Experienced Injury Lawyer Assisting Clients with Esurance Accident Injury Claims throughout Chicago
Esurance is a subsidiary of Allstate; together they are the nation’s sixth-largest auto insurer. Although it is certainly a good idea to be able to rely on an insurance company in case you are injured in an accident, the insurance industry is plagued by an inherent conflict of interest – the more claims they pay out to people like you, the less they profit from receiving premiums.
This conflict of interest exists whether you are claiming against your own Esurance policy or asserting a third-party claim against another motorist’s Esurance policy. For this reason, you can expect Esurance to resist any substantial claim that you might assert. To maximize your chances of receiving full compensation, you will need the services of an experienced personal injury attorney.
At Malman Law, we’ve got your back. We have recovered over $200 million in personal injury verdicts and settlements for over 20,000 clients over the last 25 years. We understand that in the aftermath of a serious accident, recovering your health needs to be your main concern, not paying your medical bills or making up lost earnings.
Of course, the ideal scenario would have you receiving a fully adequate out-of-court settlement within a few weeks after the accident, and that is exactly the goal we will pursue when we begin negotiating with Esurance. In fact, we are able to secure a settlement the vast majority of the time. When the defendant is stubborn, however, we are willing to take the matter to court rather than settle for inadequate compensation.
Our track record of successful personal injury lawsuits, ironically, is exactly what prompts companies like Esurance to raise their settlement offer to an acceptable level, rather than face us in court. As always, however, the final decision on whether to accept a settlement will be up to you.
“Two years ago I was involved in a trucking accident involving a 14-wheeler truck that nearly disabled me for life. Steve fought to make sure that I received the most possible compensation for my injuries. I was about to take the insurance company’s lowball offer, but decided to call Steve first – it was the best decision I’ve made yet.” – Malman Law client
Practice Areas
- Personal injury: A personal injury can cause many losses other than medical expenses – lost work time, pain and suffering, and even long-term disability. Illinois personal injury law allows recovery for all of these losses if another party was at fault. In some cases, punitive damages may even be available.
- Nursing home abuse: Abuse of the elderly is intolerably distressing, but it happens with regularity in some of the very establishments that we entrust to care for our elderly loved ones. Nursing homes are strictly regulated, however, and nursing home abuse lawsuits are often based on regulatory violations.
- Vehicle accidents: Vehicle accidents account for a very high percentage of personal injury and wrongful death claims, especially those that arise from DUI or texting and driving. Challenges that frequently arise in such claims include calculating long-term damages for permanent disability, collecting admissible evidence, and reconstructing the accident.
- Workers’ compensation: The Illinois workers’ compensation program preempts ordinary personal injury lawsuits for employees with work-related injuries. Although you are absolved of the responsibility of proving fault, the amount of your recovery may be limited compared to what you could win in a personal injury lawsuit.
- Medical malpractice: Medical malpractice is far more common than most people realize, and relatively few victims receive adequate compensation. Often, this is because they did not even realize that their medical problem was the result of malpractice. A good personal injury lawyer can trace the chain of cause and effect.
- Slip and fall accidents: Slipping on a banana peel is not funny when it happens in real life, and neither is falling down a flight of stairs. Owners and occupiers of premises are charged with the legal responsibility of ensuring the safety of their premises for guests, either by removing dangers or warning of them.
- Product liability: When an ordinary citizen sues a giant company, the lawsuit is often based on product liability. The reason for this is that the manufacturer or distributor of a defective product can be held liable for injuries or deaths caused by an unreasonably dangerous product, even if the victim cannot prove that the defendant was at fault.
- Dog bites: A dog attack can cause serious injuries or death, and it can traumatize a child for life. In Illinois, a dog owner can be held liable for a dog bite even if the owner had no reason to know of the dog’s aggressive tendencies. Dog bite claims are typically paid out by homeowner’s or renter’s insurance policies.
- Wrongful death: A wrongful death claim is what a personal injury claim turns into when the victim of a personal injury dies from the injury. In other words, a personal injury claim does not die with its victim. Verdicts and settlements are paid to close relatives and to the victim’s probate estate.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1) Can I obtain punitive damages?
Yes you can under certain circumstances, but most verdicts do not include an award of punitive damages. To win a punitive damages claim, the defendant’s conduct must be particularly culpable – mere negligence won’t do. A drunken driving case, for example, or a “road rage” incident in which the defendant caused the accident intentionally, might qualify for punitive damages.
2) What is the difference between a personal injury claim and a wrongful death claim?
These two claims arise in a similar manner – when someone injures the victim through culpable conduct (negligence, for example). If the victim lives through the injury, he or she has a personal injury claim. If he or she dies, the personal representative of the probate estate has a wrongful death claim. Typically, most of the damages in a wrongful death claim are distributed to close relatives of the victim for loss of companionship, grief, loss of financial support, and other losses. The victim’s estate can recover expenses such as funeral expenses if it initially paid them.
3) Why shouldn’t I deal with Esurance on my own?
You can, if your claim is very small. If it is substantial, however, negotiating with insurance company executives who negotiate claims for a living isn’t a particularly good idea. Imagine being pressed to identify the exact time of an auto accident, only to find out later that the insurance company is now claiming that you caused the accident by taking your eyes off the road to check the time.
4) Can I file a claim against the city, county, or state government?
The Illinois Court of Claims Act governs personal injury claims against the government. Your options are more limited in a claim against the government than when claiming against a private party. Some of these limitations include:
- Certain types of claims are barred.
- You may have to file a claim with the government before you can go to court.
- The statute of limitations rules are more restrictive.
- To sue a local government such as Chicago, you must prove that the defendant’s behavior was “willful and wanton” – a tougher standard to prove than negligence.
5) Do I have to provide a written statement to Esurance?
If you are filing a claim against your own insurance policy, you may be required to do this. If you are filing a third-party claim against the defendant’s insurance policy, you probably won’t have to. In any case, your accident and injury lawyer should approve any statement before you file it.
6) What evidence of the accident should I collect?
At the very least, you should collect:
- The police report
- Contact details for everybody involved in the accident and all witnesses
- The at-fault party’s insurance information
- A medical report of your injuries
- A repair shop’s estimate of the damage to your vehicle
- The date, place, and time of the accident
You may need to collect other evidence, as well.
Start Fighting Back Today
The reason why you are seeking compensation from Esurance might be the same reason why you might be reluctant to retain a top-tier personal injury law firm like Malman Law to help you collect it – you are under financial pressure.
You need not be concerned, because there is no up-front cost to retain us. Since we win 95 percent of our cases, we are confident enough to guarantee you that if we take your case, you will owe us nothing until and unless we win. Unlike your relationship with Esurance, our interests are in harmony rather than in conflict – we win only if you win, too. Once we take your case, we will assign it to a team of lawyers, and we will ensure that someone will be available to take your call 24/7.
If you believe that you might have an Esurance auto insurance claim in Illinois or Greater Chicago, phone us today or contact us online for your free initial consultation. If you are not able to come to us because of your injuries, we can even come to you to discuss matters further.
