It’s a question everyone wants to know when they’ve been hurt in a crash in Illinois: “How much could I get?” The unhelpful answer is that it depends. However, when considering their losses, most accident victims focus only on their immediate medical bills and property damage. They add up the cost of the emergency room visit, a few doctor’s appointments, and the repair estimate for their vehicle, and assume that’s the extent of their damages. However, those aren’t the only damages you’re entitled to when you’re hurt by someone else’s negligence.

We explain the damages you might be entitled to after a car accident in Illinois.

Understanding Damages in Illinois

Personal injury law defines your losses as damages, and there are two main types:

  • Economic damages
  • Non-economic damages.

There is also a third type, punitive damages, which may be awarded by a jury when the defendant’s actions were intentional or grossly negligent. This type of damages differs from economic and non-economic damages (collectively known as compensatory damages) because they are designed to punish the defendant and/or set an example and deter others from committing similar acts.

Economic damages are tangible financial losses, such as:

  • Medical expenses (current and future, including surgery, appointments, emergency room fees, ambulance transportation, medication, and physical therapy)
  • Lost wages
  • Lost earning potential
  • Property damage
  • Home adaptations or mobility aids.

These losses are often easily proven with documentation, such as bills, receipts, and estimates.

Non-economic damages compensate you for the impact of your accident and injuries on your life, and can include:

  • Pain and suffering
  • Emotional distress
  • Loss of enjoyment.

These damages are harder to quantify, as they’re subjective. Often, these are calculated by taking your economic damages and adding a multiplier between 1.5 and 5. The more severe your injury and its impact on your life, the higher the multiplier. An alternative method of calculating non-economic damages is the “per diem” (Latin for “by the day”) method. This works by assigning a dollar amount for a single day and multiplying it by the number of days you have suffered since your accident and will continue to suffer.

Proving Your Car Accident Damages

Accounting for non-economic damages can quickly add thousands, tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to the value of your claim. How much your claim is worth isn’t necessarily the amount you will receive, but understanding how damages are calculated and the full range of losses you might be entitled to allows you to avoid the mistake of settling for far less than you deserve.

That’s why you should work with a personal injury lawyer who can properly evaluate all the ways your injury has impacted your life. They’ll consider your current expenses, the costs you’re likely to incur in the future, and how your injury has affected your earning capacity if you cannot continue to do your job, or even work again.

Of course, you can’t pluck random numbers from the air: you must prove them. An attorney can consult medical professionals who can explain your long-term care needs, speak with economic experts who can testify to your future lost income, and help you document how the accident limits you from day to day so that you can present a full picture of what it’s like to live with your injuries.

What If Your Damages Exceed Insurance Limits?

Illinois requires all drivers to carry auto liability insurance. Operating an uninsured motor vehicle that causes bodily harm to another is a Class A misdemeanor under Illinois law. 

The minimum requirements for auto insurance are:

  • $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident for bodily injury liability
  • $20,000 per accident for property damage liability
  • $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident for uninsured motorist coverage.

If you purchase higher limits of uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage (UM), the law also requires you to purchase Underinsured Motorist Bodily Injury Insurance (UIM). This type of policy pays the difference when another driver is liable but does not have enough insurance to cover your damages, up to your policy limit. For example, if your damages total $50,000 but the at-fault driver has only the minimum required insurance ($25,000), you can only recover what’s available ($25,000). But, if you have $50,000 in UIM, this policy will kick in to cover the remaining $25,000.

The main issue is that the minimum required insurance coverage often doesn’t come close to covering serious accidents. A single trip to the emergency room can cost thousands of dollars. If you need surgery and are unable to work for some time, or if your injuries require long-term or life-long care, your damages can quickly exceed what the at-fault driver’s insurance will pay.

You can pursue compensation from the person who is at fault directly, such as a driver, but they might not have substantial personal assets you can pursue.

The best way to ensure maximum coverage after a car accident is to review your insurance policy and consider taking out Underinsured Motorist coverage if you don’t already have it. Unfortunately, that information may not be much help now if you’ve already been in an accident.

That’s why you should speak with an accident attorney. If the person responsible for your accident and injuries does not have enough insurance to cover your losses, they can explore and explain your options. This might be by pursuing the driver directly, potentially through a structured settlement, where you will get paid over time rather than in a lump sum.

