Injury Cases

There has been a phenomenon in the last ten years or so of attorneys spending millions on billboards and TV ads to try and get personal injury clients. It’s scummy to me, but not against the law.

Some of these big spenders are actual Chicago law firms. Others are actually based in places like Florida, Nevada and elsewhere and their main partners are not licensed in Illinois. They hire local attorneys and feed them the cases for a share of the profits. It’s not the best way to get a lawyer.

Car accident lawyers in Chicago and really all of Illinois only handle cases that involve injuries.  Some of these cases also, of course, involve damage to the car itself.  While we don’t know lawyers who do just property damage cases, every car accident lawyer we work with handles both the injury part and the property damage part. Those two things go hand in hand and it’s part of giving full service to clients.

What I’ve seen with these big advertisers is that many of them tell their clients that they will only handle the injury part.  Some of these firms are overwhelmed with cases and want to limit their work only to the part that makes them money. So they tell their clients that they are on their own even if they no longer have a car to drive or are getting screwed by the insurance company’s offer to make repairs.

This is ridiculous and just terrible customer service.

The good news though is that you will find out about this terrible service early on in the case. If they won’t help you out then they are not the right law firm for you. You can and should switch lawyers and given that it’s early on in the case there should be no cost to do so.

A sad fact is that insurance companies will try and take advantage of people whose main concern is the damage to their car. They know that lawyers won’t get involved over just that issue because there is no money to be made. They also are aware of these shady firms and know that they don’t always fight for their clients. The insurance companies have nothing to lose by not paying you fair value for your car or even paying you at all. In fact, a person whose car is totaled and has a major injury has a better chance of getting paid for their car than someone who was rear-ended at a stoplight but didn’t see a doctor.

The reason attorneys only handle cases that involve an injury is that there is no money to be made if they are only being compensated for the work they do to get your car repaired.  They’d have to charge you by the hour which wouldn’t make financial sense.

If you’d like to find and attorney that will handle both the injury part and property damage part of your car accident case, we can help you. Call us at 312-346-5320 any time to speak with a lawyer for free. We cover all of Illinois.

See also: Cook County Car Accident Arbitration Cases

We are experienced Illinois injury attorneys with a track record of success. There is no fee to talk to us or to hire a lawyer. If you would like to speak with an attorney for free, fill out our contact form or call us at 800-517-1614.  All calls are confidential. We are based out of Chicago but cover all of Illinois.

What is a C-section? 

A caesarean delivery or caesarean section (C-section for short), is a surgical procedure in which the baby is delivered through an incision in the mother’s belly and uterus.

What are the reasons to perform a C-section? 

Obstetricians perform C-sections when a vaginal delivery would put the mother or baby at risk. Reasons for a C-section include, but are not limited to:

1. Prolonged labor, failure to progress
2. Fetal distress
3. Breech birth
4. Placenta problems (e.g., placental abruption, when the placenta separates early from the uterus; and placenta previa, when the baby’s placenta partially or fully covers the mother’s cervix)
5. Umbilical cord issues
6. Failure of delivery by forceps or vacuum device
7. Large size of the baby
8. Hypertension or tachycardia in the mother
9. Shape of the mother’s pelvis
10. Mother’s history of previous C-section(s)

Planned vs. Emergency C-section 

In many situations, the obstetrician will recognize an issue before labor begins and schedule a C-section. There are other circumstances, however, in which a complication arises during the birthing process, and the obstetrician has to order an emergency C-section. If the fetus is experiencing distress, there is a very limited amount of time to deliver the baby before tragic injuries occur.

Detecting Fetal Distress C-section 

How is fetal distress detected? The mother may feel decreased movement of her baby. Meconium may be present in the amniotic fluid. But often, the key is in the fetal monitoring strips. They are small devices attached to the mother’s belly that use Doppler ultrasound to capture and track the baby’s heartbeat. The obstetrician and labor and delivery nurses observe the carditocography for: increased or decreased fetal heart rate, especially during and after a contraction; decreased variability in the fetal heart rate; and late decelerations. 

Delayed C-section 

If the doctors and nurses fail to detect the fetal distress (or placental abruption or other clear indicator), or it they detect the distress but fail to perform an emergency C-section in a timely manner, the baby may be deprived of oxygen and suffer life-altering injuries. Time if of the essence, so the health care workers need to be adept at quickly coming together and performing a C-section.

Birth Injuries 

A delayed C-section may result in the following injuries to the baby:

1. Cerebral Palsy
2. Erb’s Palsy
3. Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE)
4. Damage to vital organs

All of these birth injuries can be significant and life altering for both the child and their parents.  It’s not always clear right away if you have a lawsuit, but it’s important to have your case investigated ASAP as the time limits for suing can be as little as two years from the delivery date if the doctors are part of a federally funded clinic and no more than eight years from the delivery date.  It takes around six months to investigate a case properly so time is usually of the essence. If you believe that the health care providers and/or hospital were negligent, and delayed your C-section, resulting in serious birth injuries to your baby, please contact us to speak with a lawyer.

We are Chicago lawyers who help people find the right attorney for their situation. Since 2001 we have helped over 500,000 people and would be happy to talk with you for free about your legal situation.

