Michael Helfand

In just about every Illinois injury case we get contacted about, the top question on everyone’s mind at some point is “What is my case worth?” We hear that a lot in the beginning of a case and can’t answer that as we don’t know what your ultimate recovery will be. And of course we hear these questions later on and usually can give a better answer.

A client recently asked a different version of this question by saying, “What would be a good settlement for this case?”

That’s a great question. The answer requires an understanding of how these cases work in reality.

The first thing to know is that just because a friend or someone else got a certain dollar amount for a certain injury, that case has no bearing on yours as every case is factually different.

There are three big factors that play a role in what a case is worth. The first is what are the facts and how much liability do you bear versus the other person. If you get rear-ended at a stop light, it would seem like you have no fault. But if it’s dark out and you didn’t have your lights on, you could have some fault. If you are 30% at fault for an accident, a $100,000 case becomes worth $70,000. In every case you can bet the insurance company is trying to put as much blame on you as possible even when it seems ludicrous. Giving you even just 10% fault saves them money.

The second factor is damages. The more serious you are hurt, the more a case is likely worth. Someone who has to miss six months of work will have more damages than someone who misses none. Someone who breaks there leg and just gets a cast will have a case worth less than someone who needs surgery. And the higher your medical bills, the more often the case is worth more.

But it’s the third factor that often ultimately determines what a case is worth. That is how much insurance is available to go after in this case? The reality is that if you are hit by a city bus or a semi truck and suffer a serious injury, that case will be worth way more than if you get hit by a teenager who has a $30,000 insurance policy. Even if you have a half a million in bills, the chances of collecting any more than the insurance policy are almost none unless the person who hit you is somehow worth a lot of money or there is someone else to sue.

This all can be very unfair. Some cases that would be worth millions end up being worth just thousands. Medical liens can eat up all of that if you don’t have a good lawyer advocating for you to reduce them.

There are other factors too that you wouldn’t think about. The value of a catastrophic case with a lot of insurance – or if you are going against a big company, no limit on insurance – is worth more in the hands of some law firms than others. In other words, one firm might get $2 million on a case where a better, more experienced firm could get $5 million.

Some firms are just more experienced and better at this than others. In one case we got involved with, a small firm was telling someone to take a $100,000 settlement, telling them that is all that’s available. We got them to a more experienced firm who discovered there was an additional $1 million insurance policy.

Overall the answer is that the goal should be to get the most that a case can be worth. We can help you find the right Illinois injury attorney to make that happen. If you’d like a free consultation, please call us at 312-346-5320.

Cancer affects approximately 40% of Americans in their lifetime including about two million every year. Fortunately the treatments are getting better and better and while cancer still sucks, it doesn’t always have to be a death sentence.

The key to beating cancer is early detection and diagnosis. The sooner you can begin treatments, the better your chances of survival. That is just common sense.

Unfortunately, a lot of people get cancer that isn’t caught early and quite often that’s because a doctor or other medical provider dropped the ball somewhere along the line. It’s shocking to me how often this is due to a simple lack of communication. You’d think that if there was the possibility of cancer that bells and whistles would go off, or at least there would be a backup system to make sure the patient is notified.

This brings me to the key for any Illinois medical malpractice lawyer to win a lawsuit for a failure to diagnose cancer. We typically are looking for at least a six month delay. That means six or more months have passed since a doctor should have known you have cancer to when they discover or tell you that you have it.

Here are some examples of cases we’ve worked on.

• A man had a PSA test which is a blood screen test for prostate cancer. His level was reported at 12 which is a very high level, but nothing was reported to him and no intervention done. A year later he had stage four prostate cancer.
• A non-smoking female was checked for a possible heart aneurysm. That test also turned up a suspicious 1.4 cm mass in her left lung. No radiologist interpreted that mass or advised her it existed. All of the focus was on the possible aneurysm which was fine. Three years later she had difficulty breathing and slurred speech. It was discovered that the mass had grown to three times the size and cancer had spread to her brain.
• A young woman had a lump in her chest. Her primary doctor examined her and told her it was just a fatty deposit. Nine months later she had stage 3 breast cancer and needed a double mastectomy.
• A man in his early 40’s reported blood in his feces and fatigue. For some reason a colonoscopy wasn’t ordered. More than a year later it was discovered he had colon cancer.

