Though they are ostensibly built for kids, playgrounds can be dangerous places with accidents occurring in the range of 200,000 per year, according to the CDC. Among those, around 30% are reported to be severe injuries. The most common among these are: Concussions...
In this day and age, finding actual footage of a motor vehicle accident scene or getting access to recorded documentation regarding the details of an accident is not as difficult as it once was. Putting together the pieces of the circumstances surrounding an accident...
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in 2017 nearly 15,000 individuals have been saved by wearing a seat belt during a motor vehicle accident. Seat belts are arguably preventative tools for protecting lives during a high speed crash. They...
Winning personal injury lawsuits requires evidence of a variety of claims. The plaintiff must prove a duty of care on the part of the defendant. They must also prove that the defendant breached that duty of care. They must prove that that breach caused the accident...
When you’re involved in a motor vehicle accident with a commercial truck, there are a myriad of things to consider even at the scene. First of all, commercial trucks can cause immense damage on the roads. They are often the largest, most powerful vehicles on the...
When the side of one vehicle strikes the side of another on the roadways, it’s typically called a sideswipe motor vehicle accident. Sideswipe accidents can be caused by improper lane changes or merging, or it may involve weaving within a single lane. When a commercial...
Due to the size and distinctive features of trucks on the roads, motor vehicle accidents involving them can turn standard collisions into considerably more difficult situations for drivers involved. For instance, a truck’s height can turn a standard rear-end collision...
A common truck accident we often see on the roads is one where the truck carries a trailer and stops short or suddenly, and the trailer swings at a 90-degree angle, resembling a jackknife (where the trailer represents the blade). The reason this occurs is that the...
Car roll over accidents can result with disastrous consequences. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administrations (NHTSA) reports that rollover motor vehicle accidents are only exceeded by head-on collisions in the level of severity. Rollovers can often result in...
If you ever find yourself the victim of a motor vehicle accident involving a taxi cab, it’s likely to occur in one of two ways: (1) you or your vehicle are struck by a taxi cab; or (2) the taxi cab you are riding in as a passenger is involved in an accident that is...
Navigating a busy parking lot can be a bit of a challenge, to be sure. But like the roads, there are rules for drivers to help avoid foreseeable motor vehicle accidents. When accidents happen in parking lots, it can be difficult to determine who had the right of way...
When two cars driving toward one another collide, it’s typically called a head-on collision. Head-on collisions may be rare, but they do happen, and when they happen, they often cause devastating injury and loss. Head-on collisions occur often when a driver...
Medical malpractice can be a devastating trauma for patients seeking medical care. When you trust your health and recovery to a medical professional, you expect that they will provide care and not cause further harm. So when the care you receive causes further harm,...
For young teens growing up today, getting a driver’s license is a right of passage, making teenage drivers on the roadways a common factor for drivers. Motor vehicle accidents are a leading cause of death for teens in America today. Research shows that teens 16...
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) describes aggressive driving as any operation of a that vehicle puts people or property in danger or is likely to do so. Nearly 6.8 million motor vehicle accidents occur in the United States every year, and a...
Negligence is a fundamental concept in personal injury law, and it’s crucial to understand how it applies to various situations. One common scenario where negligence comes into play is when drivers fail to follow traffic signals, leading to accidents. In this...
Human error is typically the first thought when you think of the cause of a motor vehicle accident. And, in fact, human error is often the culprit in a lot of automotive personal injury claims. When human error is the cause, identifying the error, the driver and the...
Driving a car on the roads safely requires a great deal of awareness, awareness of road conditions, awareness of other drivers and pedestrians and their movements on the roads. One of the easiest ways to cause a motor vehicle accident is, therefore, inattention on the...
If you’ve ever been involved in a serious car accident, you know just how confusing the whole situation can be. Add injuries at the hands of others and now you’ve got a mess on your hands. Filing a police report, protecting your rights to recover compensation, even...
When assessing the potential value of a personal injury claim, an experienced attorney with a specialty in accident claims will always look at a variety of factors. These factors all stem from the accident and its impact on the victim’s life. One of the most important...
