We help people who have been injured in all types of accidents. Our Rockford personal injury lawyers work with those who have experienced issues with getting fair treatment for serious injuries.
Our experience runs deep. We’ve worked with clients who have been injured in car accidents, workplace accidents, premise liability, and other personal injury accidents.
Learn more about what personal injury is here.
If you or someone you know has been injured and you’re having a difficult time with the insurance company, or you feel you’re not getting fair treatment, contact our office.
Integrity and professionalism from start to finish. Having previously worked with Paul Marriott, I can attest he is a no nosense, straight-shooter, dedicated to getting the job done. If you need an attorney to fight for you- I highly recommend this team.
Judith Davies-Legare
Our law firm works with cases and claims where an individual was injured during an accident that could have been avoided. You don’t always need to file a personal injury claim to get awarded the compensations you deserve. Much of the time when we work with you, your case won’t become a lawsuit, we’ll settle before that happens. But if we do have to file a lawsuit we’ll be treating your case as if it might go to trial.
Very rarely do most personal injury cases go to trial. There are law firms that know this and take a few shortcuts, and when your suit is heading for trial they aren’t prepared. Make sure your lawyers treat every case like it will see a court. It’s the most work, but also the best recovery.
No personal injury lawyer can tell you what your case is exactly going to be worth, but what we can do is appraise the value of a case based on medical treatment, and how your injury impacted your life. We’ve been doing this long enough we can get pretty close when we get all the information. It’s important that you contact us right away so we can guide you on what to do next. The more information we have the better.
If you have injuries stemming from an accident the most important thing you can do is to seek treatment for ALL of your injuries. Your medical treatments, past, and future, will help estimate the value of your claim or case.
In addition to that, we’ll have to discuss how your injury impacted your day-to-day life. We’ll ask questions regarding how your life has been impacted, such as:
Once we discuss with you how your injury has disrupted your life we’re able to figure out what a reasonable number might be. We’ll then submit a demand letter to the responsible insurance company.
If the insurance company agrees to pay the specified amount this is called a “Settlement”. We submit a settlement to an insurance company without the need to involve any government agency. If they refuse to pay what we have determined is fair compensation, or the insurance company offers an amount lower than you wish to take, this is when we would prepare for a lawsuit.
A lawsuit is a legal proceeding that gets filed with a government agency. Generally, your suit will get filed with your county circuit clerk’s office. From there, the defendant is served legal paperwork and the case is set for a trail date. A trail date is when a judge or jury can listen to both sides and determine what a fair recovery is for your personal injury cases.
There are no hard and fast rules on what a fair amount might be for any case. Fair is ultimately what the client thinks is fair and then adjusted to what previous cases may have been assigned at trial in their respective area.
You may have heard that the value of a case is 3 times the total of medical bills. While that can sometimes be a good metric in some cases, oftentimes it falls critically short. For example, if the injured person had a larger then average income and their income was impacted due to the injury the amount of compensation can be much greater. Or if the injury is so severe it will impact the victim for the rest of their life, the same calculation won’t work.
A simple calculation of medical bills being multiplied doesn’t compare to the amount of financial loss, personal loss, and emotional trauma a victim would suffer.
If you or a loved one has been hurt or injured in the Rockford area here are some of the immediate steps you should take:
Illinois has more than 400,000 car accidents every single year. These include around 90,000 injures and around 1,000 fatalities every year. Even a minor collision can result in a trip to the hospital, lost wages, bumps, bruises, and scrapes, and the inconvenience of losing a vehicle for a significant period of time. If it’s a major car accident, it can have life-altering consequences for yourself and your family well into the future.
Get help from a skilled Rockford car accident lawyer who will protect your rights when you or a loved one is hurt or killed in a motor vehicle accident. We protect individuals in any of the following motor vehicle personal injury cases:
The most common type of personal injury claims involve motor vehicle accidents. This is not surprising since the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)estimates that a traffic accident occurs in the United States every ten seconds, and the rate of auto accidents in Rockford is generally no exception to the overall nationwide rate. Accidents can happen in only a few short moments, but can have long-lasting effects on your life.
In Rockford, the most likely responding law enforcement agency to a car crash would be the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office. You can call get a responding officer or get a copy of the police report. Most insurance companies and personal injury law firms will need a police report for serious claims.
Contact Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office For Help
Sheriff’s Office Phone: 815-319-6000
Address: 650 W. State St. Rockford, IL 61102
Website: https://rockfordil.gov/city-departments/police/ or http://www.winnebagosheriff.com/
Winnebago Sheriff’s Record Division
Records Division Phone: 779-500-6555
Address: 557 Newtowne Dr. Rockford, IL 61108
If your injury is serious you can provide our office with a copy of your crash report. We can begin a claim with the other persons insurance company, or even your own if needed. We’ll also be able to help with opening a property damage claim for your vehicle.
From there we can assist you and your family in the following ways:
Every driver has the responsibility to drive safely for the sake of others on the road, their passengers, and themselves. Despite our modern technology that’s designed for motor vehicle safety, more and more accidents occur every year. Failure to drive carefully leaves drivers responsible for any consequences of resulting accidents. If they injure someone, they are obligated to pay for it.