As part of our service, we educate the public on various injuries that can lead to lawsuits. One common one is Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy.

What is Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy?

Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy, or HIE, is very serious type of infant brain damage that occurs during childbirth. The damage is caused when the baby is deprived of both oxygen and blood flow during childbirth or immediately after. Brain cells in the baby die within minutes when they are cut off from oxygen and blood.

Hypoxia = the supply of oxygen isn’t sufficient

Ischemic = the supply of blood isn’t sufficient

Encephalopathy = damage or disease that affects the brain

What causes HIE?

There are a number of causes of HIE. It can develop during pregnancy, during labor and delivery or in postnatal period, but here we will focus on causes of HIE during labor and delivery. They include:

• Problems with the umbilical cord
• Extremely low blood pressure in the mother
• Excessive bleeding from the placenta
• Abruption of the placenta or rupture of the uterus
• Baby in breech or other abnormal fetal position
• Prolonged late stages of labor

What are the symptoms of HIE? How is it diagnosed?

The symptoms of HIE vary based on how severe the injury is, as well as which area(s) of the brain were affected. A baby with HIE may have:

• Seizures or abnormal movements
• Feeding problems because muscles in their mouth and throat are weak
• A weak cry
• Organ disfunction of the heart, lungs, liver and kidneys
• Little to no reactions to sights and sounds; or conversely, stronger, more tense reactions to sights and sounds than a healthy newborn

To confirm an HIE diagnosis, a neurologist will examine your baby. An electroencephalogram will monitor your baby for seizures and signs of brain disfunction. Tests, such as an MRI, will check for signs of brain injury. You will meet with the medical team to review the results of the tests and plan for therapies, future care, etc.

What happens next?

If your baby was diagnosed with an HIE, and has passed away or suffered permanent brain damage, it may be a case of doctor negligence or medical malpractice during your labor and delivery. You may be entitled to compensation to pay for your baby’s medical bills and future medical care.  The first step is to find the right firm and have them review the medical records to see if they can prove negligence occurred. Often these cases are worth tens of millions of dollars because a lifetime of care will be needed. We have had success with these cases and would be happy to help you find the best law firm for your case. To discuss this confidentially with a licensed attorney, fill out our online contact form or call us at 800-517-1614.

We are lawyers in Illinois who will talk to you for free. If you would like to speak to an attorney please call us at 800-517-1614 or fill out our contact form and we will call you.

With the rise of the #metoo movement, victims of sexual harassment and assault have found the courage within and the support from others to speak up, and to discuss the injustices they suffered. Sexual harassment and assault are not new phenomena, of course. They existed long before the hashtag took hold in the fall of 2017.

In fact, in 2003, the Illinois General Assembly moved to protect victims of sexual harassment and assault by passing the Illinois Gender Violence Act.

Gender violence is a violent act that is committed because of a victim’s sex. It can also be a threat of a violent act. The Illinois Gender Violence Act (“IGVA”) protects victims of sexual harassment and violence, and has a relatively long statute of limitations.

This is very important, because all too often, victims who have suffered awful treatment are too traumatized to act right away. They may feel hesitant to report incidents that occurred at their workplace, that involve a coworker or boss. Before the IGVA, if a victim waited a year to come forward, the short statute of limitations would have been up, and there would be no opportunity to seek justice in court against his/her abuser. )

Another important aspect of the IGVA was its language centered around “persons” who could “personally” commit, encourage or assist in acts of gender-related violence. It was unclear if employers could be held liable for their employees’ sexual violence. If someone’s boss repeatedly groped her/him, would the company be responsible for the boss’s actions?

In 2019, a decision made by the Illinois Appellate Court (Gasic v. Marquette Mgt., Inc.) brought some clarity to this. Under certain circumstances, corporations can be held liable under the IGVA. Since that decision, a growing number of courts in Illinois have agreed that corporate employers can be liable for their employees’ gender-related violence.

In addition we have used this law to bring lawsuits for other acts of sexual abuse including against fraternities where rapes have occurred.

This is an important law for victims of sexual violence. It provides damages for emotional distress, punitive damages, and attorneys’ fees and costs. In other words, it costs nothing to bring a lawsuit under the Gender Violence Act and you can make a significant recovery.

This may be a bit confusing. If you have been a victim of sexual harassment or assault, feel free to contact us. All calls and emails are confidential, and we can advise you on what the next steps should be.

Illinois medical malpractice lawsuits are unique as compared to other injury cases like car accidents in many ways.  They are harder to win, they are much more complex and unlike a car accident lawsuit that can be filed in a day or two if you have a police report, a medical malpractice lawsuit usually takes at least six months to investigate and pull together.

As a result, if you call a lawyer looking to hire them for a medical malpractice case and only have a month before the statute of limitations expires, it will be very difficult to find a good firm to take your case.

The reason it takes so long to investigate a case is because there are usually tens of thousands of pages of medical records to go through when you sustain a serious injury and often they are from numerous medical providers.  We have to request records from those providers which can itself take 30-60 days.

