Injury Cases

I had a very nice call with a gentleman who was looking for a Chicago medical malpractice lawyer who would not charge a fee unless they win the case.  I explained to him right away that nobody charges a fee in those cases and if they do want you to contribute money for expenses then you should run away.  But that’s not what this post is about.

Our conversation continued and I learned that his friend had their colon nicked during a colonoscopy and sustained a decent amount of damage.  Apparently they had called a couple of lawyers and the case was turned down.  My caller was confused because it was his perception that if you have a decent injury, a nice plaintiff and a good law firm in your corner, most juries would side for them instead of a large corporate hospital or doctor.

This is a lie that has been created by people why want to impose damage caps in medical malpractice lawsuits.  The truth is that Cook County, where Chicago is located, is the most plaintiff friendly county in the entire state.  Yet in cases that go to trial, plaintiffs win just over 20% of the time.  As a result, lawyers are very selective about the cases they are willing to take on.  It’s true that many cases settle, but if you go to trial and lose, that’s usually around $100,000.00 out of your pocket as a law firm.

In some smaller counties in Illinois, there has literally never been a jury verdict against a doctor.  Ever.  In many of these locations the people that get called to be on the jury end up knowing the doctor and fear (wrongly) that if they find against him/her, even in the most egregious of cases, the doctor will skip town and they won’t have any medical providers.

Insurance companies want you to believe that a bunch of frivolous lawsuits are hurting the medical profession, but I’ve yet to see an example of a bogus malpractice lawsuit that settled or went to trial.  No credible attorney would file those cases because it’s so expensive to get to trial.  In fact, many examples of actual malpractice get ignored because the ultimate damages don’t justify the cost of bringing a lawsuit.  In other words, if I value your case somewhere between $200,000-$300,000, I’d have to be willing to spend around half the case value just to win and there’s no guarantee I’ll win.

What you end up finding is that cases are usually only brought for matters that have terrible negligence and huge damages.  If a doctor makes a mistake that kills a 90 year old woman, the defense will (disgustingly I might add) be that she didn’t have long to live anyway, so even if our hospital screwed up, the case has no value.  And regrettably that argument usually works.

So what you find is that there are really only a handful of malpractice law firms in Chicago that have a track record of consistently bringing and winning these cases.  Small firms may say that they do it, but truthfully they can’t keep up with the costs.  Firms outside of Chicago tend to only dabble in these cases because it’s so hard to win them.  As a result, if you do see a trial verdict in a place like Peoria, Rockford, Urbana, etc. don’t be surprised to find that the firm that handled the case is actually from the Windy City.

I’m not for frivolous lawsuits and every day I tell people that they don’t have a case and explain why I feel that way.  But I am in favor of good people with good cases having access to justice.  And the truth, no matter what lies you’ve been fed, is that it’s very hard to win a med mal lawsuit.

Workers’ compensation is paycheck replacement and other benefits for employees who are hurt on the job. Each state, including Illinois, has its own set of laws on the books that creates this system of compensation and makes it mandatory for most employers.

The way it works is that employers carry workers’ compensation insurance. When an employee gets injured, the insurance company pays the worker according to Illinois law. It depends on the type of injury and other details, but in general, an injured employee is entitled to 100% coverage of their medical bills and checks for 2/3 of their wages if they can’t return to work because of their injury. If your injury is serious and/or permanent, you might get a settlement, as well.

There are certain limitations on workers’ compensation. It’s only for employees – not independent contractors or volunteers. Part-time employees are eligible. One of the most important rules is that the injury has to arise out of and in the course of one’s employment, which is a legal way of saying it has to be related to your job or it doesn’t count as a work injury.

Illinois provides workers’ compensation for one-time incidents as well as repetitive trauma. A single incident will have a specific date on which it occurred, such as a fall or a sprain from lifting something heavy. A repetitive trauma is different because it generally occurs over time. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is a common example of a repetitive trauma injury, although in some cases it can be triggered by a single event. Typing, working on an assembly line, or anything else that requires you to use your body in the same way time after time can cause repetitive trauma.