Injuries, be they lasting or short lived, in the aftermath of an accident can have a huge impact on the amount of money you’re able to recover in a personal injury claim. After all, injuries are among the largest component of the list of losses people can experience...
One of the most common legal actions you’ll encounter is a personal injury lawsuit. But navigating a personal injury claim is not always as cut and dry as you might think. For instance, many often have the expectation that their insurer will handle any personal injury...
Dog bites attacks can run the gamut of severity. Injuries from dog bites can range anywhere from benign to vicious. When dogs attack personal injury claims can serve as a means of recovering the costs associated with medical treatment, lost wages and pain and...
With the level of car thefts in Chicago, motor vehicle accidents involving stolen vehicles are on the rise. It begs the question, who do I sue if injured in an accident involving a stolen vehicle. Of course, every situation is different, but generally speaking...
Rideshare firms offer a very convenient way of getting from point A to point B. Most of them have apps that are accessible and allow the user to easily request a ride, determine cost, estimate time of delivery and monitor the estimated time of arrival for the vehicle....
Rideshare vehicles are relatively new modes of transportation. Sure, they’ve been around for more than a decade, but in terms of their legal implications, they are nascent entities on the legal landscape. Because they comprise more than 60% of the US market, it’s...
The U.S. Department of Transportation reports that in 2020, almost 39,000 bicyclists suffered injury in traffic accidents, and that there were 938 fatalities that resulted. Furthermore, 75% of bicycle accidents resulting in fatalities occurred in urban areas....
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) there were 932 vehical safety recalls impacting over 30 million cars in the US in 2022. The NHTSA is a government agency responsible for issuing motor vehicle safety standards for the...
There’s a distinct duty of care car manufacturers owe their customers. The fact is cars are extremely powerful devices that be the catalyst for a great deal of damage and injury or worse. Car owners have the right to expect their vehicles are not putting them and...
Cyclists who disobey traffic laws on the roads pose a distinct hazard to both motorists and pedestrians alike. For motorists, cyclists can maneuver in and out of traffic lanes quickly. They often disobey street lights and stop signs, frustrating motor vehicle drivers...
Boating is a very popular sport even here in the Midwest. Whether on Lake Michigan or out on one of the coasts on vacation, the waterways are popular recreational opportunities during the summer months. The problem is boating is rife with opportunity for injury or...
When people participate in activities they know to be dangerous or risky, there is a personal injury doctrine that prevents them from collecting injury damages when they are indeed hurt in the process. That’s called Assumption of Risk. It’s not just those that assume...
Once a personal injury lawsuit is officially filed, there are distinct steps that must take place to resolve the case. However, at any time during the trial process before the jury makes a decision, parties may agree to settle the claim after negotiation. Settlement...
In the aftermath of a car accident, confusion often abounds and stress levels are likely at their highest. There are steps you have to take to protect yourself from losses, but there are things you can say that may hurt your ability to recover damages should injuries...
Dangerous activities are all around us. The whole world is a minefield of dangerous pursuits. People regularly swim in waters known to have contained sharks. Football players at all levels play the game every day when concussions occur regularly and players at the...
There are any number of reasons for car accidents. However, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) projects that nearly 94% of auto accidents were precipitated by driver error. While vehicle defect or adverse weather conditions cause their share of...
Filing a personal injury lawsuit may seem a mystery to some, but the steps in filing and pursing a claim through the legal system are, in fact, often quite straightforward. It’s important to remember that filing a personal injury claim has to hinge on failure on the...
The act of leasing or renting a home, apartment or other dwelling immediately places what’s called a duty of care on the part of the landlord toward the tenant to whom they rent their property. Immediately, they become responsible under Illinois Premises Liability law...
In the aftermath of a car accident, the first thing a driver’s insurer wants to determine is who caused the accident. That’s the crux of the claim. One of ways most insurers identify who is at fault is via an official police report made at the scene of the...