What all of these sad situations have in common is that had the medical professionals done their job, the cancer would have been caught at a much more manageable time. Studies have shown that if there’s a delay of at least six months it can make a really big difference in the ultimate outcome.

Note that you can’t ever go back farther than four years to sue for malpractice in Illinois (when over 18) so it’s important to act fast. That of course can be hard when you’ve been handed life altering medical news, but hopefully you or someone in your life can make a call. It takes time to investigate these cases so time really is of the essence.

If you’d like a free consultation with an experienced malpractice lawyer, please call us at 312-346-5320 any time. We promise to treat you like a family member or friend and do whatever we can for you.

Since 2001, we have helped people find the best lawyer for their case. Only a handful in Illinois have a real track record of winning compartment syndrome cases. Call us at 312-346-5320 for a free, confidential consult.

Compartment syndrome is a buildup of pressure around your muscles. When there is too much pressure around your muscles, less blood, less oxygen, and fewer nutrients flow to your muscles and nerves. Compartment syndrome is very painful and in some cases it can lead to catastrophic results if it’s not diagnosed and treated in time. When that happens in Illinois, you could have a medical malpractice lawsuit.

Medically speaking, a compartment is a group of muscles, nerves, and blood vessels. Compartments are covered by a thin casing of tissue (or a membrane) called fascia. Fascia helps hold things in place. Fascia also has nerves that make it almost as sensitive as skin. Compartment syndrome results from the extra pressure inside a compartment causing the muscles to press against the fascia more than is normal. We are lawyers, not doctors, but it’s important to hire a lawyer who understands this complex medicine.

Compartment syndrome can happen to any muscle group, but is most common in people’s legs (especially lower legs), feet, belly, buttocks, and arms (including hands and wrists). We see it a lot in people with back pain that doesn’t get diagnosed quickly enough and even after surgeries.

The two types of compartment syndrome are acute and chronic. Acute compartment syndrome is caused by a sudden traumatic event such as an accident or severe injury. A trip to the ER is necessary. Chronic compartment syndrome, on the other hand, happens over time, especially after intense physical activity on the job or exercising. It can also be a natural part of the breakdown of your body even if you are otherwise healthy.

Both acute and chronic compartment syndrome can be caused by someone’s work activities. A fall from a ladder, a collision in a company vehicle, or an injury using a work tool or machinery are just a few examples of work accidents that lead to the acute type. Construction work, heavy lifting, and other physically demanding work that someone performs day after day can lead to the chronic type.

Common symptoms of compartment syndrome are:
• Muscle pain (more severe than normal soreness)
• Loss of urine and/or bowel control
• Severe pain when stretching the muscle
• Visible swelling or bulging around a muscle or just feeling like your muscle is firmer or bigger than usual
• Numbness
• Burning or tingling feeling under your skin.

As acute compartment syndrome is a medical emergency, the treatment is surgery. A surgeon will perform a fasciotomy in which they will cut through the skin and fascia to relieve the pressure in the muscle compartment that is affected. After the swelling and pressure go away, the surgeon will close the incision. If this problem isn’t caught quickly enough, surgery may not fix the problem. You could end up paralyzed and/or permanently incontinent.

Chronic compartment syndrome is usually treated with medications to reduce pain and inflammation. Modifying your work activities (less intense and/or less repetitive motions) may also be necessary, as well as physical therapy. In some cases, a fasciotomy is the course of treatment that can be tried to reduce the pain.

We help people with legal cases for compartment syndrome in a few ways. First off, we know the best Illinois medical malpractice lawyers to sue for a failure to diagnose compartment syndrome. If your symptoms don’t resolve after surgery, you may be entitled to significant compensation.

We also help a lot of injured workers, car accident victims and others who can bring a case based on how their problems originally started. It’s not unusual to see a back injury from work result in compartment syndrome and have devastating results.

We have a track record of success and promise to treat you like a family member or friend. If you’d like a free consultation with a lawyer, we can help everywhere in Illinois. Call us at 312-346-5320.