Regardless of how it happens, this type of injury should not be ignored. Typical symptoms of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (also called CTS) include pain in the wrists and/or numbness or tingling in your fingers. The pain and discomfort can even travel up your arm to your shoulder. It’s important to see a doctor who is very familiar with CTS so that you can avoid misdiagnosis. Your best bet might be an orthopedic hand surgeon. They’ll probably run a test called a EMG to see if you have CTS. If you catch it early, your doctor might prescribe a splint or medication. If you end up needing cortisone injections or surgery, it should be covered under your workers’ compensation benefits. There should be no co-pays our out-of-pocket costs.

Be warned that the insurance company might try to deny your claim. Don’t be discouraged. They might argue that your CTS is caused by something else, such as pregnancy or diabetes, or they’ll claim that typing doesn’t cause CTS. This is how the insurance company works. They make money by denying claims. For this reason, never take the advice of the insurance company. We almost always suggest that you hire an experienced Illinois workers’ compensation attorney and stop talking to the insurance company altogether.

The law requires you to notify your employer of a work injury within 45 days of that injury. If you have CTS, then the date of your injury is likely a range of time. The law says you have 45 days from the date you realized you were injured and that your injury was work related. This might be the date your doctor diagnosed you, for example.

After you report your injury, you might start getting benefits. Another way to start getting benefits is to file a formal claim, called an Application for Adjustment of Claim, with the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission. You should file a formal claim either way. If you have one on file, you will be one step ahead if you ever need to request a hearing because of some problem with benefits being cut off or medical treatment denied.

Illinois law sets deadlines for filing a claim. Your right to collect benefits ends if you wait too long. You generally have three years from the date of your injury in order to file a claim. As we mentioned, there usually isn’t a specific date on which a repetitive stress injury happened. The important date is that date you realized your injury. If you have received some benefits, then the deadline for filing a claim is two years from the last payment of benefits or the three years from the date of injury, whichever is later. It’s never too early to bring a claim for repetitive trauma. If you wait too long, however, the cause of the injury gets harder to prove.

Workers’ compensation is usually your only option. You can’t sue your employer for a work injury. The workers’ compensation system was set up to take the place of lawsuits. While it’s not always perfect, the system was intended as a compromise. Employees don’t have to wait for a final ruling in a lawsuit to start getting payments and benefits, which could take years. And employers don’t have to worry about getting sued every time an employee gets hurt.

Illinois carpal tunnel attorneys are limited in the fees they can collect to 20% of what they recover for you. Your initial consultation should be free, and your attorney should never take a fee out of your routine benefits. If they are able to get you past benefits that were never paid, or a settlement, then that is when they earn a fee.

If you have questions about whether you are eligible for benefits in Illinois, feel free to contact us. We’ll talk to anyone for free about pretty much any legal issue. Our website was started by Illinois workers’ compensation attorneys. We know how an injury can affect everything, not just your work. The sooner start getting your benefits, the sooner you can start getting your life back.

We’ve written about what you should do after an accident. Here are things you should not do.