For example, in a recent case we are investigating after a client had heart and kidney problems after a surgical error, there are 11 different medical providers we have asked to get records from.  He had a week long hospital stay which alone will likely result in thousands of pages to review.  A full internal review can’t be done until all of the records are received. After that, if the case seems to have merit, we then send the records to outside, independent medical experts for their analysis.

You can’t file a lawsuit without an affidavit that a medical provider believes malpractice has happened.  In some cases you want to have opinions from more than one expert.  In a birth injury case we are involved with we needed to have an expert discuss the actions of the nursing staff and another discuss what the doctor did.

So it’s possible that you could have had a great case, but if a lawyer doesn’t think there is enough time to investigate it, they will decline to get involved.

So you can certainly help yourself if you have medical records to give to a lawyer right away. That doesn’t guarantee they will look at it. The closer the time limits to sue are, the less likely they will. But I’ve seen cases where someone had the records and about two months left to sue and they were able to get a lawyer because they also had a big injury.

Bonus tip:  Don’t wait to call a lawyer until you have the records.  The sooner you call the better.  And many law firms can facilitate getting your files faster than you can.

If you have any questions or want to speak to a lawyer for free, call us at 312-346-5320 or fill out our contact form.

Most Illinois attorneys would love to get a good medical malpractice case.  If they are successful, they can be worth millions, and the lawyer will get paid very well for all of their hard work.

Just because a lawyer wants a case doesn’t mean they are the best choice for you.  Simply put, there are about 7-10 firms in Illinois that have a real track record of success. Medical malpractice cases are worth more in their hands than they are with others that are less experienced or don’t have the same track record of having handled hundreds of these cases successfully.

The medical malpractice law firms we know and recommend don’t win every case, but they give you the best chance of success.  When cases go to trial in Chicago for malpractice, doctors win about 80% of the time.  That means most law firms have a losing record.  But if you look at that elite list of 7-10 firms, their success rate at trial will be between 70-90%.  So not only are cases worth more in their hands, going with them can be the difference between winning and losing.

A recent caller to my office asked me my opinion about two firms that he had spoken to.  One of them was an elite firm and would be a great choice as they really have a track record and if you look at their website, you will see how many great results they have. The other one though on their “record of success” page only listed one medical malpractice result and that was for less than a million dollars.  Every other case they discuss is a car accident.

It’s not to say that the second lawyer couldn’t do a good job.  They might.  But when comparing the two, there is no comparison.  The first firm has over 50-million-dollar malpractice results.  They have doctors and nurses on their staff.  They won’t be learning on the job.

These are things that people don’t think about sometimes. Even with some firms that look like they have a great track record, there are things that you should know.  Some firms that look really good on their website might not be doing things in a way that’s best for you.  Here are some examples:

1. They list a bunch of great results, but the reality is that they came at their old law firm and they weren’t the main reason they happened.  Yes, they got good experience assisting their boss, but the reality is that their involvement didn’t really make a difference in the end result.
2. The law firm lists a bunch of attorneys and the firm name lists a bunch of people.  You think you are hiring some big group, but in reality, each lawyer works for themselves and they are motivated to not collaborate with their partners because if they do they have to split their fee with them. You want a lawyer who puts your best interests above all else.
3. The big-name attorney you talk to when you sign up isn’t going to be there every step of the way.  There are a couple of malpractice law firms in Chicago that have achieved some amazing results.  When you talk to them, the main partner will be on the call and will meet with you.  They will also be the one in court if the case goes to trial.  Sounds good, right?  The problem is that they won’t be the one working up the case.  They won’t do the investigation.  They won’t be taking depositions.  They won’t be the one you talk to as the years go on.  That to me is a problem. There is nothing wrong with having an associate or partner help you.  But if it’s my case, I want the best lawyer at the firm involved every step of the way.
4. The big-name partner handles everything, but they are older.  Does the firm have a succession plan in place if something happens to them? If that person dies will all the lawyers go their own way and start new firms or will the firm continue? You don’t want to have one lawyer handling your case and then have someone who knows nothing about it take over two years later.

Those are things that aren’t going to be on their website, but are questions you should be asking before you hire a firm.  If you want our guidance or have any questions, you can call us for free to speak with a lawyer any time at 312-346-5320.

Under Illinois workers’ compensation law, if you are injured on the job and unable to work per your doctor, you are entitled to be compensated for your time off. This is called temporary total disability benefits or TTD and should be 2/3 of your average weekly wage.

So if you tear your ACL on the job and make $900.00 a week, you should received $600.00 tax free per week until you are back at work or they have work for you within the restrictions your doctor gives you.  This sounds pretty straight forward, right?

It should be, but unfortunately some companies don’t follow the law.  We see a lot of cases where an injured worker gets hurt on the job and they will obviously be off for a couple of months.  While the company is taking their time to report the accident, they take the two weeks of vacation pay you are owed and tell you that the first two weeks will be paid that way.

The problem is that this is illegal. You don’t have to use PTO, vacation pay or whatever it’s called. The insurance company doesn’t get to take their sweet time before they start issuing you a check to compensate you for your time off work.  As a famous commercial says, that’s not how any of this works.

I’ve seen some cases where workers had banked more than two months of vacation time and were forced to use it.

