It’s time for a refresher on how personal injury claims work and what has to be proven in order to recover compensation. Think of this as your introductory class, only you don’t have to listen to boring lectures, participate in class discussions, or even receive a grade.
Let’s break down the way an injury claim or lawsuit works by looking at the elements of a claim. In order to recover compensation for your injury, you must be able to prove all elements: the existence of a duty of care, a breach of the duty, causation, and damages.
Duty
First, you
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E-bikes, E-Scooters, Eek!
Electronic bikes and scooters are all around, even when it’s snowy and in the 20s in Chicago.
And they can be very dangerous. Among the reasons for this are the high speeds they can attain(nearly thirty miles per hour); the lack of training, licensing, or skill of many users; and the lack of understanding of these conveyances by others on the roadways.
Making Limeade
In Chicago, there is a way to rent electronic bikes through the Divvy platform, and for scooters, it’s Lime. Now, if you have ever ridden a non-motorized bicycle, you’ve undoubtedly had a crash or two. Lots
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Illinois Workers’ Compensation Basics
Everybody has heard of workers’ compensation, but most people don’t know its origins, or how it really works. Here’s what you should know if you get injured while working.
What is Workers’ Compensation?
Workers’ compensation is a no-fault system designed to compensate people injured while working. In the early 1900s, if you got hurt at work, there was virtually nothing that could be done. You might have no way to earn a living, your family might be in danger of starving, yet there was no system in place to act as a safety net.
Seems hard to believe now, but
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Jersey Finger
In my thirty-sixth year as a personal injury and workers’ compensation lawyer, I’m still encountering new injuries, different terminologies, and yet, unfortunately, the same frustrating attitudes of many insurance companies.
While it would be wonderful if every case was deemed legitimate at the outset, that is not what our adversarial system is designed to do. Sometimes, I owe my very career as an attorney to obstinance, disbelief, and arrogance. So I suppose I should thank at least some insurance adjusters and opposing attorneys for this.
Recently, I was able to resolve a work-related injury case that involved an injury I
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What is Personal Injury Law, Anyway?
Most people, especially in America, if they are breathing, have come across advertisements for personal injury lawyers. Maybe you’ve seen a “one call, that’s all” motif, or a giant name on the backstop at a televised baseball game. Billboard, television ads, PI lawyers are everywhere. You have to have seen them.
But what exactly is personal injury law, and how does it relate to you?
Cars, Trips, and Such
In the barest terms, personal injury law, known to law nerds as “tort law,” involves some basic principles.
Attorney and Counselor At Law
My clients need me sometimes. Not necessarily because of the legal things I do but sometimes just so they can vent, ask questions, and get someone to listen to them about what they’re going through.
I’m sure you’ve seen signs on lawyer’s offices that say “Attorney and Counselor at Law.” You don’t see this phrase as often as you used to, maybe because extra words gum up the machinery of search engine optimization (SEO). But I digress.
Writ large, all attorneys are expected to do what attorneys are known for—go to court, read documents, write briefs, research the law, take
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Getting and Giving Wisdom about ADR
Recently, on September 16th, I spent an entire day at an American Bar Association TIPS (Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section) Seminar. A friend had asked me to participate in this seminar months ago, and I readily accepted, hoping to offer a plaintiff’s attorney perspective on why arbitration and other forms of alternative dispute resolution can work for all parties.
The Seminar
For an entire day, various speakers and panelists shared wisdom about arbitration, mediation, and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in general. We had some “bold print” names from all across the country, from those who had handled the
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A Comic Gets Run Over By A Car
While this sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, involving a priest, minister, and a rabbi, it’s not at all funny.
In fact, this is precisely what happened to my client, K.
Fortunately, she recovered after being knocked down and injured by a car. I was able to get her a fair settlement to compensate her for her medical bills, physical injuries, lost work and income, pain and suffering, and loss of a normal life.
Car Runs Over Client
I don’t care how jaded you are, hearing that a human being was hit by a car hits a nerve.
