Chicago Car Accident Attorney

Leading Chicago Automobile Accident Lawyers

The aftermath of a car accident can be overwhelming. Many injured people wonder, are my injuries permanent? Who will cover these sudden costs? How much work will I miss? How will I get my car fixed? How much insurance does the other driver have? How will I manage the medical bills? Will this pain ever go away?

When an accident turns your life upside down, know that you do not have to face these challenges alone.

At Abels & Annes, P.C., our Chicago car accident lawyers understand every worry that follows an accident. Our commitment is straightforward - we can be there for you, ensure your rights are protected, and fight for the maximum compensation available.  

When You Need an Experienced Accident Attorney, Trust Abels & Annes, P.C.

With so many vehicles on the road, the reality is that nearly everyone will be in a car accident at some point in their life.

If you were injured in a car accident, remember that obtaining help from a qualified and experienced car accident lawyer is critical. This is especially true after a serious injury since you may have to file a car accident claim or lawsuit.

Chicago Car Accident Victim

Some accident victims delay pursuing their injury claim, make mistakes while handling a claim without a lawyer, or fail to understand the full extent of their damages. In these situations, important evidence may vanish, and the deserving victim can jeopardize their chances of recovering the compensation they need to help pay for their recovery.

We know that when you have serious injuries following a Chicago auto accident, you cannot carefully and immediately assess what caused the accident or gather information. While you recover from your injuries, it can be exhausting to deal with aggressive insurance carriers who want to limit your claim.

Let a dedicated car accident lawyer in the Chicago office of Abels & Annes shoulder these burdens for you. Our personal injury law firm has built a strong reputation for recovering substantial compensation for auto accident victims throughout the Chicagoland area.

7 Ways Our Chicago Accident Lawyers Can Help You

After a car crash, your first priority is receiving the medical care you need to recover from your injuries. At the same time, you need to consider how to protect your legal rights if someone else caused the accident.

While you focus on your medical and emotional healing, a trusted and dedicated car accident lawyer from Ables & Annes can handle your car accident claim for compensation.

A car crash lawyer's number one goal is to help you build a solid legal case and recoup the financial compensation you deserve to help pay your accident-related losses.

Your losses may include medical bills, property damage, past and future pain and suffering, lost income, future lost earning capacity, and the loss of family relationships.

Some of the many ways a skilled auto accident lawyer can help you throughout the legal process include:

  1. Offering a free consultation to explain:
  • Your legal rights,
  • The law that applies to your situation, and
  • What you can expect.

2. Providing sound legal advice such as:

  • What a good settlement should include
  • When to accept or counter an offer
  • When to file a lawsuit
  • The probability of success

3. Finding all available insurance coverage - determining who is liable, whether they have insurance, and what are their coverage limits. If the other driver was not insured, we can determine if you have uninsured coverage to access.

4. Preparing an insurance demand letter - this requires several steps, including:

  • Investigating and gathering evidence such as photos, police reports, medical records, employment details, witness statements, proof of the other driver’s negligence, and a summary of your financial losses. Many times, lawyers have access to evidence the average person does not know how to obtain.
  • Engaging experts, for example, medical specialists or accident reconstructionists.
  • Calculating all possible damages, including both current and future costs, so you have enough money to pay for future expenses.
  • Creating a persuasive argument for the settlement amount requested.

5. Your lawyer will also negotiate with the insurance company and opposing counsel to protect you from their aggressive tactics.

The majority of car accident claims are settled before trial. However, if the other side does not offer a fair settlement amount, a tenacious car accident attorney must be ready to take your case to court.

6. Your lawyer must prepare and file a civil lawsuit in the appropriate court system before the applicable statute of limitations runs out. As part of the trial process, a personal injury attorney is responsible for:

  • Preparing and filing all required documents
  • Engaging in discovery, depositions, and document requests
  • Motion filings and hearings
  • Trial preparation for a jury or bench trial and
  • Full trial participation, including delivering the opening statement, presenting evidence, questioning witnesses, making a closing argument, and preparing jury instructions.

7. Finally, your devoted car accident attorney will handle your settlement or verdict payment and all related documentation to disburse the funds and resolve your case.

Best of all, with a contingency fee arrangement, you won't pay for these services until you receive compensation at the end of your case.

Insider Tip: studies have shown that injured people who work with a lawyer receive far more money than those who try to resolve their cases on their own, even after paying attorney fees.

To learn more about how a dedicated car accident lawyer at Abels & Annes, P.C. can help you, reach out today for a free consultation.

