Allstate Auto Insurance

A Personal Injury Law Firm for Allstate Insurance Claims Serving Illinois and the Greater Chicago Area

At Malman Law, we will put our decades of car accident claim experience to work for you so that you can recover every dime that you are entitled to. We are not afraid to stand up to stingy insurance claims adjustors, and our years of experience have taught us exactly how to handle them in court and at the negotiating table. If you believe you may have a valid claim against Allstate Insurance Company, we will be more than happy to fight in your corner.

Negotiating against an insurance claims adjuster whose sole goal is to minimize the employer’s payout is not for the inexperienced or the faint of heart, since these insurance industry professionals make their living denying claims and short-changing injured victims using every trick at their disposal. We know all the tricks, and we are not amused when someone tries to take advantage of our client.

About Allstate

Allstate (the “good hands people”) is a multibillion dollar mega-company that currently ranks as the nation’s third-largest insurer. This insurance behemoth, however, doesn’t earn its billions by generously paying out the full value of every claim it receives – after all, every dollar it pays out is a dollar out of its pockets. Consequently, once you file a claim with Allstate, its “good hands” can quickly start to feel like a pair of boxing gloves.

If you truly want to be in good hands, you will need an advocate whose interests are not opposed to yours, such as an experienced personal injury law firm that only earns money when you collect. And, that is where Malman Law can help.

Types of Claims We Handle

Our injury lawyers handle all different types of vehicle accident claims throughout Illinois and the Greater Chicago area. Contact Malman Law to discuss your Allstate insurance claim arising from any of the following accidents:

• Car accidents
• Motorcycle accidents
• Truck accidents
• Bicycle accidents
• 18-wheeler accidents
• Pedestrian accidents
• Train accidents
• Bus accidents
• Uninsured motorist accidents
• Hit and run accidents
• Drunken driving accidents
• Cell phone and distracted driving accidents
• Wrongful death accidents
• “Road rage” accidents

Illinois Auto Insurance Law

Illinois imposes some of the nation’s strictest mandatory insurance coverage requirements on its drivers. All Illinois drivers must carry:

• Personal injury liability insurance coverage with maximum coverage limits of no less than $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident (no matter how many injured victims there are).
• Property damage liability insurance with maximum coverage limits of no less than $20,000 per accident.
• Uninsured/underinsured motorist insurance with maximum coverage limits of no less than $20,000 per person and $40,000 per accident.

If You are Filing a Third-Party Claim Against Allstate

Illinois is a “fault” auto insurance state, meaning that if you suffer injury or property damage in a vehicle accident caused by someone else’s negligence, you may (i) file a third-party claim directly against the offending driver’s liability insurance company; (ii) file a lawsuit against the driver, without first exhausting your own insurance coverage; or (iii) file both an insurance claim and a lawsuit.

In order to effectively pursue a third-party claim against Allstate, you will need to understand the terms of Allstate’s liability insurance policy with the driver you are claiming against. Rest assured that Allstate will not make this any easier for you.

If You Are Claiming Against Your Own Allstate Insurance Policy

If you become a victim of a hit and run accident and the offending driver is never identified, or if the at-fault driver is uninsured or underinsured, you may file a claim against your own uninsured/underinsured motorist policy. Illinois law requires you to cooperate with your own insurer in ways that are not required when you file a third-party claim against another driver’s insurance policy. Additionally, you might have trouble calculating your own losses or understanding exactly what your policy covers.

Allstate might take advantage of your lack of knowledge by unreasonably delaying settlement, demanding burdensome amounts of paperwork, denying your claim outright, or offering you less than what you are entitled to. Our experienced insurance claim attorneys have seen it all before, and we simply won’t allow one of our clients to be treated in this manner.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1) What is a personal injury insurance settlement?
A personal injury insurance settlement is an amount of money paid to an injured party by an insurance company. The insurance company pays out a settlement to avoid going to court because of the risk and cost associated with a courtroom battle. The insurance company will pay out only within the limit imposed by the terms of the insurance policy with the insured.

If Allstate insures a negligent driver who injured you under an auto liability insurance policy, you can file a claim against Allstate as a third-party claimant. No matter how high your damages are, Allstate will never agree to pay out more than the limits of the policy that covers the negligent driver. The settlement will be finalized with a written settlement agreement. After you sign it, you will never be able to claim for any amount not already included in the settlement.

2) What items should be included in my personal injury claim?
The primary components of a judgment or settlement in an Illinois personal injury claim are fairly standardized, although they may vary on a case-by-case basis depending on the details of your claim. The most common elements are:

• Vehicle repairs or replacement, plus incidental expenses such as storage charges.
• Medical expenses (including estimated future medical expenses).
• Loss of earnings (if you suffered long-term disability, future lost earnings must be calculated, as well).
• Travel expenses (to and from hospitals, clinics, etc.).
• Child care while you were in the hospital or incapacitated.
• Intangible psychological losses, such as pain and suffering, which sometimes amount to more than the rest of your claim combined.

Any amounts already paid by insurance will be deducted from your recovery.

3) How does Allstate calculate settlement values?
Allstate will calculate your settlement value in much the same way you do, with a stingier view and an eye toward deductions that they might be able to justify:

• The policy limits of the insurance policy you are claiming against, whether yours or the other driver’s, represent Allstate’s absolute maximum payout – under no circumstances will they offer you a dime more. Policy limits are the “speed of light” for insurance companies.
• The components of your claim as stated above (medical bills, lost earnings, etc.). The insurance company may deduct some of this if, for example, they claim that your injury merely worsened a pre-existing injury rather than originally causing it. You can expect Allstate’s offer of “pain and suffering” damages to be especially stingy.
• Subtract any amount deductible based on the degree to which the insurance company believes the accident was your fault (25 percent is deducted if the accident was 25 percent your fault, for example). If Allstate believes that the accident was mostly your fault, it will not offer you anything at all.

4) Can I file a claim on behalf of someone who died in an accident?
The personal representative of the deceased victim’s estate can file a claim under the Illinois Wrongful Death Act. Although the court will appoint the personal representative, if the victim named a personal representative in a will, the court will normally appoint this person. If there is no will (in the case of the death of a child, for example), the court will appoint someone else who is willing to undertake the responsibilities – typically, a close relative. To win, you will have to prove that the deceased victim was killed due to the negligence of the defendant (or someone responsible for the defendant’s actions, such as the defendant’s employer). Damages are paid to surviving relatives and the victim’s estate.

5) What documents and materials should I prepare?
You should prepare the following documents and materials for your first meeting with us, to the extent that they are available to you:

• Photographs of injuries and damaged property
• Insurance documents
• Medical bills
• Medical reports and test results
• Car repair estimates
• Contact information for any known witnesses
• A copy of the police report
• Anything else that you think might be relevant

Since we will probably need more than the aforementioned items to win your case, either in court or at the negotiating table, our injury lawyers may ask you to assist us in preparing additional items. Depending on the facts of your case and the seriousness of your injuries, we may also need to seek the services of an expert witness, such as a doctor (to estimate your long-term medical costs) or an accident reconstruction specialist.

Put Malman Law to Work for You

At Malman Law, we take our job seriously, as our thousands of satisfied personal injury clients can attest. After collecting literally hundreds of millions of dollars for our clients, our personal injury attorneys are so confident of our ability to win your case that we offer a Zero Fee Guarantee – our legal services are free unless we collect for you. If you believe that you might have an Allstate insurance claim in Illinois or the Greater Chicago area, call us today or contact us online so that we can discuss your case together and evaluate your options, either on the phone or in person.