1. Don’t forget to get a police report. If your goal is to prove that the other driver is at fault, and we assume that is your goal if you’re considering legal action, then you will need a police report. It’s an important piece of evidence that you won’t get if you don’t call the police to the scene of the accident. If it’s a major accident, they’ll obviously be there. If it seems minor, you should still call and get this report in case you realize later that you are more injured than you thought. Also, don’t be tempted if the other driver tries to discourage police involvement and just pay you instead. If they’re at fault, they might try this. If you agree, and they drive away, you might never hear from them again if you change your mind.
2. Don’t compare your case to someone else’s. There are some similarities among accident cases, but there also are specific differences. Usually these differences exist because of specific facts. The law might be the same, but it can be applied differently in different situations. You might hear stories from family members or friends or coworkers about what happened in their accident case. You really can’t assume it would apply to you. An experienced attorney is the best person to give you advice and help you set realistic expectations.
3. Don’t wait too long to get a lawyer. We understand why people wait. You’re wondering what the best approach might be, whether you even have a case and how much it would cost to get a lawyer. While you’re pondering all of this, evidence is disappearing and witnesses are forgetting what happened. It’s free to talk to a lawyer about your Illinois accident case, and there is no attorney fee involved at all unless you win. Illinois law only gives you a certain amount of time to file a lawsuit, and if you wait too long, you lose your chance.
4. Don’t share a lawyer. The problem with sharing a lawyer is that a lawyer cannot protect two clients on either side of a legal issue. Your interests are at odds with the other side, even if things are friendly. If you agree to share a lawyer with the person who caused your accident, it’s safe to say that you aren’t going to get an outcome that is fair to you. In the worst case, you could fail to recover the money you need to pay your medical bills and other losses.
5. Don’t plead guilty. Don’t plead guilty unless it’s at the advice of an experienced lawyer whom you trust.  Otherwise, you are accepting an outcome that can be avoided in many cases. Even if you don’t think you have a choice, talk to your attorney first.

These cases are unique. The signs and symptoms of asbestos-related illness show up so long after exposure that the typical injury case is not a good model for how an asbestos case should be handled.

The statute of limitations is a bit different for cases like this, where an injury or illness isn’t apparent for a while. In Illinois, it’s called the discovery rule. In a typical injury case, like a slip and fall, you have two years from the date of your injury to file a lawsuit. That’s the statute of limitations, or deadline, on the right to sue. Obviously this wouldn’t work for an asbestos case, where symptoms might not show up for 20-50 years later. Here, the discovery rule comes into play and it says that the clock on the statute of limitations doesn’t running until you realize that you have an asbestos-related injury or illness.

So the general rule is that you have two years from the date you realized you were injured or ill and that asbestos exposure was to blame in order to file a lawsuit. This could be two years from your diagnosis, for example. In cases where a person dies due to asbestos disease, the two years is still from the date of discovery rather than the date of death.

Most people diagnosed with asbestos-related disease are over the age of 65. It’s important to make a quick determination whether you have a legal case. It’s ok to look into this, it’s encouraged even, despite the fact that you might have no idea whom your case would be against. Many times, exposure occurs at a job. Years of regular exposure is likely to blame. Workers who manufactured, installed or removed products with asbestos are at highest risk. There also are cases of secondary exposure, where someone else in the worker’s household was regularly exposed from asbestos particles that came into the home on the worker’s clothes, for example.

There are two main diseases caused by asbestos exposure. Asbestosis and mesothelioma. Symptoms include chronic cough, weight loss, shortness of breath, fatigue, abdominal swelling, tumors and even coughing up blood. Seeing a doctor is obviously a good idea for health reasons, which should be your first concern, but seeing a doctor right away also helps establish a legal case if you decide to pursue one.

There are Illinois attorneys who focus their practice on helping clients suffering from asbestos-related disease and illness. These attorneys, especially the ones who have had success in past cases, are in the best position to advise you on whether you might have a good case and what the applicable deadline might be.

Let us know if you have questions about your situation or if you need help choosing an attorney. You’ve probably seen television or billboard ads for mesothelioma lawyers, but these ads don’t tell you anything specific about those lawyers. We only recommend lawyers with a track record of success, great client reviews and solid reputations among other attorneys and judges in Illinois.

Life insurance policies usually name a beneficiary, which means that the policyholder listed a specific person to receive the distribution of the policy at their death. It can be a straightforward process, and in most cases it’s fairly quick. The proceeds of the life insurance do not need to go through probate, which means that they should be directly distributed to the named beneficiary. There’s no court process of judicial approval required.

Disputes can arise, however, about who the correct beneficiary is or whether the policy can be distributed at all. If you are unable to get the proceeds of a life insurance policy that you believe is yours, you should take legal action sooner rather than later. Get an attorney to help you with this. You should be able to find someone who can work on a contingency basis, which means you won’t have to pay any legal fees until it’s over. And if you don’t win the case, there’s no fee.