Our Chicago Car Accident Results

Here is a small sample of some successful case settlements our auto accident injury lawyers negotiated in past motor vehicle accident claims:

Chicago Car Accident Results
  • $3 million for a motorist who died due to a driver making an illegal U-turn
  • $2,750,000 for a driver who was rear-ended on a Chicago expressway and sustained significant head injuries
  • $905,000 for a passenger who sustained neck injuries and had to undergo surgery after a single-car accident
  • $460,000 after a Chicago area driver failed to yield coming out of a stop sign, hitting our client’s vehicle. Our client had to undergo surgery to repair a lumbar disc injury.
  • $600,000 in a wrongful death auto accident, where we obtained an insurance policy limits settlement of $500,000, plus $100,000 from our client’s auto policy due to a second defendant who had no auto insurance.
  • $200,000 in an accident settlement for injuries due to a DUI motorist.
  • $220,000 in a policy limits Uninsured Motorist claim settlement for two minor children injured in a north suburban Chicago car accident.
  • $250,000 policy limits settlement for a Chicago area resident. Our client needed surgery for a disc injury.

Of course, prior case settlements are not a guarantee of your potential case resolution. We invite you to call us today for a free consultation about your Chicago car accident to see if we can help you the way we have helped so many of our other clients.

Where Do Car Accidents Happen in Chicago?

Whether you drive downtown or in the suburbs, you encounter accident risks everywhere. Chicago’s many congested highways clog with impatient drivers who tend to ignore traffic laws to get to their destinations faster. Often, they end up causing more delays due to crashes.

Car Accident Risks in Chicago

We regularly see accidents on these major roadways:

  • Kennedy Expressway
  • Eisenhower Expressway
  • Tri-State Tollway
  • Veterans Memorial Tollway
  • Stevenson Expressway
  • Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway
  • Chicago Skyway
  • Dan Ryan Expressway
  • Kingery Expressway
  • Edens Expressway

Some dangerous surface roads that have regular crashes include:

  • Western Avenue at Peterson Avenue
  • La Grange Road at I-80 westbound ramp
  • Kedzie Avenue at Belmont Avenue
  • Stony Island Avenue and South Chicago Avenue
  • Cicero Avenue and 127th Street
  • Lincoln and Clark
  • Milwaukee Avenue

Whether your accident happens on I-80 or a residential street, you can suffer serious injuries and losses. Trust a dedicated Chicago car accident lawyer at Abels & Annes, P.C., to handle your Chicago auto accident claim.

The High Cost of Chicago Auto Accidents

A serious motor vehicle accident will significantly derail your life, possibly forever.

serious motor vehicle accident in Chicago

Even minor car collisions can seriously alter how you face every day. You’ll have to deal with the stress of talking to your insurance company, repairing your car, dealing with the opposing insurance company, missing work, and more. And that’s in addition to dealing with the injuries you received in the car accident.

When you face serious car accident injuries, the impact is much greater in all aspects of your life. Severe injuries can create stress, financial burdens, the need for ongoing medical care, and extreme mental anguish.

A bad car crash injury will not just result in expensive emergency care or a lengthy hospital stay. It can also snowball into tremendous financial and physical impacts. For example, severe injuries may keep you off work for an extended time. Or, it may be impossible for you to return to your job ever again.

You may require long-term care, such as costly in-home assistance from a professional caregiver or therapist. Further, you may require expensive medical equipment. Finally, you may even suffer a permanent disability. For example, if the accident causes traumatic brain injury or a debilitating spine injury leading to paralysis.

In addition, with all the sophisticated equipment on modern cars, a significant percentage of vehicles are totaled after an accident. When this happens, the cost of repairs can be more than the car is worth. As a result, many accident victims can expect to temporarily lose their cars or face the additional stress of purchasing another one.

Consequently, even car accidents with relatively minor injuries can be financially devastating. And not only for you but for family members and others who may rely upon your financial support.

When you suffer personal injuries in a vehicle collision, call an auto accident injury lawyer at Abels & Annes today.

What should I do after a car accident?

