towards other drivers and can be held responsible if they cause an accident.
Causation
Causation is the next step and requires proving that an action directly resulted in a specific outcome, or in other words, that the injury wouldn’t have occurred without the action. For example, if a driver runs a red light and crashes into another car, the accident is caused by running the red light.
Damages
Plaintiffs are required to demonstrate that they have suffered eligible damages to establish their case. Damages you can sue for include economic and non-economic losses. Economic losses cover measurable expenses like medical treatment, hospitalization, lost income, and accident-related costs. Non-economic losses, on the other hand, compensate for intangible harm, such as pain and suffering and the loss of enjoyment of life.
Comparative Negligence
In some cases, partial responsibility, also known as comparative negligence, can hurt your claim.
Comparative negligence acknowledges that accidents are often caused by a combination of factors, and rarely solely by one person’s fault. It assigns a percentage of fault to each party. Your compensation may be reduced based on the degree of fault assigned to you. In Illinois, if you are found to be more than 50% at fault for the accident, your claim will be dismissed. You should never admit fault without consulting with your attorney first. This is one of the mistakes that ruin personal injury cases.
In Illinois, there are various typical personal injury case categories, each with distinct factors and prerequisites for a successful claim.
Slip and Fall Accidents
A slip and fall case can occur when you are injured on someone else’s property due to hazardous conditions. The property owner could be held responsible for any resulting harm. Various dangerous conditions, such as torn carpeting, poor lighting, narrow stairs, changes in flooring, wet walkways, and broken public sidewalks, may cause these injuries. To seek compensation, you must have suffered an injury, regardless of its severity, and the medical expenses incurred will be used to claim economic damages.
To establish legal responsibility for slip and fall injuries, it is necessary to prove that the property owner was aware of the hazardous condition that led to the accident. A hazardous condition poses an unreasonable risk to anyone on the property. The owner or possessor must have either:
- Created the condition
- Knew about the condition, but didn’t rectify it
- The situation persisted for so long that the owner should have noticed and addressed it before the accident occurred
Car Accidents
If you’re involved in a car accident in Illinois due to someone else’s negligence, you can seek compensation for your losses. It is the responsibility of drivers to drive carefully and avoid causing harm to others. If they fail to do so, they are responsible for covering the injured party’s expenses. Common factors contributing to such accidents are distractions, speeding, and driving under the influence. Proving fault can be done using evidence such as accident reports, medical records, and witness testimonies.
Pedestrian Accident
If a person on foot is struck by a vehicle, such as a car, truck, motorcycle, bicycle, or public transport like buses or trams, it is considered a pedestrian accident. If you’ve been involved in such an incident, you may be eligible to seek compensation through a pedestrian accident lawsuit.
Medical Malpractice
Medical malpractice happens when healthcare providers do not meet the expected standard of care, leading to harm. Common examples include misdiagnosis, surgical errors, and birth injuries. Any healthcare professional with whom you have a patient/provider relationship can commit malpractice. This relationship is formed when a medical professional agrees to treat or advise you. Hospitals can also be held responsible for insufficient staffing or defective equipment. Those harmed can take legal action against healthcare providers who deliver inadequate treatment.
Workplace Accidents
If you are employed in Illinois and you sustain workplace injuries, you have the right to receive various benefits through Workers’ Compensation, with a few exceptions. You are not required to demonstrate that your employer, work environment, equipment, or a co-worker caused the injury. Even if your actions led to the injury, you may still be eligible for Workers’ Compensation benefits in many instances.
If you have experienced work-related injuries, you are entitled to medical treatment, which workers’ compensation insurance should cover. Additionally, you can return to your job if your doctor approves, and still receive benefits if you are at limited capacity. If you cannot return to work temporarily or permanently, you generally have the right to disability compensation. If your claim is denied, you can appeal the denial of a workers’ compensation claim.
Wrongful Death
When an individual in Illinois dies as a result of someone else’s wrongful act, neglect or default, it is considered a wrongful death. If the deceased person could have pursued a personal injury claim, a wrongful death lawsuit can be initiated. Essentially, a wrongful death case is akin to a personal injury lawsuit, but the injured person is unable to pursue their case in court. Instead, another individual must file a wrongful death claim on behalf of the deceased person. In Illinois, the personal representative of the deceased person’s estate is responsible for filing a wrongful death claim.
Product Liability
Product liability refers to the legal responsibility of manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, and retailers for injuries caused by defective or dangerous products. In Illinois, product liability laws hold manufacturers and sellers of hazardous products accountable. Companies may be strictly liable if their product is defective and causes injuries. Defects include poor design, improper manufacture, and inaccurate instructions. You have a product liability lawsuit if:
- The defendant was involved in the product’s manufacturing, assembly, distribution, or sale.
- You used the product as intended.
- You suffered an injury or harm.
- The product was defective at the time of purchase.
- The defect in the product directly caused the harm.
Strict Liability
Product liability claims differ from other personal injury claims because they follow the principle of strict liability. Under strict liability, you can file a claim if the product has a defect that caused harm or injury while being used as intended. The defect could have occurred at any stage of the supply chain, such as during design, manufacture, handling, or shipment. Additionally, the product must not have been altered or substantially changed from when it was sold.
Nursing Home Abuse
The Administration on Aging, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, describes elder abuse as “any act by a caregiver or another person that causes harm or a serious risk of harm to a vulnerable adult, whether it’s intentional, knowing, or due to negligence.”
In July 2022, approximately 1.2 million people were living in more than 15,000 nursing homes Across the United States. This large number of elderly people in nursing homes, coupled with their vulnerability due to age, leaves a risk of abuse. Elder abuse in nursing homes can take various forms, such as physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation.
Assault and Battery
In assault and battery cases, victims can pursue both criminal and civil charges against the perpetrator. While the state handles criminal charges, these intentional actions can also form the basis of a personal injury lawsuit, providing legal recourse for those harmed. Victims can file a civil suit to seek compensation for their injuries.
Assault
In a personal injury case, assault is typically described as any deliberate action intended to create a reasonable expectation of immediate and harmful contact. Therefore, any action that led the victim to anticipate being harmed or touched in a potentially harmful manner by the perpetrator can be considered assault. As long as the victim’s fear of imminent harm is a reasonable response to the situation, an act can be classified as assault under personal injury law.
Battery
Battery involves one person (the offender) intentionally making harmful or offensive contact with another person (the victim). The contact can be direct and immediate, indirect and immediate, or indirect and remote. Physical harm is not necessary for a battery to occur under civil law. In most states, it is enough for the contact to be offensive or inappropriate to a reasonable person, and for the offender to have intended the contact.
Dog Bites
In Illinois, dog owners are responsible for any medical expenses resulting from their dogs causing harm to others through bites or attacks. The victim is not required to prove the owner’s negligence to receive compensation for medical bills. However, to receive compensation for lost wages and pain and suffering, the victim must demonstrate the owner’s negligence led to the attack.
There are two situations in which a dog owner is not liable for a victim’s damages: if the victim was trespassing when the bite occurred or if the victim provoked the dog. Following a dog bite, the incident must be reported to local Animal Services, and the dog must be confined for at least ten days and undergo veterinary examinations before being released.
You have the right to seek full compensation if you or a family member is injured in an accident. Part of the importance of timely legal consultation after an injury is so your attorney has time to help you understand the kinds of damages you are eligible to receive and assist you in determining a fair settlement amount for your claim before making decisions or accepting a settlement offer. Contact us at Chute, O’Malley, Knobloch, and Turcy, LLC to aid you in pursuing maximum compensation by negotiating a just and reasonable settlement or representing you in court.