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Denial—Workers’ Compensation Edition
In a recent blog, I discussed denial of personal injury claims by insurers.
What about workers’ compensation cases? Insurers deny these claims all the time, for all sorts of reasons. Many people torpedo their own cases by failing to do a few basic things.
What can you do to protect your rights if you are injured while working?
A Person Walks into Work and Gets Hurt
That heading sounds like the beginning of a joke, but that’s how it all starts.
The basis of workers’ compensation law in Illinois is contained in the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act and the subsequently
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Denial
It’s not just a river in Egypt (old joke, not worth explaining).
Seriously, I get this question often from prospective clients, “can the insurance company deny my claim?” The answer, of course, is a decided “yes.” Another variant is, “can the insurance company deny my claim based upon the police report?” Again, a resounding “yes.”
In short, insurance companies base their denials of claims upon multiple factors, and they only need to base it upon some good faith belief to avoid being penalized for acting in bad faith.
How can you avoid a denial of your claim, and what can
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Fear
You know that feeling you get when a car is gunning the engine to turn in front of you? And all you can do is slam on the brakes and hope you stop in time?
That’s what I experience several times a day. On every bike ride.
Why does this happen?
Primarily because drivers don’t pay enough attention, or make their intentions clear enough.
Or they don’t see, or don’t look for, bikes and pedestrians.
Just the other day, a car nearly ran over a woman pushing a stroller because it started to turn without bothering to look in the
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Stimulating a Settlement, or Two
Sometimes personal injury cases take on a life of their own. The liability is not disputed, or the injuries are obvious and serious, or the insurance coverage is ample, but not so huge that insurers can drag their feet.
My client J’s case was such a case.
At first glance, it appeared not to be an exciting kind of case. My client was older, 81. And while she was hit hard by the other vehicle, her injuries were not obvious or serious at first analysis. And I had no idea what type of insurance liability limits existed.
Then things began
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Lawyer Referrals
If you’ve been conscious for the last few decades, you have undoubtedly been bombarded with (and are undoubtedly sick of) the lawyer ads that jump out of your television, attack you in your car from billboards, and assault you on your electronic devices.
Needless to say, especially in areas of practice where the lawyers try to reach consumers directly, such as personal injury, workers’ compensation, medical malpractice, bankruptcy, mass torts, and criminal and traffic offenses, these ads are ubiquitous.
And annoying.
But since the 1970s, they’ve been legal. For my entire legal career, which began in 1990, lawyer advertisements have
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A Personal Injury Case in Two Parts
It’s been a while since I have written about topical case results and resolutions. Thank you for waiting patiently while I worked on a rather involved case.
At first glance, it’s a simple case; a woman, stopped for a red light, was rear-ended by someone who failed to stop for a red light. Her car was heavily damaged, and she was injured.
To many of you regular readers, this sounds like a “snoozefest”. Nothing exciting happening here.
Except that my client is 81, and before the crash she’d had a spinal stimulator surgically implanted to keep her back pain under
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First Thing We Do, Let’s Kill All The Lawyers
The famous quote “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers,” is from Shakespeare’s play, Henry VI, Part II. While not meant literally in the context of a rebellion, it alludes to getting rid of the legal system and established order of society.
Like us or not, we lawyers, judges, and other folks who comprise the legal system in this country, are responsible for order, predictability, protection of rights, and the functioning of our society.
So why are lawyers under attack lately?
Trump Versus the Legal System
Whatever your thoughts about President Trump, there is no doubt his
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OMG…My Insurance Went Up!
If you own a car, a condo, a house, or anything else that you have insured, you undoubtedly noticed your bill got a LOT larger recently. You probably have two questions:
1) Why?
2) What can I do about it?
The Whys
Insurance premiums increase (they almost never decrease!) because the entire insurance industry is based upon risk. If an insurer is more likely to face claims, or higher amounts of claims, it will protect itself by raising premiums.
So what in the world is going on to cause such stark increases? A lot of things.
A recent article in
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