Why you need a lawyer
When you have been injured in an accident, the choices you make in the days and weeks afterward will be crucial to the outcome of your case and to your well-being. The sooner an experienced injury attorney is involved, the more likely you are to have a better result.
Insurance companies are not likely to pay you a fair settlement without a competent attorney representing you. No insurance adjuster was ever given a promotion or a bonus because they gave an injured person a fair settlement.
An adjuster is not going to voluntarily offer to compensate you for all the damages you are entitled to. Have you missed work, or will you miss work in the future because of your injuries? You are entitled to be compensated even if you have sick pay or disability pay. Elements of damages that may be recoverable under Illinois law include pain and suffering, temporary and permanent disability, loss of a normal life, lost wages, lost earning capacity, disfigurement, medical bills and prescription costs, emotional distress, and in some instances punitive damages. Where someone has died, the damages are more complicated, but may include loss of the earnings and support the deceased would have provided, and compensation for the grief caused by the loss of a loved one.
Know your rights
Soon after an accident you may be contacted by an insurance adjuster who represents the guilty party. Their objective will be to keep you from getting fair compensation for your injuries. One of the first things the adjuster will try to have you do is give a recorded statement.
You have no legal obligation to give a recorded statement. You may be in a hospital or on pain medication, and it is simply not in your best interest to give one without talking to a lawyer first. The insurance company wants a recorded statement because it helps them, not because it helps you.
Insurance companies do not volunteer information to victims
Adjusters like to ask questions but they do not like to answer them. They will want you to sign documents giving them complete access to your medical records and perhaps your employment records. Meanwhile, insurance companies routinely refuse to provide basic information to victims — such as the policy limits of the negligent party. Without knowing the limits of liability coverage, you are negotiating blind. An attorney familiar with the Insurance Code knows how to make an insurance company disclose its policy limits. If you have a serious injury, you should never settle without knowing the full amount of coverage available to you.
A good lawyer will help you reduce medical and insurance liens
When an adjuster offers to settle, they may not make you aware of your obligation to reimburse insurance companies and doctors. In most cases, if your medical bills have been paid by your health insurer, that insurer has a right to be reimbursed. But where you have an attorney, the insurer may have a legal obligation to reduce the amount paid back — and in other instances an attorney can negotiate significant reductions. If this is not done before you settle, the doctors and insurance companies may take the entire settlement.
An experienced attorney knows how to determine the value of your case
Unlike the value of a car, the value of an injury cannot be looked up in a book. This is where experience matters. Case value depends on the nature and extent of your injuries, the extent of any disability, the circumstances of liability, and the venue where the accident occurred. In the most serious cases, experts — physicians and vocational experts among them — are needed to establish value. Years of trying and settling cases, and knowing what juries are actually awarding in comparable cases, are what an experienced attorney brings to that judgment.
An attorney can determine if other parties might be at fault
If you were hurt by a drunk driver, several parties may be legally responsible. Beyond the driver, a bar that over-served may be liable under the Dram Shop Act. If the driver was working at the time, the employer may be responsible. If the driver was using someone else’s car, the owner may be liable for negligent entrustment or under an agency theory. You may also have coverage under your own policy — Illinois insurers are required to offer uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, which protects you when the other driver has too little insurance or none at all. But if you do not follow the rules in the Illinois Insurance Code, you can lose the right to bring an underinsured claim simply by settling with the negligent party first.
An attorney will help you decide when, and whether, to settle
Insurers often push to settle a personal injury case within weeks of an accident. The full extent of an injury is frequently not known for many months, sometimes a year. A herniated disc in the neck or back is often diagnosed at first as a strain or sprain, and an MRI may not be ordered until the pain persists. Once a case is settled, you cannot go back and ask for more if the injury turns out to be worse than anyone thought. An experienced attorney helps you judge when the time is right to make a demand — or whether a lawsuit is necessary.