The good news is that assuming you can prove you were hurt on the job, it’s not hard for us to get the vacation time reinstated.  Essentially we make it so the work comp insurance company reimburses your employer and your time off benefits are reinstated.

Some companies do this innocently, others do it kind of maliciously. The idea of someone getting hurt on their job and being paid while they get better somehow offends them. Unfortunately for them, that’s not what the law is and they can’t decide to take away rights you have earned.  And they can’t violate Illinois work comp law, at least not unless you let them.

You should be allowed to focus on nothing other than getting better so you can get back to work. These kinds of stressors can make an injury worse and delay your recovery. A good attorney can take those worries off your shoulder and help solve that problem. And in almost every case it costs you nothing to make that happen.

If you’d like to speak with a lawyer for free to see what options you have, contact us any time at 312-346-5320.

I recently had a call from a nice woman who broke her leg at her parents house.  She walked in to use the bathroom and slipped on a wet floor. It turns out there was a hole in the roof that had been there for a while and led to the leak.

If she was at a friend’s house when this happened it would be a slam dunk case. But her question was, can she sue her parents for negligence?

The answer to that question mostly depends on if you live in the house.  If you are living there, you would essentially be suing yourself as the residents of a dwelling can all be held responsible for errors in the property.  Beyond that, there is a concern that if you could sue your parents when you are living with them, many people would try to run scams to make a fraudulent recovery.

In this case, the woman doesn’t live with her parents, but was just visiting.  She had no way to know the roof was leaky and it was negligent of her parents not to warn her, fix the problem or otherwise protect her.  So in my opinion she has a great case against them.

The reality is that she’s not suing her parents, she’s making a claim against their insurance company. While theoretically she could also go after their individual assets, that almost never happens.  That’s true whether you are suing your parents or anyone else when there is adequate insurance.

These cases do get fought more than your average case because even when you don’t live with your parents, the insurance companies are suspicious as to why you got hurt and if you are trying to pull a fast one. That’s not a problem if you have good, honest facts and a lawyer in your corner who knows that they are doing.

The flip side of this is that parents can also sue their kids under the same scenarios. We helped a Dad who was injured in the house that he rented from his son.  We’ve helped grandparents who were injured while visiting their grand kids.

Bottom line is that when there is negligence and an injury, you should always talk to an attorney and see if there is a case no matter who the defendant might be. We are interested in truth and the unique facts of your case. After hearing that we offer an experienced, honest opinion as to if there is a case or not. If you would like to speak with a lawyer for free, call us at 312-346-5320 or fill out our contact form and we will call you.

We are experienced lawyers in Chicago who will talk to you for free. Since 2001 we have helped people who need a lawyer referral or just advice. Call us at 800-517-1614 any time to speak with an attorney in confidence or fill out our contact form and we will call you.

The best thing an attorney can do is take the emotion out of a situation and focus on facts.  That doesn’t mean your lawyer shouldn’t have empathy or care about you.  They should.  It’s just that when push comes to shove we can really help you by telling you like it is.

This is true when it comes to answering the question, “Do I have a lawsuit for failure to diagnose cancer?” People call us because they want to know if there might be a case, will then win and how much it might be worth.

We can never answer for sure without seeing your medical records, but there are questions successful lawyers ask to weed out good cases from bad.

The first question will likely be, how long is the delay?  Generally speaking, you need at least a six month delay from when you first reported symptoms until you were properly diagnosed.  Not that a three to four month delay is ideal, but in most cases that isn’t enough to show that a proper diagnosis would have changed your ultimate outcome.  The cases we’ve been most successful on have more than a one year delay, but six months is almost always the minimum for winning. Otherwise the case becomes defendable.

The other key question we want to know is what was your health before this?  Sadly, doctors can get away with negligence when a person is very sick already and likely did not have a long life expectancy. In those cases it can cost more to bring a lawsuit than you can recover.  On the other hand, if you are a relatively healthy person and go to your doctor with a lump in your breast and they say it’s nothing, if a year later it turns out you have stage four breast cancer, that’s definitely a case worth investigating.

The last question is what do your medical records show?  If your doctor suggested a course of action and you ignore it, that can end your case. If they don’t say what you say happened, it can end your case.  No medical malpractice lawyer can say if there is for sure a good case or not without seeing your records.

We’ve been involved in pursuing lawsuits for all sorts of failures to diagnose cancer.  That said, the most common errors are for skin cancer (melanoma), breast cancer, colon, prostate, lung, and cervical cancer.

We are happy to speak to you for free to see if there is a case worth investigating. Every attorney we recommend has a great track record of success and does not charge a penny unless they win the case.

We are Illinois lawyers who will talk to you for free. Fill out our contact form or call us at 312-346-5320. We cover all of Illinois.

Illinois workers’ compensation laws are designed to provide medical treatment and payment for time off work for injured workers.  To receive that, you need to show that you sustained an injury that arose out of and in the course of your employment. In other words, you were hurt doing your job duties due to a risk of your job.  It’s a no fault law which means that you don’t have to prove negligence and making a claim for benefits isn’t a lawsuit.