What to do after a car accident in Chicago
  1. Call the authorities and make a police report. Do not let the other driver talk you into skipping this important step. It can lead to issues later on.
  2. Exchange information with the other driver or anyone who may be responsible for the collision. Take good photos of everyone’s I.D. and insurance information. Some police departments will not make this information publicly available on the police crash report. For example, the Illinois State Police heavily redact their police reports.
  3. Gather eyewitness contact information. Independent witness testimony can be critical to your case.
  4. Take accident scene photos to help prove how the crash occurred. Also, videos or pictures can show the damage to your vehicle and others.
  5. Seek medical attention. If you have injuries, go to the emergency room or seek medical care immediately. You could have sustained much more severe injuries than you realize. Further, a long gap between an accident and medical treatment can make it difficult for even a skilled accident attorney to prove that your injuries are related to the accident.
  6. Contact our Chicago automobile accident lawyers ASAP. The sooner you begin working with a personal injury attorney, the sooner they can protect your legal rights. Also, speak to a car crash lawyer before you talk to any auto insurance carrier. Insurance companies will often try to take a statement from you, which can be used against you later.

What Damages Can a Chicago Car Accident Attorney Request for Me After a Collision?

Chicago Car Accident-Lawyer Negotiating with Insurance Company Representative

In a motor vehicle accident case, a skillful personal injury law firm can file an insurance claim or lawsuit to request the maximum compensation available for your losses, including:

  • Medical expenses, like hospital visits, doctor appointments, physical therapy, ambulance fees, and much more.
  • “Pain and suffering” which refers to the physical and mental anguish an injured person can seek compensation for in a lawsuit.
  • Lost wages and income from missing work after a serious injury. These losses can be some of the most financially damaging aspects of a car accident.

How Much Can I Get for Pain and Suffering?

Pain and suffering compensation (and all other types of non-economic compensation) varies greatly depending on the details of your case.

To determine the value of your pain and suffering, your auto accident attorney will consider how much your quality of life has changed from before and after your accident. The greater the change, the greater compensation you can receive.

Chicago car accident Pain and suffering compensation

For example, if you can no longer pick up your grandchild or drive your children to school, these will qualify as a change in your standard of life.

Pain and suffering is often the focus of negotiations and can be worth significant money, depending on the severity of your injuries. For a more detailed explanation, you can read more about calculating pain and suffering.

To recover the damages caused by a car accident, and get what you deserve from your injury claim, don’t delay. Seek help from a team of compassionate legal professionals. Get started today by contacting the Chicago car crash lawyers at Abels & Annes for a free consultation.

New Technology is Helping to Reduce Auto Accidents And Injuries in Chicago

New Technology is Helping to Reduce Auto Accidents And Injuries in Chicago

Automobile manufacturers continually innovate and install new and improved safety devices every year.

Local governments across Illinois are passing and enforcing restrictive drunk driving, distracted driving, and aggressive driving laws.

New technologies are also helping drivers reduce auto accidents and injuries. These include:

  • Side-airbags
  • Blind spot detection
  • Backup cameras
  • Lane departure warnings
  • Self-driving abilities
  • Advances in road designs

In crash cases where these technologies fail, the car manufacturer might be held responsible for your auto accident and the subsequent losses you face. When you explain how your collision occurred, we can determine all potentially liable parties to ensure you receive the most compensation possible.

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Car Accident Injury Statistics in Chicago, IL

Source: apps.dot.illinois.gov

How Often Do Car Accidents Happen in Illinois?

Our state has registered 11.5 million registered motor vehicles and licensed about 9.2 million drivers, most of them in the Chicago area. Our Chicago car accident lawyers know that with so many drivers, collisions happen.

In a recent year, there were almost 320,000 car accidents in Illinois which was an increase of nearly 7,500 from the previous year.

When calculating these figures daily, there are about 874 accidents every day in Illinois alone.

Chicago Named One of the Top Worst Cities to Drive In

In a list of 100 cities ranked best to worst to drive in, Chicago ranked in the top ten worst cities. The Windy City came in 94 out of 100, with the hundredth spot being the worst. For comparison, Oakland, California, was worst at #100, and Corpus Christi, Texas, was best at #1.

This data provides important insights into what it’s like to drive in Chicago. Let’s look at other statistics focusing on specific issues related to Chicago car accidents.

How Do Car Accidents Involving Injuries Happen in Chicago?

According to the most recent data from the State Department of Transportation (IDOT), nearly 67,000 car accidents injured people in one year in Illinois.

The most common injury-causing accidents were rear-end collisions, with 19,990 injuries. Rear-end accidents were most common at stoplights or in heavy traffic.

The second most common type of injury-causing accident was ‘turning accidents’ with 12,472 injuries. Turning accidents most commonly occur at intersections when a person fails to yield to oncoming traffic when turning left.

Car accidents injure three million people annually in the United States. Among those suffering injuries after a crash, about two million experienced permanent injuries because of the accident.

