Helping Will County, IL Accident Victims
Accidents are enormously disruptive events. Injured victims and their families often suffer staggering financial losses as they need to pay for medical care and survive when the victim cannot immediately return to work. Unfortunately, obtaining monetary compensation for an accident can be challenging.
Call Michael J. Lichner today for assistance. He has over a decade of experience as a Joliet personal injury lawyer, helping accident victims and their families. You deserve to be treated fairly by everyone in this process, from insurance companies to judges.Michael J Lichner can advocate for you and ensure your voice is heard and your injuries are taken seriously. Contact us to schedule a free consultation to discuss your claim.
Our Personal Injury Experience
We can help those injured by:
- Car accidents
- Truck accidents
- Motorcycle collisions
- Rideshare accidents
- Pedestrian accidents
- Bicycle collisions
- Construction site accidents
- Defective products (product liability claims)
- Property defects (premises liability claims)
- Dog attacks and bites
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Wrongful death
Our experience is broad. A personal injury attorney in Joliet, IL can review whether you have a solid legal basis for demanding compensation. We often negotiate with the defendant’s insurance company. Reach out as soon as possible, so we can begin reviewing evidence.
How to Analyze a Personal Injury Claim
Many people are badly hurt following an accident. However, that doesn’t automatically give you the right to sue for compensation. Instead, we need to analyze a claim to determine fault.
Many personal injury cases are based on negligence. This is the failure to use reasonable care, which ends up injuring someone. For example, a motorist might be distracted because they were reading a text message as they drove. This type of distraction represents a failure to drive carefully, and a driver is liable if they crash. Other accidents that are examples of negligent behavior are car accidents caused by fatigue or intoxication.
Other personal injury cases might be based on strict liability. This is a different legal theory. For example, a dangerous product could have a manufacturing or design defect, or it is missing critical instructions or warnings. The product could be unreasonably dangerous as a result, and a manufacturer is liable if the product harms someone.
Let Michael J. Lichner review your claim. A personal injury lawyer in Joliet can listen to your memories of what happened.
We might also need to look at other evidence, like a police report or a damaged product. The sooner you reach out, the better.
What Compensation Can You Receive?
Our firm has spent decades fighting for the maximum compensation available for our clients. We can seek both economic and non-economic damages:
- Lost income or wages (economic loss): You may not be able to work right after being hurt, but you shouldn’t have to suffer a drop in income if someone else is liable for your injuries. We can seek lost income, wages, self-employment income, gig income, and job-related benefits.
- Medical bills (economic loss): Any accident will likely cause bodily injuries that require treatment. Medical care is expensive, and you should request compensation to pay for all emergency care, as well as prescriptions and rehabilitation.
- Lost Wages (economic loss)
- Pain and suffering (non-economic loss): A personal injury settlement should pay compensation for bodily pain and related distress. A broken hip could throb uncontrollably for months. This is a type of non-economic loss that is not easy to calculate, but we can advocate for fair compensation.
- Loss of a normal life and the enjoyment of life (non-economic loss): This loss is based on your loss or diminished ability to enjoy life and activities.
- Mental anguish (non-economic loss): Bodily injuries cause mental or emotional distress. In addition to pain or anxiety, some victims struggle with flashbacks and other symptoms of PTSD.
- Property damage (economic loss): Your car, bicycle, or motorcycle could be damaged in an accident. You should request compensation to cover the cost of repairs.
- Disfigurement (non-economic loss): Such as scarring and permanent changes to your anatomy, such as the loss of an arm or leg.
In some cases, we might also seek punitive damages against the defendant for intentional or willful and wanton conduct. We can ask a jury to consider the reprehensible nature of the defendant’s conduct and award punitive damages to punish them.
Some common situations include drunk driving accidents or situations where a property owner knew of a dangerous defect but did nothing.
Impact of Contributory Negligence
Illinois has a modified contributory negligence rule which might play a role in your case. A victim can receive compensation for an accident only if their negligence made them 50% or less responsible.
This rule requires comparing our clients’ negligence to the defendant’s. If our client is more than 50% to blame, then they can’t receive monetary compensation.
If you are 50% or less at fault for an accident, your compensation will be reduced in proportion to your share of the blame.
For instance, if you were involved in a car accident where another driver ran a red light, but you were also speeding, the fault might be divided as 80% to the driver who ran the red light and 20% to you. In this case, if you are awarded $100,000 in damages, your compensation would be reduced to $80,000 to account for your share of the fault.
We push back on frivolous allegations that you are partly to blame for what happened. As an example, the defendant might claim you were distracted by a cell phone when you were driving.
We can look at your records to see if you were talking on the phone at the time of the crash or sending a text message. Any allegation that you share blame deserves a vigorous response.
Contributory negligence can make a big difference in the outcome of your case. You need a Joliet personal injury lawyer who knows how to use this law to your benefit.
Contact Our Office for a Free Consultation
Michael J. Lichner became a lawyer to help vulnerable people seek justice after serious accidents left them in pain.
Throughout his decade-plus-long career as a personal injury lawyer, he has successfully helped countless individuals secure the compensation they deserve.