In addition to finding an attorney experienced in life insurance issues, locate a copy of the policy. Eventually, it might be necessary to find payment records to prove that the policyholder made all required payments. One reason distribution can be denied is because the policy wasn’t paid or it was cancelled. At least this is what the life insurance company might tell you. Do not take their word for it. They don’t have much to lose by telling you that you can’t collect on the policy, so they might deny your request on a technicality. In some cases, there has been outright fraud. The insurance company makes more money the less it has to pay out. So it’s not a surprise that they are encouraged to pay out as little as possible.

A will or trust does not affect a life insurance policy in most cases, because life insurance is not part of someone’s estate (which goes through probate). There are exceptions, however. If the policy holder did not name a beneficiary, or if a named beneficiary is deceased and there is no contingent or alternate beneficiary listed, then the proceeds of the life insurance policy can be distributed to the estate. If this happens, that money will go through the probate process.

Again, the sooner you act on a life insurance collection problem, the better.  If you’d like our help in finding an attorney who would investigate a case and sue on your behalf, please contact us.  The call is always free and confidential and you don’t pay anything unless you win.

One of the most unsettling things about nursing homes is the potential for negligence. By placing a loved one in a facility, you are entrusting strangers with their care. As much as you might research the home, there are no guarantees.

There are things you can do to look out for your family member. Frequent visits, especially at random times, are an important one. Also, know who their doctors are, ask questions about treatment plans and daily routines and know what medications they are taking and why. Asking questions sooner rather than later is always a good idea, as well. The bottom line, however, is that Illinois nursing homes have a legal duty to protect residents. If they breach that duty by acting negligently, or worse by committing some form of abuse against a resident, they can be sued and held responsible.

Common signs of nursing home abuse and neglect include a sudden and unexplained change in the resident’s health or mood. Anger, fear, depression and sadness can indicate that something has happened. Physically, bed sores are a huge red flag that your loved one isn’t being cared for as well as they should. Bed sores develop when someone is in one position for too long, such as sitting in bed for too many hours at a time. Bed sores can worsen quickly, and can even be life threatening.

Medication errors, both over medicating and under medicating, have been a problem in Illinois as well. Nursing home patients are likely to be on multiple medications at any given time. There have been cases of severe overdose, as well as cases where patients were not given a medication as prescribed, resulting in a worsened condition and eventual death. It’s never a bad idea to get the advice of an experienced nursing home abuse and neglect attorney if you have questions about your particular situation.

An Illinois nursing home case can be based on a severe injury or death that was caused by the negligence of the nursing home management or its staff. Cases also can be based on intentional abuse. Keep in mind that in any type of injury lawsuit, you’ll need to focus on what did happen rather than what could have happened. You generally can’t base a lawsuit on a close call, even if it was life threatening. With a close call, the best you can probably do is report the incident and find a safer place for your loved one.

No one is going to look out for your child like you do, but when you send them to play at a friend’s house, you at least expect that they will be kept safe. When the unthinkable happens and you get a call that your child has been seriously hurt, your first concern is making sure they get the medical attention they need. When the dust settles, you might be wondering if you can hold the other parents responsible if negligence was involved in your child’s injury. After all, you might be facing huge medical bills and permanent disability.

You can sue on behalf of your child for any damages that were caused by the injury, such as medical bills and other financial loss, and even pain and suffering. The value of a case depends a lot on the ongoing treatment needed and whether there is any permanent harm. These cases might be covered by the other party’s homeowner’s insurance.

Whether the other parents or caregivers were legally responsible for the injury depends on what they knew about the thing that hurt your child. If they knew or should have known that your child was in danger and could get hurt, then you might have a case worth pursuing. An aggressive dog, a weapon within child’s reach, an unattended swimming pool or any other dangerous condition in the home or on the property could lead to liability.

These situations are made more complicated by the fact that you know the responsible party personally. You may even be close friends. However, recovering money to pay for your child’s necessary medical care and potential future care is essential. A fall with a potential brain injury could require that your child receive lifetime medical care and support. An experienced injury attorney can help you take the first steps. Again, it might be a claim against the other party’s insurance policy.