Getting into a car accident can be anything but fun. You’re day is suddently interrupted with an incident that can be violent, painful and costly, and damage to your vehicle can be the least of your worries. That’s why it can be extremely tempting to accept loosely...
Public or private, fireworks displays large and small are a souce of enjoyment for many and will attract onlookers from every walk of life. It’s a rare occasion when a fireworks display does not attract attention. Spectacular pyrotechnics, however, are deceptive in...
In the State of Illinois laws are in place that govern liability in dog bite attacks at the city, county and state levels. Understanding the complexity of these laws can help in sussing out your chances of recovering damages should you be injured in a dog bite attack...
If you’ve been injured while in the course of your work and you’ve filed a workers compensation claim, you should understand that you may be eligible to receive personal injury damages to compensate for a variety of costs and losses also. With the myriad of...
When plaintiffs seek personal injury damages after an accident, it’s often that those damages are compensatory in nature. Compensatory damages redress losses resulting from their accident and injuries. But the fact is in some cases where a judge determines the actions...
In a 2021 study of more than 2000 nursing home residents conducted by the National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA), 44% of respondents reported that they had themselves suffered abuse and 95% reported that they had been neglected or witnessed neglect of other residents...
When a hospital suffers from staffing shortages or excessive surgical volume or simple overcrowding, it can produce a situation rife with risk. One of those risks is early discharge for recovering patients that ultimately leads to further patient harm. When this...
In most cases, when a patient enlists the services of a physician or medical facility, one can assume that some level of risk will be involved. It’s therefore prudent that a physician or other medical professional inform the patient about whatever procedure or test...
As with doctors, nurses have a legal responsibility to maintain standards of quality in patient care. As such, states recognize when a nurse’s failure to live up to those responsibilities, and patient harm results. We lay out several instances where Illinois...
Some professions, by their very nature, create conditions for illness or injury. There are many occupations that often bring about injuries directly related to the work they involve. Those conditions are called occupational illnesses and are often covered by workers’...
Injuries sustained as a result of the use of a pharmaceutical drug may in fact be cause for a defective products claim. These claims are based on a failing of sorts in the drug’s manufacturers, distributor and sometimes, sales representative, prescribing doctor or...
Illinois is one of several states where plaintiffs who share some responsibility in their own injuries may be bound by the rule of “Modified Comparative Negligence” to also share in some of the financial burden for their injuries. This simply means that...
Patients in a hospital or medical clinic setting often think that injuries suffered during their treatment automatically qualify them for medical malpractice damages. This is not always the case. Subjects of medical malpractice claims cannot always be held liable when...
According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, more than 15 million people suffer from Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) today. That is a huge number. The pain from this condition can be debilitating and can inhibit one’s ability to maintain a living or...
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reports that more than 1.3 million U.S. workers work each day in spaces that routinely expose them to large amounts of asbestos. Shown to be a carcinogen, asbestos has long been associated with the...
In the same way that medical doctors may be liable for damages as a result of substandard care or neglect in the treatment of their patients, dentists may also be held responsible for patient injuries or harm suffered under such conditions. The conditions under which...
In medical device product liability claims, a key component to any claim is the defendant. Naming the wrong defendant (one who is not actually liable for your injuries), though your injuries may be due to neglect on someone’s part, will result in that claim being...
Filing a successful defective products claim can be a complex process, particularly if you are not clear on the distinct legal theory your claim is based on. There are, of course, three distinct defective products liability theories these kinds of claims are based...
Product defects can cause harm to consumers, and in some cases, these defects are a result of the manufacturing process. Understanding the difference between manufacturing defects and other types of defects is crucial for product liability claims. (Read Our Answers to...
The concept of negligence is really a foundational one for personal injury law. In many cases, it’s the basis upon which injured parties are able to recover personal injury damages from at-fault individuals. But how is negligence defined? Simply put, negligence is a...
Generally speaking, people often understand that in the State of Illinois, one has a time limit on filing a personal injury claim of any type.But when that claim involves a defective product complaint, further time restrictions do apply, setting even more limitations...