Causes of Accidents by Percentage

Data on the exact cause of a car accident is not easy to collect. If you ask two people what caused the car accident, you’ll likely get two different answers.

The NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) surveyed more than 5,000 collisions over 2.5 years and came up with the best estimates for car accident causes.

They found that the top reasons for car accidents were:

  • Driver inattention and distracted driving – 41 percent
  • Driver decision (speeding, illegal maneuvers, etc.) – 33 percent
  • Overcompensation of the vehicle – 11 percent
  • Fatigued driving – 7 percent
  • Other driver errors – 8 percent

Fatal Car Accidents in Chicago and Illinois

In recent reports, Illinois saw over 1,370 car accident fatalities in one year.

Fatal Car Accidents in Chicago

These deaths represent over one percent of all traffic accidents that occur.

This low percentage is seemingly good news. However, 1,000 people dying in car accidents every year is still devastating.

The majority of fatal crashes in Chicago occur on state roads. The second most common is city streets. County roads and interstates took third and fourth place for road types where fatal accidents occurred.

Many fatal accidents were caused by a collision with a fixed object, like a tree or guard rail. Other common reasons include cars hitting and killing pedestrians, head-on collisions, and turning accidents.

Accidents Involving Children

Motor vehicle accidents are among the top causes of death to children in the US. Each year, around 700 children under age 13 die in car accidents. Another 100,000 children suffer injuries.

Of the children who die in car accidents, 33 percent were improperly secured in a car seat or not wearing a seatbelt. According to studies and tests, properly secured children have a much better chance of surviving the collision.

Distracted Driving Accidents

Ten percent of drivers in Illinois admitted to using their phones while driving. This includes using their phone at red lights and stop signs, which is still dangerous because it takes away a driver’s attention to the road around them.

As the data above pointed out, distracted driving is a serious issue in the U.S. In one year, 2,800 people died, and over 400,000 suffered injuries in distracted driving accidents.

Distracted Teen Drivers

Distracted driving is even more common for teen drivers.

Teen Distracted Driving Accident in Chicago

In a survey of high school students, the Journal of Adolescent Health found that 38 percent of high school students had texted or emailed while driving at least once in the past 30 days.

They also found that students who used their phones while driving were more likely not to wear a seat belt, more likely to ride with a driver who had been drinking, and more likely to drive after drinking alcohol themselves.

Drunk Driving Accidents

When you look at the data collected about accidents in Illinois, you can see that drunk driving is a serious problem. Out of the reported 951 fatal Illinois car accidents in one year, 27 percent involved alcohol.

Drunk drivers are also much more likely to kill another driver in an accident than themselves.

What Are Some Common Causes of Chicago Car Accidents?

personal_injury_lawyers-chicago-2021

Common causes of car accidents in Chicago can include:

  • Speeding: Driving over the speed limit is one of the most common causes of car accidents because speeding drivers have less time to react to changing circumstances. A sudden slow down, a pedestrian stepping into the road, or a patch of black ice can turn a speeding car into a serious hazard.
  • Driving too fast for conditions: Not adapting your speed to changing weather conditions—like rain, snow, and ice that frequently strike Chicago—is one of the most common causes of car accidents.
  • Heavy traffic: Congested traffic creates more accidents for obvious reasons. More people on the roads means more opportunities for driver errors and negligence. People also tend to get bored or aggravated in heavy traffic, bringing out the worst in drivers.
  • Distracted driving: Distracted driving is one of the most common causes of car accidents. Taking your eyes off the road for just a few seconds can mean you travel hundreds of feet without watching.
  • Texting while driving in Chicago: Texting while driving is probably the most common type of distracted driving. It is a huge problem and causes thousands of accidents in Chicago and other parts of Illinois each year.
  • Online browsing: Browsing the internet while driving is unsafe and careless. Reading the news or looking up a quick fact takes a driver’s eyes and mind off the road, which can easily cause an accident that injures or kills someone.
  • GPS: Sometimes, finding a place on your phone’s map app is necessary, but it can also be dangerous. If you need to find your route, pull over to set the GPS so you can arrive at your destination safely.
  • Drunk drivers: Driving while drunk decreases reaction time and increases the likelihood of accidents. Driving while intoxicated is a common cause of car accidents that result in fatal injuries. The rise and expansion of ride apps and public transportation may help reduce the problem of drunk driving.
  • Drugged drivers: Drugs can cause blurred vision, slow reaction times, confusion, and other impairments. With Illinois legalizing recreational marijuana and since Chicago is the home to 17 dispensaries, drugged driving may become as much of a problem as drunk driving.
  • Red lights: Drivers may run a red light or stop sign because they think they can get away with it or because they’re in a hurry. As you can probably guess, red light accidents are some of the worst since drivers are moving at full speed when they hit another car, bicyclist, or pedestrian.
drunk driving accident in Chicago

Thankfully, many vehicle accidents are relatively minor, like fender benders in parking lot accidents. Further, some only cause minimal injuries. But at the other extreme are serious accidents that cause catastrophic injuries. And even worse, sometimes bad crashes result in death.