Insurance companies for your employer can’t deny your case and refuse to pay benefits unless they have a good reason.  Despite that, we see insurance companies all the time telling injured workers that they don’t have a case and the claim is denied.

They do this because insurance companies aren’t about your health, but instead about their bottom line.  If they wrongly turn down your claim and you accept that, it saves them money.  It’s a strategy that works because most of these insurance companies make billions.

The good news is that if you know the law, they won’t get away with it.  And beyond that, Illinois workers’ compensation laws can actually punish them or their bad behavior.  This was shown in a recent court case.

In that claim, a grocery store worker at Jewel Foods was collecting carts when he was struck by a car.  He fell, hit his head and received treatment at the scene. The next day he was found slumped over and it was determined he had a brain injury.  Emergency surgery took place.

Despite the obvious nature of his injury being related to the job accident, Jewel did not pay his time off or bills.  The worker got a lawyer and went to arbitration. Not only was all of his time off awarded and the bills paid, the Arbitrator awarded penalties and fees due to the unreasonable denial of benefits  The employer had surveillance video that showed how the accident happened and presented no medical evidence that the problems were anything other than the work place injury.  They simply denied the case without explanation or reason.

When that happens, the insurance company/employer can get punished which includes extra payments for time off work, extra money to the worker for the unpaid bills and payment of lawyer fees.

The problem is that only the best Illinois work comp attorneys pursue this strategy on a regular basis. Too many lawyers let insurance companies get away with this nonsense.

The good news is that the law is on your side. It can be very frustrating when cases are denied for no reason.  We know experienced, aggressive work injury lawyers who will fight for you. If you want a recommendation or just have questions, contact us at any time.

In the famous words of Rainman, “Walmart sucks.”

My unscientific poll of the hundreds of thousands of people I have talked to about Illinois legal matters in the last 20 years shows that Walmart treats their workers worse than most, if not all, companies.

I have heard countless stories of injured Walmart workers having their work comp claims denied or interrupted for ridiculous reasons.  It’s not that Walmart doesn’t have a right to defend the cases.  They do.  It just seems that they often try to discourage workers from bringing cases at all and they fight cases with positions that don’t always seem legitimate.

One thing I hear from their workers is that they think that lawyers will be scared to take on Walmart because they are a multi-billion-dollar corporation.  There is a belief that they have a team of lawyers that can’t be beaten.

The reality is that while Walmart might be more difficult or appear at times of having a strategy of screwing workers over, the laws apply the same to them as any other company.  The Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act doesn’t make it easier for big companies.

Beyond that, Walmart doesn’t have a “team of lawyers” to fight these cases.  They hire good law firms who fight hard, but it’s not like you are going to show up to a court hearing and see 3-5 lawyers sitting there working against you.  It will be your lawyer against their lawyer.  If they hired a “team” they’d end up spending more money on lawyer fees than your case is likely worth.

So if you have a good work comp attorney in your corner who knows the laws and is a fighter, you should win your case if the facts are on your side.  Meaning that if you lifted a box at Walmart while working and felt a pop in your back, you should have a winning workers comp case.

What Walmart does, in my experience, is make workers nervous and frustrate them.  But when push comes to shove, if you have the facts on your side (meaning you got hurt, reported it right away, went to the doctor right away, etc.) you should win your case and get benefits.

We also have found that they will often deny cases, especially in rural areas, with the hopes that you won’t get a lawyer.  It’s probably a strategy that saves them money because some people in small towns can be hesitant to get legal help.  They don’t always know that hiring an Illinois work injury lawyer costs nothing upfront nor do they know that it’s illegal to fire someone for bringing a work injury.

The good news is that we’ve had a lot of success in cases against Walmart because Illinois work comp laws favor honest, hard-working workers. So don’t stress or think your case is harder because your employer is Walmart, Amazon, or anyone else.  If you would like a free consultation with an attorney to discuss a case you can call us for free at 800-517-1614 any time.

Despite what insurance companies and some politicians like to tell people, it’s very hard to win a medical malpractice lawsuit in Illinois.  You need to show that the medical provider screwed up, that without their error you wouldn’t have suffered your harm and in most cases, that your damages are really significant. In other words, saying “I could have died” isn’t enough, even when their mistake was terrible. You don’t have to die, but do need to show some harm.

In my opinion, there are about ten really good Illinois medical malpractice law firms.  They have the track record of winning cases, have many lawyers and a large support staff often consisting of doctors and/or nurses and can afford the risk of bringing these very expensive cases without cutting corners to do so.  They take cases that they think they can win and also recover enough to justify their time, expense and risk. In other words, if it typically costs $100,000.00 to go to trial in a malpractice lawsuit, you aren’t going to spend that money if you think the case is only worth $200,000.00.

As a result, most people who want to sue a doctor or hospital can’t find an attorney to bring a case for them.  This can, understandably, be really frustrating for the people who call us looking for an attorney referral.  We get that, but are always honest. We love to make money and do so by taking on cases, but we always tell the truth. And if the truth is that we don’t think you have a case or don’t have enough of an injury, we will tell you.