The weather in Illinois is brutal right now. The low in Chicago today is one degree. I guess that’s better than the minus four degrees we experienced yesterday.

With the cold weather of course comes snow and ice. That leads to a lot of slip and fall injuries unfortunately.

Regrettably a lot of the people who call us with these injuries we can not help. That’s because of an Illinois law that says that if you fall due to the natural accumulation of snow or ice and sustain an injury, the property owner isn’t liable.

What does natural mean? Generally speaking it’s what happens because of what happens naturally due to the weather conditions. So if you are walking in a parking lot and you slip on ice, that’s probably not a case against the property owner. Unnatural would be something like ice that forms from coming off an awning or a gutter spout.

And if you fall because your landlord didn’t shovel or salt the area, that’s usually not a case either. They can’t be expected to do that while the bad weather is occurring and generally speaking don’t have a legal obligation to do this at all.

So are injuries from falls on snow or ice doomed? No. There are a bunch of ways to win these cases.

If the property or business owner does clear the area, but does so in a negligent way, that could lead to a case.

But the biggest thing you should look out for is was there someone who was contractually obligated to clear or salt the area that failed to do so. In many apartment buildings, office complexes and places open to the public, the property owners contract with companies to have these areas cleared so people can walk safely. They aren’t responsible for doing that 24/7, but if it snows hard on a Monday and they haven’t cleared it by Wednesday, that may put liability on them and/or the property owner.

These aren’t things you’ll think of as you lay on the ground in terrible pain, but you should think of as soon as you reasonably can. You can ask your boss, landlord, etc. You can look at a copy of your lease to see if it says anything about it. You can even ask the people who eventually do clean or salt an area how often they are supposed to be there.

It’s not a slam dunk, but in my experience, if you want to win these difficult cases and be compensated for your injuries, this is often the best way to do so.

And of course, if you have any questions as to if you even have a case or want an attorney recommendation, please call us any time at 312-346-5320.

All drivers are aware that when you see police lights or hear the sirens, you get out of the way and move over to let them pass through. But on some occasions, the police officer is chasing a suspect in another vehicle at such a high rate of speed that there is no time to react. In fact, there are sadly some instances in which the police car or suspected criminal collides with an innocent driver’s vehicle during the pursuit of the suspect.

What happens if one of the cars involved in a high speed pursuit causes bodily harm or even death to the innocent driver or passengers in a car? The city that employs the police officer should be held accountable for the injuries and/or death. The city should pay for the medical bills and/or for the value of the life lost in the collision.

The police of course have a right to go after a criminal. But when doing so requires them to drive at such a high rate of speed that it becomes dangerous for the public, they are supposed to back off. When they don’t it might be a lawsuit.

Let’s take a look at a recent example of this type of tragedy. In 2020, a City of Chicago police officer was pursuing a suspect and crashed into a vehicle in Auburn Gresham driven by a citizen named Kevin Spicer. His 10-year-old daughter, Da’Karia Spicer, and younger son, Dhaamir Spicer were passengers in the car. Kevin and Dhaamir suffered injuries but survived. Da’Karia was killed in the accident.

The case went to court where the question was not about who was liable or responsible. Both parties agreed that the police office employed by the City of Chicago caused the crash. The cop shouldn’t have been driving that fast and was negligent. The question was, what was the appropriate amount of damages to award the Spicer family for the loss of their beloved daughter?

Both parties agreed that $1 million was the right amount for past medical costs and future therapy costs. But they did not agree on what the amount should be for loss to society, grief, sorrow, and mental suffering.

The lawyers representing the city asked jurors to set aside their emotions and to focus on what is fair and reasonable under the law. They suggested a settlement of $11.6 million. Spicer’s attorneys recommended more than $117 million for the tragic loss of Da’Karia.

The jury came back with a verdict calling for the city to pay Spicer’s family $79.85 million. While that amount is unusually high, it shows you what these cases can be worth if the police are not following the laws they are supposed to enforce.

It is critical in a case like this to have attorneys who are experienced with this situation representing you. If you or someone you know has been injured in a police pursuit, call us at 312-346-5320. Time is of the essence as there are strict limitations for bringing a case. We help with these claims everywhere in Illinois.