When you sustain an injury or lose a loved one, call our Chicago car accident lawyers. We can help you recover compensation from those responsible for your losses.

What Are the Most Common Car Accident Injuries?

There are a variety of injuries that can result from auto accidents, such as:

  • Broken bone injury accidents. When a fracture is more serious, it can require surgery to repair.
  • Back and neck injuries. These are often soft tissue injuries that resolve with therapy. However, sometimes accident victims sustain herniated discs that may need injections or surgery. Extensive back injuries can lead to paralysis and life-long issues.
  • Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). Whether mild (like a concussion) or severe, TBIs can require years of medical care. They may also cause brain death, vegetative states, comas, and even death.
  • Lacerations. Sometimes, accident victims sustain large cuts that require stitches or staples and often leave disfiguring scars. Wounds can also become infected are require further treatment to heal.
  • Shoulder injuries, such as a torn rotator cuff or a torn labrum. These injuries often require surgery.
  • Burn injuries. This can result from fire, but it can also come from airbags. Our team has seen significant scarring from airbag injuries.
  • Death. Tragically, hundreds of people die every year in Chicago area auto accidents.

What Factors Can Affect My Possible Settlement?

Chicago Car Accident Settlement

Determining how much compensation you should expect from your settlement can be difficult since the amount depends heavily on the facts of your case. The experienced personal injury attorneys at Abels & Annes, P.C., can help calculate your economic and non-economic damages. They can also help you make the best decision about when to settle or take your case to court.

Your attorney’s job is to negotiate with the insurance companies on your behalf until they obtain a top offer from the insurance carrier. If that offer is fair, you can choose to settle. If not, your lawyer can file a lawsuit.

Factors that affect settlement value include:

  • The severity of your injuries.
  • The available insurance coverage. If the driver has little to no insurance, receiving a high settlement from them is much harder. If the driver has no or minimum insurance, your claim may have to rely on your own uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage for compensation.
  • Whether liability is clear or contested. For example, the other party may not dispute liability in a rear-end accident but might in a red-light accident.
  • If your accident had more than one liable party (third-party claims)
  • If the at-fault party acted with gross negligence when operating their motor vehicle
  • Your total medical expenses and other losses, such as missed income from work.
  • Your ability to return to work
  • The change in your quality of life before and after your accident
  • Your out-of-pocket expenses

Contact our law firm if you’d like more information about the possible value of your case.

Are Many Drivers Uninsured or Underinsured in Chicago?

Under Illinois law, a motorist only needs to carry:

  • $25,000 of liability insurance for the death or injury of an individual
  • $50,000 of liability insurance for death or injury total per accident
  • $20,000 of property damage insurance

Many people show more responsibility and purchase insurance coverage above these limits. However, your accident may involve one of the less responsible motorists. If so, the other driver’s insurance company may cover only a very small portion of your damage claims.

Even worse, despite the mandatory insurance law, some Illinois drivers refuse to buy car insurance. A study undertaken by the Insurance Research Council estimates that one in eight drivers across the nation has no insurance. Similarly, estimates for Illinois have the ratio of drivers without insurance at 15 percent.

What if I Have an Accident With an Uninsured or Underinsured Driver?

If the at-fault driver in your car collision has minimum or no auto insurance, there can be too little or no insurance coverage from the at-fault driver to cover the claim.

If your auto insurance includes Uninsured Motorist (UM) and Underinsured Motorist (UIM) coverage, a skilled injury lawyer can pursue an uninsured motorist claim or an underinsured motorist claim against your auto policy.

Chicago Uninsured or Underinsured Driver

With this type of claim, your own auto insurance company will step into the shoes of the uninsured or underinsured driver to pay for the claim.

Recovering from your insurer can sometimes be as difficult as recovering from another party’s insurer.

On the other hand, UM and UIM claims often settle quickly, so you can sometimes collect more money while spending less time.