Being wronged by a medical provider can be emotional. So callers will often say to us, “Well, if it’s not medical malpractice, can I sue for negligence?”  Unfortunately those two terms mean the exact same thing.  Medical malpractice lawsuits are when doctors, nurses, etc are negligent. So there aren’t different standards or time limits for bringing these claims.

So if you can’t find an Illinois medical malpractice attorney, what can you do?

1. You can file a complaint with the Illinois Department of Professional and Financial Regulations (“IDFPR”).  The license and discipline doctors and nurses.  In some cases you might not be able to get money from suing, but the IDFPR might be able to take away their license.
2. In some cases you can get results from the risk management department at a hospital.  That could mean them reducing or eliminating your bill and in some cases it could mean them offering you a small amount of money.
3. I’m not a fan of Yelp or those types of places, but I get that doing so could be therapeutic.
4. Be mad, but realize you’ll probably have to get over it. That sucks to hear, but if five lawyers who have a great track record tell you there’s no case, at some point you have to move on.  It’s a product of how hard and expensive it is win these cases.

Is it weird for an attorney to tell you to move on? Again, we always tell the truth, even if we know it’s not what you want to hear.  The bottom line is that if you have been wronged and want to know if you have a case, we are happy to speak with you for free and offer an honest opinion and if needed, recommend a law firm that has a great track record.  Call us for free any time at 312-346-5320.  We cover all of Illinois.

We are an Illinois lawyer referral service run by attorneys. Since 2001 we’ve helped over 500,000 people find the best law firm for their case or just given them free legal advice to solve their problem. Call us at 800-517-1614 to speak with a lawyer for free.

When people call me looking for an attorney referral, I hear two things a lot: 1. “I want the best lawyer.” 2. “I don’t want to travel.”  One of the most searched phrases that leads people to our website is “Who is the best workers compensation lawyer near me?”

While it sounds like it should be a simple question, if you really want what is best for you, your case and your long term health, please believe me when I tell you it’s not so simple.

First off, “best” for one person may not be “best” for you. There are so many factors.  What is your injury?  How much experience does that attorney have with that type of injury? Do you need someone who speaks a foreign language? Will you mesh well with someone who has an aggressive personality or do you need a lawyer that is more of a hand holder and compassionate? Will your case likely need to go to trial? What defenses does the insurance company have?

The truth is, especially in bigger cities, there are many attorneys who could get a good result for you.  But the top one for your case will depend on a lot of those factors I mentioned.  And something I’ve learned in almost 20 years of running this site is that if you just got injured and it’s not clear if you are seriously hurt or not, some “top” firms will assign your case to a young lawyer.  If it turns out that you are seriously injured, you are likely stuck with that young attorney who certainly isn’t best for you.

As far as getting a lawyer near you, that is understandable, but something you should not worry about.  Most cases, even before Covid, are handled by phone calls and emails.  Whether the attorney you hired is next door or 50 miles away, your interaction with them isn’t likely to include a lot of face to face contact that isn’t done by Zoom.  The exception is when your case is going to trial or if you want a first meeting in person. In my experience, many great attorneys are willing to meet you by your home at a mutually convenient time.

More importantly though, you aren’t likely to find many if any really good work comp attorneys in cities that don’t have a hearing location.  In the Chicagoland area, more than 90% of cases are handled by lawyers whose offices are in Chicago.  That’s because the main Illinois Workers Compensation Commission location is the Thompson Center downtown.  If you live in Tinley Park or Schaumburg or Evanston, etc., it’s not that lawyers there couldn’t take your case, it’s that it’s likely that they don’t focus on work comp cases all day every day. If they did, they’d spend way too much time in the car or on the train because they are so far from court.

Even outside of Chicagoland, you’ll find it’s likely that unless you are in a big city like Springfield, Rockford, Peoria, Belleville, etc. that the best attorney for your case, the one with real experience, isn’t going to be near you.  I promise you that is OK and it’s in your best interests to get someone who has a real track record of success. It’s no different than how you’d choose the best doctor for your care other than that you won’t need to be face to face with the lawyer all the time like you will with the doctor.

As always, if you have any questions let us know.

One of the most common questions that comes up in any Illinois personal injury lawsuit is should I settle or go to trial?

This is of course a very sensible question.  The answer to it really depends on the case, the facts, your goals and some other things.

For most cases, getting a settlement makes sense if you get a good offer. If we think your case is worth at most $300,000.00 at trial and you are being offered $275,000.00, settling and getting the cash now is most likely the sensible thing to do.

In other major cases, you may not be offered close to your best case scenario at trial, but the amount is still so much that not settling seems risky.  We had a client on a case whose trial was delayed until late 2021 due to Covid. The case settled earlier this year for $1 million.  It’s possible at trial the case could have been worth double that, but the client who is very ill wanted the sure thing and the money now.

We supported the decision of this client because it’s their life.  Our job as lawyers is to lay out the best and worst case scenarios and help you make an educated decision as to what to do.  The lawyer who was working hard on this case would have gladly gone to trial, but an attorney’s job is to do what is best for the client.

