Injury Cases

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

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  What kinds of damages are available if I win the case?
  Compensatory damages are designed to put you in as good a position as you would have been if you had never suffered the injury, as far as money is able to accomplish this. You can demand compensation not only for medical bills, lost work time, and out-of-pocket costs such as travel expenses, but also for intangible psychological damages such as pain and suffering.

  If your injuries will require long-term medical treatment, it is critical that you accurately estimate your future medical expenses and demand all of them in lump sum at the time of the lawsuit, because if you don’t receive enough, you won’t be able to come back and ask for more later. It is also important that you don’t underestimate the potential value of noneconomic damages such as pain and suffering, because these amounts often far exceed the amounts available for tangible economic losses.

  Punitive damages are sometimes available in addition to compensatory damages in cases where the defendant’s conduct was outrageous – you might be eligible for punitive damages, for example, if you were hit by a drunk driver. Since Illinois courts are reluctant to award punitive damages, any demand for them is always speculative.

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  Do I need a lawyer to settle out of court?
  Although there is no legal requirement that you be represented by a lawyer to engage in settlement negotiations, attempting to represent yourself in settlement negotiations against savvy insurance company executives is like attempting to perform surgery on yourself – it’s simply not a good idea. Insurance companies are expert negotiators, but so are good personal injury lawyers. Additionally, a personal injury lawyer can file a lawsuit in the midst of negotiations in order to increase your bargaining power.

  Can I sue a business for the act of one of its workers?
  It depends on the circumstances. With narrow exceptions, businesses are legally liable for damages caused by the on-duty misconduct of their employees, even if you can’t prove that the business itself did anything wrong. If you are hit by an intoxicated UPS truck driver, for example, you can sue UPS as long as the driver was an on-duty UPS employee at the time of the accident, even if you can’t present any evidence that UPS was negligent in hiring or supervising the driver.

  If the driver was an “independent contractor” rather than an employee, however, you might not be able to sue UPS unless you can show that UPS negligently retained him or her (if the worker had a previous DUI, for example) or negligently supervised him or her. A court will determine whether a worker is an employee of an independent contractor based on how much independence he or she enjoys from the company. A cook at a restaurant who is paid by the hour, for example, is more likely to be classified as an employee than an electrician who is paid a lump sum to repair the restaurant’s electrical system.

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  Can I sue someone who physically assaulted me?
  Yes, you can. This is known as an intentional tort, and it is possible for you to win a personal injury lawsuit against your assailant even if he or she was acquitted in criminal court. The reason for this is that in criminal court you must prove the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, while in an Illinois personal injury lawsuit you need only prove that the defendant is more likely than not to be liable. Moreover, an intentional assault is a situation in which it is particularly likely that you will be able to win punitive damages in addition to the normal compensatory damages.

  A street assault committed by an individual – a mugging, for example – could be problematic, simply because the defendant might lack the resources to pay a large judgment even if you win the case. On the other hand, an assault committed by a bouncer working for a large nightclub is far less likely to be problematic, because you can probably sue the nightclub itself.

  If I was injured by a drunk driver, can I sue a bar that sold him or her alcohol?
  Yes, you can under certain circumstances. The Illinois “dram shop law” allows you to sue an establishment that sells alcohol to someone if his or her resulting intoxication caused your injury. If the defendant became intoxicated at a private party, by contrast, you will probably not be able to sue the party host unless the defendant was under the age of 21.