Alternatively, your lawyer can explore whether other parties might be responsible for your accident. If you’re hurt in a truck accident, for example, you may be able to pursue a claim against the trucking company through a legal doctrine called respondeat superior (which holds employers liable for their employees’ conduct on the job). Other examples of parties that can be liable include:

  • Cargo companies
  • Vehicle and parts manufacturers
  • Mechanics and repair shops
  • Bars and restaurants (under dram shop liability laws)
  • Government entities
  • Third-party contractors
  • Rideshare companies.

It’s important to discuss your case with an attorney to see whether these alternative routes may be viable for you.

Can You Claim Damages if You’re Partly at Fault for Your Car Accident?

In many cases, accidents aren’t solely caused by one driver. A driver might be tailgating the car ahead, but only because it’s moving too slowly. Similarly, in a multi-vehicle crash, one driver might swerve into another and cause injury, but only because they were avoiding colliding with another two vehicles that have come together.

So, what happens if you’re partly responsible for the crash that injured you? Does it mean you can’t recover compensation at all?

Not necessarily.

Illinois follows a rule called “modified comparative negligence,” which means you can claim damages as long as you are not more than 50% at fault.

However, your compensation will be reduced by your percentage of fault.

In practice, this means that if you’re 30% responsible for your crash and your damages total $100,000, you will recover the remaining 70% ($70,000).

If you’re found to be 51% or more at fault, you cannot recover any compensation, regardless of how severe your injuries are or how much you’ve suffered.

How Is Fault Determined?

Determining who’s at fault (and by how much) isn’t always straightforward. Insurance companies will conduct their own investigations, reviewing police reports, witness statements, photos from the scene, and any other available evidence. And this is where things can get contentious. Insurance companies have a financial incentive to assign as much fault to you as possible. The more blame they can shift to you, the less they have to pay.

This is also why you need to be careful about the statements you make after your accident. If you apologize to the other driver at the scene, or you are speaking to an insurance adjuster and make a comment that you didn’t see the other car before you crashed, they’ll use these statements against you. They’ll claim that your apology indicates guilt, or that you were distracted and could have avoided the crash if you’d been more careful.

If you’re already genuinely partly responsible for your crash (for example, maybe you were following too closely), it’s easy to find yourself on the wrong end of the comparative negligence threshold, which could mean you aren’t able to recover any compensation after your accident.

Read More: Common Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Car Accident Case

Don’t Leave It Too Late to Pursue Compensation After Your Illinois Accident

Illinois law puts a strict deadline on when you can file a personal injury lawsuit. This is called the statute of limitations, and for most personal injury cases, including car accidents, it’s two years from the date of your injury.

If you don’t file your lawsuit within those two years, you lose your right to pursue compensation in court. It doesn’t matter how strong your case is, how severe your injuries are, or how clear the other driver’s fault is. Once that deadline passes, your claim is gone.

Two years might sound like plenty of time, but it passes faster than you’d think, especially when you’re focused on recovering from your injuries, attending medical appointments, and trying to get your life back on track. By the time you realize you should talk to a lawyer, months may have already passed, and important evidence might be harder to locate.

Starting the process early gives your attorney time to thoroughly investigate your case, track down witnesses while their memories are fresh, and negotiate with the insurance company. Waiting until the last minute puts unnecessary pressure on your case and weakens your negotiating position, as insurers may try to drag out discussions, hoping you’ll run out of time and accept whatever they’re offering, even if it’s less than you deserve.

Get the Compensation You Deserve After Your Illinois Car Accident

Understanding what damages you’re entitled to is the first step toward getting the compensation you’re entitled to after your Illinois crash.

Our experienced Chicago auto accident lawyers can help you understand the full value of your claim, prove your damages, and maximize your settlement or court judgment (if you decide to go to trial).

If you’ve been injured in a car accident anywhere in Chicagoland, contact Driver Defense Team today for a free case evaluation. We’ll review your accident, calculate the full value of your damages, and explain your options for recovering compensation. We work on a contingency fee basis, which means you don’t pay anything unless we win your case. Call or text (312) 500-2222 to get started.

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