Injury attorneys handle these cases on a contingency basis, which means that you don’t have to pay any lawyer fees until your case is over and only if you win. If you don’t win your case, there is no fee. Initial consultations are always free, as well.  Call us at (312) 346-5320 if you would like our help or fill out the contact form to the right.  We help with these cases throughout Illinois and have established a state wide network of aggressive, experienced attorneys who can help you.

Personal injury and workers’ compensation are two types of injury cases in Illinois. Both can involve the same types of injuries, such as a slip and fall, a vehicle accident, or an injury caused by a machine or piece of equipment. The difference lies in the cause of the injury.

If your injury is caused by your job, it will be considered a workers’ compensation case. The main difference is that you will not file a lawsuit (the law actually prevents you from suing your employer after a work injury) but rather you will file a claim for benefits. Your employer likely has workers’ compensation insurance that pays workers who are hurt on the job.

If your injury is caused by a third party who is not your employer, it’s more likely a personal injury case. You can file a lawsuit against the party who is at fault. Proving fault is a major part of any personal injury lawsuit. In a workers’ compensation claim, however, fault is irrelevant. Your work injury could be your fault or your employer’s fault or no one’s fault. Benefits are available regardless, as long as you qualify otherwise.

The benefits available to injured workers are set by law. Benefits include payment of 100% of your medical bills, with no co-pays or out-of-pocket expenses, as well as a portion of your regular pay if you are unable to work. Wage-loss benefits are called temporary total disability (TTD) and amount to 2/3 of your average weekly wage. You can also get a settlement to compensate you for any permanent injury you have after your recovery is complete.

In an injury lawsuit you are asking the judge to order the other side to pay your damages, which include medical bills and lost wages, but also pain and suffering in many cases. A jury often decides what your case is worth. There are no juries in workers’ compensation cases.

Both types of cases have an impartial third party to handle disputes during the case and make final rulings after trial if there is one. In an injury lawsuit, this is the judge (and jury). In a workers’ compensation case, you have an arbitrator who is similar to a judge.

While some personal injury attorneys might handle workers’ compensation cases and vice versa, it’s better to hire an attorney who focuses on one or the other. Your workers’ compensation attorney, for example, should know the arbitrator in your case because they are at the hearing site often and handling a lot of similar cases.

Both types of cases have strict deadlines in Illinois. For a personal injury, the statute of limitations is two years from the date of injury. For workers’ comp, the statute of limitations is three years from the date of injury or two years from the date of your last payment of benefits, if any.

Your landlord holds some responsibility for your safety. Most of the time, landlord liability stems from the condition of the building and the duty to make necessary repairs to protect tenants from dangerous conditions. But in addition, some landlords have been held liable for criminal acts by a third party. This would cover situations where a stranger comes onto the property and commits a crime against you.

In cases where a landlord has been held responsible for crimes that happen on their property, it’s often because they took safety measures but didn’t do a good job in doing so. It’s one of those aspects of the law that doesn’t always make sense. A landlord who does nothing to ward off crime usually has no responsibility if crime happens, but landlord who put up security cameras or installed extra lighting can be responsible if their safety measures fail.

In order to have a successful case against a landlord, you have to show that they owe you a duty of care. Once that is established, you have to prove that the duty was broken by their actions or inactions. As in any personal injury case, you also have to prove that you were harmed and that the harm was caused by the landlord’s breach of duty. Finally, you have to prove your damages, which is the amount of your suffering in monetary terms.

Many landlords carry insurance to protect them in the event of a lawsuit. This is good news because it means that there is money to collect, even if your landlord doesn’t have any assets of their own. The not-so-good news is that insurance companies are good at defending lawsuits because it’s how they make money. If you’re going up against an insurance company, having an experienced attorney preparing your case can make a big difference.

Injuries caused by criminals on your landlord’s property are personal injury cases (there may be a criminal case against the perpetrator, as well, but that is separate). In personal injury cases, attorneys charge on a contingency basis, which means that you pay out of your winnings at the end. You do not have to pay any fees upfront or as the case progresses. And if you lose, you won’t pay a fee.