In car accident cases, insurers are responsible for covering a wide assortment of damages for which their client is liable. When a person is injured due to neglect, those damages can add up quickly. Among the list of damages insurers are often responsible for are:...
In today’s commerce driven society, mass produced commercial products are can often be defective. Whether due to problems in their manufacture or their design, these defects can and do lead to serious injury, and when that happens, it’s important to take a good hard...
With 1.4 million Americans suffering brain injuries each year ( per The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), and with symptoms of such injuries being as understated as they are, it’s important to recognize the signs of brain injury right away and get...
The Joint Commission calls out hospitals with inappropriate procedures or insufficient protocols that create an environment where surgical equipment like sponges, needles, towels and other instruments are left inside patients during a procedure, leading to pain and...
Every parent dreads the thought of their child suffering injury of any kind. And placing one’s child in the care of professionals or an institution that might harm or neglect them is always a concern. The fact is more than 14 million child injuries take place in...
It goes without saying that a bicycle is no match for a car or truck on the roadways. Getting into an accident with a large vehicle while riding a bike puts you at a distinct disadvantage. There are key steps you should take to protect your right to compensation and...
When the weather turns cold and snow and ice make roads and walkways hazardous, slip and fall injuries can become common. When they do occur under these conditions, it’s easy to see why one might believe personal injury damages should automatically result. The...
When a patient undergoes surgery, they put their trust in their surgeon(s) and medical team that they are prepared and skilled and that their competency levels are high enough to achieve success. However, it is a fact that surgical mistakes (read our blog post on...
According to The National Floor Safety Institute almost 8,000,000 patients make their way to the ER every year after suffering injuries from a slip and fall. It’s extremely important to seek first the care of a medical professional in the wake of a slip and...
When a retail business owner opens their doors to customers, they do so with a responsibility. There is a distinct duty of care business owners owe to those on their premises. It’s just the cost of doing business, shall we say. As such, they have a...
As with any kind of vehicle accident, trucks (commercial and non-commercial) can be involved in head-on collisions, rear-end or side impact or even side-swipe collisions. But some truck accidents actually emanate from the actual make-up of a truck itself. For...
When a car crash occurs, assessing fault and assigning liability is not always a simple process. Certainly, sometimes, a neglectful driver is distracted by using a cell phone while driving or perhaps staring at some spectacle on the other side of the street instead of...
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there was an increase in motor vehicle crashes and fatalities in 2021. More than 42,000 people were killed in such crashes that year, which is an increase from the year prior. Of all the kinds of crashes...
Dental visits don’t always go according to plan. Just as with any other medical treatment, complications do occur, and when they do the patient is not necessarily entitled to personal injury damages. It is important, however, to understand that medical staff...
Animal attacks can range in severity from a simple scratch to potentially life-threatening injuries. And when your injuries are severe, personal injury law attempts to make the injured party “whole” in as much as it is possible to do so. Oftentimes, that comes by way...
Of all animal attack personal injury claims, dog bites often make up the majority of cases. Dog bite attacks can be benign or incredibly severe. The range of injuries one may suffer in an animal attack case can be expansive. When a dog bite attack does occur, it’s...
Personal injury claims resulting from dog bites or other animal attack claims often revolve around the theory of negligence. However, proving negligence in your claim may take a bit of investigation if you’re to have a fighting chance at recovering a claim. Some...
It’s no secret that jobs in construction come with a certain level of risk that is often higher than most industries. The CDC reports that 3.3 million non-fatal injuries and illnesses were reported in 2009 and more than 9% of those were reported by construction...
Among the most pernicious kinds of injuries workers experience on construction sites are respiratory diseases. Among these kinds of diseases, one of the most serious is Pneumoconiosis, a chronic dust disease often emanating from employment (often in coalminers)....
Worker’s compensation laws lay out benefits that are available to employees injured on the job. They include lost wages and medical expenses. These laws serve to support employees who are injured on the job and potentially caught off guard with mounting expenses and...
