Personal injury claims are used to pursue financial compensation for losses caused by an injury. Nearly any type of injury may be the basis of a personal injury claim, but severe injuries typically result in higher settlements and awards. If you or a loved one have suffered an injury that resulted in a permanent disability, you may be able to seek monetary damages through a personal injury claim.

Understanding When a Successful Personal Injury Claim is Possible

A personal injury claim is a civil claim that may be based on either “negligence” or recklessness or intentional wrongdoing. There are four main components in any personal injury claim based on negligence:

• Duty – The defendant, meaning the person or entity from whom you are seeking compensation, owed a duty of care. This could be a driver’s duty to drive cautiously, a manufacturing company’s duty to prevent dangerous product defects, a property owner’s duty to maintain a safe property, or another type of duty.
• Breach of duty – The defendant breached the duty by failing to act as a reasonably cautious person would act.
• Injuries – The plaintiff suffered injuries because of the plaintiff’s actions.
• Damages – The plaintiff suffered damages. Damages include the direct financial consequences of the action such as lost wages and medical expenses as well as non-economic damages like pain and suffering.

A personal injury lawyer can help you determine if each of these elements is present in your case.

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There were over 5,000 pedestrian collisions in Illinois in 2018. Many of these accidents resulted in severe and fatal injuries. If you were injured or a loved one was killed in a pedestrian accident, it is important to know your legal rights. Depending on the circumstances of the accident, the driver may be facing criminal consequences for striking you or your loved one. However, criminal penalties do not offer any financial restitution to the victim or the victim’s surviving loved ones. A personal injury case may allow a pedestrian accident victim to recover monetary compensation for the harm caused by the accident and hold the driver answerable for the crash.

Holding At-Fault Drivers Accountable for the Harm They Caused

Many pedestrian accidents are the result of a driver acting carelessly or negligently. The driver responsible for your accident may have been texting and driving, changing the radio station, looking down at a GPS screen, or otherwise not paying attention to the road at the time of the accident. The driver may have been intoxicated by drugs or alcohol. Whatever the reason, drivers who act negligently and strike a pedestrian should be held responsible for their actions. A personal injury claim may be brought in addition to criminal charges, or it may be brought in the absence of criminal charges. The standard of proof for civil claims including personal injury claims is much lower than the standard of proof required for criminal cases. Therefore, it is possible to bring a successful personal injury lawsuit even if the driver avoids criminal culpability for the accident.

Recovering Financial Compensation for Damages

Damages are the losses that a victim suffers because of an accident. If you were the victim of a pedestrian accident, you likely needed emergency medical treatment immediately after the collision. You may also require ongoing medical care in the form of rehabilitative treatment, surgery, and mental health care. The medical bills resulting from a pedestrian accident can be massive. Through a personal injury claim, you may be compensated for the costs of your medical treatments. You may also get compensation for your lost income and any damage to your earning capacity caused by a permanent injury. Compensation for non-financial losses including your pain and suffering may be recoverable as well. If your loved one was killed in a pedestrian accident, you may be entitled to compensation for your loved one’s lost income, medical bills, funeral and burial expenses, and other damages caused by the untimely death.

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When you are involved in a car accident, you may be completely unsure of what to do next. The first step in any car accident is to address any injuries and move the vehicles out of harm’s way (if possible). If the accident appears minor, many people choose to exchange insurance and contact information with the other driver without involving the police. It may seem easier and less stressful to avoid police involvement after a car crash. Doing so, however, can be very risky.

You Cannot Be Certain as to the Extent of the Damage to Your Vehicle

How certain are you of your knowledge of motor vehicles? After an accident, a cursory glance at the vehicles involved may lead you to believe that the damage is minimal. However, even minor fender-benders can cause damage which is not immediately apparent. A jolt to your car or truck may have caused the frame to shift, damaged electronic sensors, or caused other internal damage. These issues can significantly increase the cost of repairing the vehicle. Without a formal police report, it may be difficult to prove that these issues were caused by the accident.

You May Be More Injured Than You Realize

Adrenaline is a hormone released into the bloodstream during a stressful or scary event such as a traffic accident. This hormone results in an increased heart rate and dilated pupils, but it also can reduce the pain that an injured person feels. Many people do not realize how injured they actually are until hours or even days after being involved in a crash. If you do not contact the police after an accident, it might be nearly impossible to prove that any injuries you sustained were a result of the accident. A full police report can dramatically strengthen your claim to cover the costs caused by the accident.

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Ever had a vehicle in front of you kick up a rock or other piece of road debris that hits your car or windshield? It happens to most drivers at least once in their lifetime. The resulting damage to your vehicle is generally minor and covered by your auto insurance if you carry comprehensive coverage. But what if you encounter a much more severe road hazard such as cargo spilled by a commercial truck? If the cargo in a semi-trailer or dump truck is improperly loaded and secured, the load can shift in transit, causing the driver to lose control, tip over, and spill their entire load onto the roadway. If you or a loved one suffers severe injury as a result of a semi-truck accident like this, you may have a cause of action against the truck operator. 

Cargo spills sometimes result from a semi-truck collision with another vehicle. In this situation, other vehicles typically slow to avoid the accident and thereby avoid hitting the spilled goods. However, some cargo spills have tragic consequences.

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Every car accident is different, but as experienced car accident attorneys, we see that our clients often suffer from the same types of injuries. A skilled car accident attorney should be able to assess your injuries and talk to you about the value of your case.

Common Car Accident Injuries

Car accident victims have been known to experience:

• Soft Tissue Injuries. This injury is caused by stretched or torn ligaments, tendons or muscles.
• Broken Bones. This injury can leave a victim with months of healing and rehabilitation work to do.
• Neck and Back Injuries. This type of injury includes conditions such as herniated discs, strains, sprains, and whiplash.
• Head and Brain Injuries. This category of injury includes everything from mild concussions to traumatic brain injuries. It also encompasses lacerations, skull fractures, and internal bleeding.
• Spinal Cord Injuries. These are typically very serious injuries that can result in lower-body or neck-down paralysis and loss of sensation. The severity of the injury depends on where on the spine the injury was inflicted and whether the spinal cord was totally or partially severed.

Severity of Injuries

According to the Center for Disease Control, for every person killed in a motor vehicle accident, eight people are hospitalized and 100 people are treated and released from the emergency room. The CDC also reports that Americans spend one million days in the hospital annual from collisions. These injuries are costly to treat. The CDC states that car accident injuries in 2012 required $18 billion in lifetime medical costs. Over 75 percent of these costs were incurred in the 18 months following the injury. When you are speaking to the insurance company and to your attorney, it is important to keep in mind that any settlement will have to cover all future medical costs. If you settle your claim too quickly, you may not fully comprehend that scale of your injuries and what lifetime treatment costs will be.

Contact a Lake County Auto Collision Lawyer

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