In other cases you might want to go to trial for a non-monetary reason. Perhaps you want their to be publicity to prevent something like what happened to you from happening to others such as in a sexual abuse or police misconduct case.  Maybe telling your story in court is therapeutic which is something a settlement can’t give.  In some cases you want to confront the person who harmed you.  Again it comes down to what is personal to you and in YOUR best interests.

On the flip side, we’ve seen cases where we knew the client would never go to trial.  It could be that they make a very bad witness and being on the stand would hurt them. It might be that they don’t want to have to confront the person that harmed them as it would have a negative psychological impact.

And sometimes the offer is not good enough and you have your dollar amount that if not met means you will be taking your chances in court.  In one famous case from when I was a young lawyer, a violinist lost her leg when she was dragged by a train for 200 feet. Back then it was rare to get settlement offers in the eight figures and there were stories of her and her lawyer turning down offers in the high seven figures and low eight figures.  The rumor was that she wanted $20 million, not a penny less.  She didn’t get that offer, went to trial and the jury awarded her almost $30 million.  Rolling the dice with trial clearly worked out for her.

My advice to you is to make sure you are given the best and worst case scenarios as well as the likely scenario. You might want $1 million, but if your best case scenario is $50,000.00 and you get offered that, going to trial is foolish.

Every case is different. Learning what is realistic for your case will help you make a smart decision.

As always, we are lawyers who will talk to anyone for free. Call us any time at 312-346-5320.

Covid has greatly impacted everyone’s lives. That’s not breaking news or surprising to anyone.  Other than hand sanitizer manufacturers, most businesses are suffering as a result.

Law firms are no exception to this impact although compared to the restaurant and bar industry, we generally don’t have it as bad.

The most obvious impact in Chicago is the fact that you can’t go to trial in most cases.  There were hundreds of claims set for hearing that have been reset until 2021.  While the courts did require all parties to try and settle if they can through a pre-trial, the reality is that a lot of justice is being delayed or denied. There is no guarantee as to when trials will start and for whatever reason, they aren’t using creative ideas like moving trials to hotel ball rooms where social distancing is possible.

An unforseen impact is the reality that many people who are getting injured in car accidents, slip and falls and other personal injury cases are refusing to go to the doctor to get treatment.  They often have underlying conditions that make getting Coronavirus a real risk to their life.  So they self medicate and do what they can to get by rather than risk getting infected by being at an ER or medical office.

In general you can’t prove an injury without getting medical care.  While a slight delay is understandable, if you wait too long or refuse treatment, you will likely have no case or at least greatly impact the case in a negative way.

I get why at risk people wouldn’t want to go to the doctor and would never tell someone they have to do so.  I would recommend that they at least try telemedicine if possible. In some cases if you express your concern, a doctor’s office can also have you enter and leave through a separate entrance than the regular public or even examine you outside.  It’s not ideal, but what I don’t want to see if worry over Covid cause anyone to have a life long injury they otherwise could have avoided.

Bonus tip, while in most cases if you ignore a doctor’s instructions it will hurt you, if you skip physical therapy because you have Covid, we don’t expect that would impact your case in a negative way at all.

As always, if you have any questions you can call us at 312-346-5320.

See also: Falls From Defective Or Illegal Stairs In Illinois

Do you like secrets? I’ve got a great one about personal injury lawyers in Chicago and really attorneys in Illinois in general.  Want to know what it is?

Ready???

Personal injury lawyers in Chicago or anywhere in Illinois love to make money?  Is that a surprise to you?  I’m guessing it’s not.

Even though it’s common sense, people seem to forget this fact.  If you have a good case that an attorney can make money off of, they will gladly take it.  The biggest consideration for them beyond “Is this a money maker?” is, “Is this worth the headache?”  That sounds terrible to say, but it’s true.

What do I mean by headache?  That refers to the work that needs to be done and the client themselves.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had lawyers tell me that some person has a decent case, but they are abusive to their staff and unreasonable in their demands so the lawyer is dropping the case.  The bigger the potential payout is for that lawyer, the more tolerance they will have for a difficult client.  The bigger the payout, the more likely they are to take on a case that needs to go to trial most likely and will require hundreds if not thousands of hours of work.

For example, if you are in a car accident and break your leg, if the other driver is at fault, that case has value. But if their insurance policy is only worth $50,000.00, that is likely all that will be recovered.  Getting a lawyer will actually get more money in your pocket.  Without one it’s probable that medical providers or health insurance companies will be the only ones that get paid. Most attorneys are happy to take that case on, but would be more reluctant if it turns out you are a really difficult and unreasonable client.

On the flip side, if you had a loved one who died or was catastrophically injured and it’s the fault of a semi truck driver, attorneys will bend over backwards to help you out and have a much higher tolerance for problem clients.  It sounds gross, but it’s true.

I thought of this recently when a nice woman contacted me.  She was looking for a car accident lawyer for a case in Indiana.  She had called ten firms locally, but was convinced that they had all been bought off or were corrupt which is why none of them would take their case.

Nope, that’s not what’s going on.  The truth is that she has a bad case as evidenced by the fact that she was listed as the at fault party in the police report.  Beyond that, the person she was in the accident with has no insurance and neither does she.  No lawyer is bought off or afraid to take this on. They see the truth that there is almost no chance that they’d ever make money on the case.

