Under Illinois law, if you are killed on the job, your spouse or dependents can bring a workers’ compensation claim. With some exceptions, the minimum value of these cases is $500,000. Often the family will receive weekly checks. You don’t need an attorney unless there is a delay or a dispute. But there are two good reasons to consult with one even if you think the insurance company won’t dispute anything.
The first is that if there is no dispute, Illinois attorney fees are limited to $100. In other words, it’s basically free to have a lawyer on your case. And having an attorney can be a good insurance policy in case anything goes wrong down the line. If they stop paying checks suddenly, you want to be able to get into court ASAP.
The second reason is much more important and in one recent case it resulted in a work related death in Chicago being worth $23.5 million whereas if it was just workers compensation the likely total payout would be at most around 5% of that. That’s because this case was filed under the Illinois Wrongful Death Act and the Illinois Survival Act.
This is a very sad case. The reason it was worth so much is a technical engineer on a Turner Construction site at University of Chicago Medical Center fell 140 feet to his death. It allegedly happened due to an improperly constructed scaffold that was erected by a company called Adjustable Forms. It was also alleged that the construction site was improperly managed.
It’s likely the plaintiffs had great evidence as this is one of the biggest settlements ever in Illinois for the death of someone in their 20’s. The lawyers seem to have done a great job.
But fortunately the family, with all of the devastation they must have been feeling, was smart enough to hire an experienced personal injury law firm in Chicago right away. As a result they were able to get an investigation done while evidence was still fresh. This allowed them to prove a jury would likely find negligence and build a very strong case.
It can be incredibly hard to take a moment and pause when someone is unexpectedly killed, especially when it happens in such an awful way. When people wonder what they can do to help a friend facing that situation, one thing is to offer to reach out to an attorney to investigate. If you don’t, it doesn’t mean that there couldn’t be a case, it just potentially means that it will be much harder to prove. When evidence gets lost or destroyed, you may know in your heart something went wrong, but not be able to show it. And in a case like this one, acting fast was a difference of over $20 million.
Since 2001 we have helped countless families facing these types of tragedies. We are lawyers whose goal is to get you with the best firm possible for your case. If you would like our help, please call us any time at 312-346-5320. We can help you get the best injury attorney for your case anywhere in Illinois. The lawyers we recommend to you are the ones we’d suggest to a family member or friend.