If you have questions about landlord liability, either after a crime or in another type of injury, feel free to give us a call.

Written by Michael Helfand

Millions of people are bitten by dogs each year, and those who are most at risk include children and seniors. Not every dog bite leads to a lawsuit, but some bites can be serious, causing permanent injury and scars. In these situations, legal action may be required in order for the victim to get compensated for medical bills and other losses caused by the bite or attack.

Most homeowners’ insurance policies cover the situation where a dog of a homeowner bites someone who is visiting or on their property, meaning that the insurance company would be the one paying the victim. If there is such a policy in place, the victim likely will be dealing with the insurance company rather than the dog owner in a lawsuit. It’s recommended that dog bite victims hire an attorney to deal with and negotiate with the insurance company on their behalf.

In some states, a dog owner isn’t liable the first time their dog bites someone. It’s called the one-bite rule, with the idea being that the dog owner couldn’t have known to take precautions with their dog because they didn’t know the dog was dangerous. In Illinois, however, a dog owner doesn’t get a pass. They can be liable the first time their dog ever bites or injures someone.

Dog bite lawsuits are more prevalent now than in the past. If you or your child has been bitten by a dog and your family is facing medical bills, extensive recovery time, long-term treatment, scarring or disfigurement, or any other harm, talk to an attorney about holding the dog owner responsible. If you can prove fault, you should be able to collect money from the owner’s insurance company if not the owner themselves.

Written by Michael Helfand

When you get laid off, it’s not uncommon for an employer to ask you to sign a severance agreement.  They do it for many reasons.  The first is that it creates some good will so hopefully you don’t do anything bad toward the company on your way out.  The second is that for the remaining employees, it shows that the company isn’t run by a bunch of no-good meanies, even if they let you go.

But the biggest reason that a company will do it is because they want to close the books on their relationship with you.  When you sign a severance, they give you some money and in return you waive your right to sue them for anything that might have happened while working there.  The key word in that sentence is sue.

In Illinois, a workers’ compensation claim is not a lawsuit.  It’s a claim for benefits.  And beyond that, you can’t waive away your rights to bring a work comp case.  The only way you lose your rights is by waiting to long to file your case or if you settle or go to trial at the Workers’ Compensation Commission.

So if you are given a severance that says you agree that you don’t have a work comp case or that you’ll never bring one against them, it’s not worth the paper it’s written on.  And while I wouldn’t encourage you to sign such a document, again, you can’t waive away those rights.

This came up recently from an e-mailer to my office.  The surprising thing was that his employer was a huge company and they were not only asking him to agree to waive his rights, but also wanted him to agree that if he ever did bring a workers’ compensation claim they could sue him to pay for their attorney fees.

That clause is completely unenforceable in my opinion and also ridiculous.  It’s surprising that such a big employer would try to get away with it because they surely know better, but when money is involved, people do strange things.

No matter who you are, if offered a severance you are also entitled to have a lawyer review that document and you certainly should as soon as it is presented to you.  If you don’t and later on you are not happy about it or claim that you weren’t aware of all of your rights, it will be too late.

Written by Michael Helfand

See also: Being Fired Because You Make Too Much Money

Pain and suffering damages, unlike economic damages such as medical bills, are subjective. It’s up to the jury in a personal injury trial, and one jury might come up with a completely different number than another jury. It’s especially difficult in these situations to give a client a guess as to how much their case is worth.

There are different types of pain and suffering to consider. Physical pain is one kind of pain for which you can seek compensation from the defendant. To prove physical pain, your attorney will rely on medical records, the testimony of a medical expert and testimony from you, as well. Family and friends also might testify about what they observe about you and how it’s different from what you were like prior to the injury.

Another type of pain and suffering is mental and emotional. Mental and emotional pain or anguish is common after a traumatic incident, such as a serious car accident. The person involved may be fearful or full of anxiety, and they might be afraid to travel in a car. Injuries from the accident also can cause emotional suffering, especially if those injuries are debilitating, permanent and/or obvious, such as scarring or amputation. Depression is common, as well.