Would it be great if there was a free lawyer for everyone who would take their case on no matter what, that’s just not realistic or the case.  Most of the personal injury attorneys I know in Illinois are good people, who care about their clients and want to help people.  They also want to pay their office rent, staff and themselves like pretty much every other business person.  It’s not a big secret, but it is one that people often forget.

A caller to our office was pursuing a worker’ compensation claim for carpal tunnel.  They had a lot of questions, but one of them was wanting to know what the odds were of them winning their case.

I get questions like that a lot about Illinois workers compensation law.  The honest answer is that every case is different and that a win to some people might be a loss to someone else and might be a push to another person.

There’s one very shady Chicago workers’ compensation law firm who advertises that they’ve won 98% of their cases.  That “win” total includes cases on which they recovered $500 for their clients when insurance companies just paid to make the case go away. If your medical bills aren’t paid, is that a win?  Of course not, but they claim that it is.

For this caller, the only way to say they won would be if their case was disputed and went to trial.  Most cases settle though. If 100% of your medical bills get paid, all of your time off work gets paid and you get a settlement for 85% of what your lawyer thinks your case is worth, would you consider that a win?  Most people would, but some would not.

If your best case scenario is getting $500,000.00 and they won’t budge past $420,000.00, is that a win?  It certainly could be and that’s a lot of money.

If your attorney is able to get every medical procedure your doctor recommends except one additional week of physical therapy, would you consider the case to have gone well?

What most people really want to know is if they will get most of the benefits they are entitled to.  To determine the chances of that, we have to look at the case facts. How were you hurt?  What possible defenses does the insurance company have?  What prior medical problems did you have?

In this case, since they are claiming a repetitive trauma injury, they’d have to prove how often they used their hands at work, the force applied, the angle of their wrists and of course get an orthopedic doctor to state that more likely than not their job contributed to them getting carpal tunnel.  The insurance company will surely have a hired gun IME doctor to state that it’s not work related.  They will point to things like diabetes, obesity, pregnancy, etc. that could be the “real” cause.

The stronger the possible defenses, the greater a chance you either go to trial or reach a compromise settlement.  Any compromise could be considered a win or loss depending on your perspective.

To me, the better strategy is to work with your lawyer to determine the best and worst case scenario on your claim.  After that you try and get most of the best case scenario as possible.  You almost never get everything, but the closer you are to that, the more that it will feel like a win to you in the end.

We are straight talking, experienced Chicago attorneys who will talk to you for free. Call us any time at 312-346-5320 for a free consultation.

A very nice woman contacted me about a possible medical malpractice lawsuit.  She had a previous breast implant surgery and was now in a lot of pain due to scar tissue building up.  She told me that she believed the doctor would settle quickly because he had insurance and wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to his reputation.

I get similar calls for people who want to sue huge companies like Amazon, McDonalds, etc.  They will tell me that the company will settle because they are worth billions.

In the words of that famous commercial which I think is for car insurance, “That’s not how any of this works!”

Insurance companies and big corporations don’t just give money away.  Might they pay someone $1,500 to make a headache go away?  At times, sure.  But if you are looking for real money, you need the facts on your side.

When it comes to settling a medical malpractice lawsuit in Illinois, there are typically two things you need in your favor: 1. Provable negligence. 2. Major injuries.

When it comes to provable negligence, that’s not just showing that you were harmed by a doctor or they messed up, but also showing that their mistake was against the standard of care and caused you a harm that you wouldn’t have otherwise suffered.  By that I mean, if your doctor nicks your colon in a colonoscopy, that is a mistake, but it’s a risk of that procedure.  If they tell you on October 1 that you don’t have cancer, but you learn on October 10th that you have stage four cancer, it’s a screw up, but not one that will make a difference in your ultimate outcome. In other words, that ten day delay won’t change anything.

As for major injuries, let’s say you go to a hospital with chest pain and they send you home saying you are fine.  That night you have more pain and go to a different hospital where they discover an aneurysm that is about to burst. Emergency surgery saves your life.  That first hospital was negligent, but their error didn’t cause a major injury.  Even if you have a surgical error that causes you to miss three months of work, the value of that case isn’t much.  No matter the case, it costs a lot to bring a lawsuit because you have to pay for experts.  A lot of cases cost $100,000.00 or more to go to trial.  Insurance companies of course know this, so generally they don’t pay much for minor injuries because they know that no lawyer is going to spend 100k in hopes of recovering 150k for a client.

This doesn’t mean there are never five and low six figure malpractice settlements in Illinois.  What it does mean though is finding an attorney to take on a case like this can be challenging. When push comes to shove, doctors win more than 80% of cases that go to trial.  So most lawyers we know are very selective in the cases they take on.

Cases that do settle tend to be ones that have very big injuries.  Death, brain damage, permanent disability, etc.  Those aren’t guaranteed wins, but you have a better chance of getting an insurance company to offer money if they think you can also prove negligence.

I don’t write any of this to discourage you, but rather to be honest about how most cases seem to go.  Please call us any time for a free consultation to see if you have a case.  There is never a fee to pursue a claim unless a recovery is made for you.