Despite the risks, and even when faced with the possibility of so much loss, people continue to make risky decisions when behind the wheel. According to data evaluated by the Insurance Information Institute, the following types of driver behavior are commonly involved in severe car accidents:
The Illinois Department of Transportation records indicate that 1,097 people were killed in car accidents in 2017. 1,017 people were killed in auto accidents throughout the state in 2016. Cook County saw the highest number of collisions, fatalities, and severe injuries compared to any other part of the state, with 211 deaths and 27,075 reported injuries, of which 3,223 were deemed significant. Meanwhile, in the same year, more than 40,000 people across the United States were killed in traffic-related incidents. According to assessments made by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, motor vehicle accidents amount to a massive $871 billion in damages each year.
The NHTSA has determined that distracted driving accounts for 25% of all crashes involving teenage drivers. This was affirmed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which reported that drivers under the age of 20 are at the highest risk of distracted driving-related crashes.
We all know how connected teenagers are to their phones. In many cases, this connection continues when teenagers take to the wheel. A study released by the CDC in 2011 revealed that nearly half of all American high school students aged 16 and over texted or emailed while driving. That study also showed that teenagers who text while driving are almost two times as likely to get in a car with a driver who has been drinking. These teens are also five times as likely to drink and drive under the influence. The results of these behaviors are tragic. They destroy lives. They destroy families.
In 2013, almost one million teenage drivers between the ages of 16 and 19 were involved in motor vehicle crashes. These accidents resulted in 2,865 deaths and 383,000 injuries nationwide. Mobile phone use (e.g., talking, texting, or searching for information) were implicated as a cause for 12% of teen accidents. In more than half of the rear-end crashes involving mobile phone use, the distracted teen driver had no idea he or she was about to be hit.
While there is no denying the impact of an injury or loss of life caused by an accident, we are committed to making the legal process that follows as stress-free as possible. We understand that the trauma of a motor vehicle accident itself is difficult to shoulder, and are committed to relieving your anxieties about a legal battle. We fight for our clients and their rights to recovery.
According to Illinois Department of Transportation data 84,652 people were injured to some extent in a vehicle-related incident in 2014. 11,755 of those individuals sustained a significant injury that prevented them from participating in the normal day-to-day activities that they enjoyed before the accident. This is categorized as an “A-type” injury crash. Some of these life-changing injuries include:
Regardless of the scope of your injury, we can help you. We understand that no accident is the same, and will treat you with respect and individualized attention from your consultation and beyond.
By law, all Illinois drivers are required to carry liability insurance coverage of $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident, according to the Illinois Secretary of State. Despite these requirements, more than 13% of drivers on Illinois roads and highways operate vehicles without any liability insurance, according to data from the Insurance Research Council.
So what happens if an uninsured driver causes a crash that injures you?
Read more about Uninsured Motorist Claims
Recognizing how pervasive uninsured drivers are, most automobile insurance companies offer uninsured motorist coverage (often referred to as UM coverage). In these situations, after it has been established that the at-fault driver did not carry any insurance at the time of a crash, a claim may be presented to the injured party’s insurance company, which essentially stands in the place of the person who caused the accident.
While the logistics of presenting a claim to your auto insurance company for an accident that you did not cause may seem strange, you are entitled to the same types of damages that you would have had the offending driver carried insurance.
On a similar note, when a driver who causes an accident has insufficient liability coverage to compensate an injured party for their injuries — either an underinsured motorist claim or UIM claim — may be made with the insured party’s auto insurer.
Motor vehicle accidents are governed by the law of negligence. In general, drivers must exercise “reasonable care under the circumstances.” A deviation from this standard of care may require the at-fault party to pay for the damages caused. However, who is determined to be the at-fault party is not always clear. This can quickly turn into a case of “he said, she said.” It can be difficult to know what actually happened and who is legally at fault. A consultation with a personal injury attorney can give you a clear and unbiased opinion of liability in your case, and help you better understand your options.
Damages are the monetary compensation awarded to an injured party after an accident. They can include medical bills, pain and suffering, disability, disfigurement, permanent impairment, lost wages, property damage, etc. Consulting an attorney early on in your case is the best way to ensure that your damages have been properly documented so that you receive fair value for your claim.
If you have been injured in a car accident in Rockford, Illinois, or in a surrounding community, there are essentially two ways to recover compensation for your injury.
The car accident settlement process roughly flows in this order:
Illinois sets a time limit of two years to file a personal injury lawsuit in the state’s civil court system. In most cases, this two-year time limit, known as a “statute of limitations,” begins to run on the date of the accident. Sometimes, however, a statute of limitations might run from the date that you discovered you were injured, rather than the date of the event that injured you. This later date is known as a “discovery date.”
For injury claims against a city or county, you have one year to file a lawsuit. The time limit to sue the state is generally two years, but you must file a formal claim within one year in order to sue.
For an honest, free, and compassionate consultation about your Rockford personal injury case, feel free to call or text message us confidentially at (815) 964-8303 or contact us here. Remember our service is absolutely no cost to you unless we earn a recovery on your behalf. Let us help you or your loved one navigate the legal side of your case and fight for your financial recovery, while you focus on your physical recovery.