In addition to explaining the type of suffering that the injured person is experiencing, an attorney will explain to the jury how it will have an impact on their life, now and in the future. Effects range from shortened lifespan and physical limitations to unemployment and depression. There is no formula for measuring pain and suffering and putting it into a dollar amount. An experienced and aggressive attorney will know how to explain it to the jury in a way they will understand.

Proving the extent of your pain and suffering – physical and emotional – is extremely important in a personal injury case. Doing this well is key to being fully compensated for all of the harm caused by the defendant. Your life has likely changed significantly. Take care to find an attorney who not only has years of experience in these cases but has had a lot of success, as well.

Written by Michael Helfand

The general rule is that independent contractors are not eligible for workers’ compensation benefits if they get injured on the job. The right to benefits is reserved for employees. However, some independent contractors end up getting benefits. The reason? They’re not actually independent contractors, at least not in the eyes of Illinois workers’ compensation law.

Just because you are paid as an independent contractor, and your employer calls you a contractor, doesn’t mean that you are. The law looks at several factors in determining whether you’re an employee or a contractor. It comes down to the details of your relationship with your employer.

The more control your employer has over you, the more likely it is that you are technically an employee. If your employer sets your schedule, assigns you clients, gives you a uniform, provides the supplies/tools/equipment you use to do your job, or provides a work vehicle, it might indicate that you are not as independent as you (or your boss) thought. Not all of these things have to be true in your case, and there are other factors that can tip the scale one way or the other, but if your employer tells you how to do the specifics of your job, you might be an employee.

It’s to an employer’s benefit to label someone as an independent contractor. Overall, it’s cheaper for them. Make sure your employer isn’t labeling you as such just because it’s better for them. If you are actually an employee, you are entitled to workers’ compensation benefits – including payment of medical bills and lost wages – if you get hurt at work. If you have a question about your status as an independent contractor in Illinois, let us know. If you truly are an independent contractor and you get injured on the job, you might have a personal injury lawsuit if someone else’s negligence caused your injury.

Written by Michael Helfand

We’re talking about the cases where someone slips and falls at a business, such as a grocery store. We can’t predict or guarantee an outcome 100%, but there are some cases that have a good chance of recovery and others that will likely go nowhere. Here are the makings of a “good” case:

A serious injury. We aren’t wishing this on anyone, but we’re simply pointing out that unless your injury is serious and/or permanent, you’ll have a harder time. If you sprain something and make a full recovery without any surgery or significant therapy, then there’s not much to go after in terms of a financial recovery. If, on the other hand, you suffer a serious injury that leaves lifelong effects, requires significant rehab and causes you to miss a lot of work, then there’s more to fight for. It will also be easier to find an attorney willing to take your case.

Evidence of negligence. This is a big one. If you can’t prove that the business owners or managers were at fault, then the law can’t make them pay for your injuries. When we say “fault” we mean legal fault. For a slip and fall in Illinois this usually means that the business knew about the hazard that caused your fall, like a leaky refrigerator in the cold food section that has been broken for some time. Or, if someone else warned a manager of a spill, and they failed to clean it up and you slipped and fell. Just the existence of a hazard (puddle, banana peel, etc.) isn’t enough to prove fault. If the floor is wet because it’s a rainy day and people are tracking water in, you might be out of luck.

Clear proof that your injury wasn’t caused by something else. This becomes a problem for people who don’t see a doctor right away or as soon as they start to feel pain. If you wait, the defendant will claim that your injury could have been caused by something you did at home, or at work, or anywhere else. If, on the other hand, you fill out an accident report and see your doctor (and explain to them exactly what happened), the other side will have a hard time shifting the blame.

If you have questions about something that happened to you, and whether it’s an Illinois legal case worth pursuing, give us a call. We promise to be honest about your chances, and most importantly, we’ll explain why.

Written by Michael Helfand