Pedestrian accidents can have devastating consequences, leaving victims with severe injuries and emotional trauma. If you or a loved one has been involved in a pedestrian accident, it’s essential to understand your rights and options. Common Causes of Pedestrian...
When a brick-and-mortar business opens its doors to guests, there is an inherent commitment on the part of the business to provide a measure of safety. It’s simple, there is a duty of care to prevent injury and harm from occurring on its premises. Personal...
Following a car accident, it’s essential to gather critical documentation to support your insurance claim or potential lawsuit. This article provides a detailed checklist and guidance on collecting vital documents, ensuring you’re well-prepared for the...
The fact is car accidents have wide-sweeping implications on the lives of those who suffer injury as a result. Damages don’t always limit themselves to medical care and pain and suffering. If you’re injured in a car accident and it takes weeks to recover, it’s...
When a person suffers injury in an accident of any kind where another person’s negligence is at fault, they may be entitled to personal injury damages. However, while they are able to recover compensation for their injuries and other losses, it’s important to note...
Because of the sheer size of most commercial trucks on the roadways today, it’s understandable to see how much damage a trucking accident can cause other drivers. Oftentimes, commercial trucks and big rigs can triple or even quadruple the size of smaller vehicles on...
There are times when employees don’t strictly follow the instructions to perform their duties in the course of their employment. It happens all the time, of course. A barista in a coffee shop takes a moment to check his text messages in the middle of a busy afternoon;...
When employees cause harm due to negligence, recklessness, or malicious behavior, employers are often held liable for the resulting injuries. This is because employers are seen as directing their employees’ behavior and benefiting from their productivity. As...
In most personal injury claims the primary legal theory upon which liability is based is “negligence.” For trucking accident personal injury claims, it’s no different. Because of that, your claim is required to prove negligence in their specific accident in the...
After a trucking accident, the road to recovery can be long and arduous. While seeking medical attention is crucial, it’s equally important to consider holding those responsible for your injuries accountable. Trucking accidents often involve complex factors and...
Oftentimes, when someone is harmed as a result of an employee of a company or firm behaving recklessly or goofing off, we expect that the employer would share in some of the responsibility. But the truth is if the employee was acting out of their own capacity rather...
According to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 1.4 million people in the United States suffer head or brain trauma each year. If you or a loved-one has been the victim of an accident resulting in a traumatic brain injury, you should be aware...
Negligence is a legal doctrine that often serves as the basis for a wide range of personal injury cases. From medical malpractice to vehicle accidents to product liability, the kinds of personal injury claims that often hinge on the establishment of negligence are...
Suffering injury on the job is a common occurrence today, but not everyone truly understands the options at their disposal when that does occur. Filing a a workers compensation claim is really just one avenue of recovery for those who have been injured while working....
When a pharmaceutical drug causes harm, determining liability can be complex. Multiple parties may be responsible, including manufacturers, distributors, healthcare providers, and even regulatory agencies. In this post, we’ll explore the potential defendants in...
When a person is injured in an accident, it often results in a major disruption of their life. Oftentimes there is a long recovery period, which may lead to an interruption in employment in addition to a reduced quality of life with potential impact on personal...
Elder abuse comes in many forms. From physical and verbal abuse to sexual battery, seniors who depend upon caregivers every day are at risk for abuse and it is incumbent upon loved ones to be vigilant and look for the signs that someone could be taking advantage of...
When a patient is under a physician’s care and that physician abruptly terminates the provider/patient relationship without reasonable notice or excuse, and fails to give the patient adequate opportunity to find a qualified replacement provider, that can constitute...
Often when people are injured in an accident of any sort, they find themselves surprised, confused or otherwise bewildered. It’s often not so easy to remember the proper steps to take to protect your rights and preserve your ability to collect compensation for your...
In certain motor vehicle accident cases, some drivers are considered liable for damages 99% of the time. These cases are often called “no-fault” liability cases, cases where negligence does not have to be proven to win damages. Two such instances that fall...
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