This is where the Chicago car accident attorneys at Abels & Annes can help. If you suffer an injury in a car accident due to a negligent, uninsured driver, our Chicago law firm is ready to handle your unique personal injury claims.

This includes evaluating and investigating issues such as:

  • Who is at fault
  • The amount of insurance coverage available to pay on the claim
  • Calculating your out-of-pocket expenses, like medical care and lost income
  • Determining your non-economic costs and long-term needs

Our car accident lawyers handle UM and UIM claims regularly.

How Much Does It Cost to Hire an Accident Lawyer?

The injury attorneys at Abels & Annes work on a contingency fee basis. That means there is no fee unless we successfully resolve your case. You also pay no money upfront. Your lawyer will receive a percentage of the money they collect from the auto insurance carrier or other at-fault parties.

How Does a Car Accident Case Work?

Investigation

Immediately after the accident, it’s important to gather as much evidence as possible. This may not be possible if you must go straight to the hospital. If so, have someone take photos and gather information for you.

Collect pictures and video (of the scene, your car, the opposing car, and your injuries) and any contact information from witnesses. Exchange information with the other drivers in the accident and call 911 to file a police report and, if necessary, request an ambulance.

Medical Treatment

Receiving medical treatment for your injuries is one of the most important steps after a Chicago car accident. Any delay in receiving medical treatment may further complicate your injuries and look suspicious to the court or insurance companies, so seek treatment as soon as possible.

Be sure to do what your doctors tell you to do and follow up with any recommended specialists. Keep any medical bills you receive.

Set Up a Free Consultation With an Experienced Car Accident Lawyer Near You

Initial Consultation with Chicago car accident lawyer

After the crash, you’ll want to begin looking for an experienced car accident attorney near you.

Find someone who has experience working with your specific type of case and has experience winning trials and negotiating large settlements. 

The Chicago car accident lawyers at Abels & Annes, P.C. are available to take your call 24/7.

At Abels & Annes, your initial meeting or phone call with an auto accident attorney is a free consultation to review your case. You won’t have to pay anything at this time, and we only charge a fee if you recover compensation in your case.

Filing a Claim with Your Insurance Company

Our lawyers can file a claim with your car insurance company if you need to pursue an uninsured, underinsured, medical payment, and/or property damage claim. We can also seek compensation for your injuries from the at-fault driver’s insurance company or your insurance carrier, depending on the situation.

The at-fault driver’s insurance company may contact you and ask for a statement and a signed waiver in exchange for quick cash. Don’t give them a statement, sign anything, or accept any money without speaking to one of our attorneys first. This applies to your insurance company and the other driver’s insurance company.

Further Investigation

Once you hire a lawyer, we will investigate the case, determine liability, and review your medical records. During pre-litigation, we can reach out to any healthcare providers to obtain your medical records or gather other documents like the police accident report.

Once your injuries heal (or you reach maximum recovery), your attorney will collect your medical records and bills to begin calculating a settlement demand.

Prepare a Settlement Demand

Once your lawyer gathers all necessary evidence and you reach maximum recovery, they will submit a settlement demand to the insurance company. Hopefully, the insurance company will make the first offer in a reasonable time, and negotiations will begin.

These negotiations will go back and forth until the insurance company refuses to offer a higher amount. If you and your attorney agree on this settlement and accept the offer, your case will then be settled and stay out of court.

However, if the settlement offer is not sufficient, you may need to file a lawsuit. You and your attorney should carefully consider this decision. Deciding to settle your case can be difficult, especially if the settlement doesn’t seem fair. Your attorney can help you make this decision and guide your choices.

Approximately 95 percent of personal injury cases settle pre-trial, but that does not guarantee that yours will. Thus, your lawyer should prepare for trial while they negotiate a settlement.

Discovery in Preparation for Trial

If you file a lawsuit, a period called discovery begins. During this time, both sides will further investigate the case.

The parties may request documents or ask questions of the opposing side. The attorneys on both sides will want to take depositions where they ask the other parties or witnesses questions under oath with a court reporter present.

Lawyers may ask doctors, police officers, or anyone else involved in the case questions about what occurred. Your car crash attorney will prepare you and represent you at your deposition.

Mediation and Pre-Trial Conferences

Chicago Car Accident Case Mediation

Before the trial date, there may be an opportunity for mediation or a pre-trial conference in an attempt to settle. For example, in mediation, a mediator will speak with both parties and attempt to reach an agreement.

They cannot force the parties to settle but can help both sides reach an agreement on an outcome. Many cases often settle during mediation after a lawsuit is filed.

Trial

If mediation and all other negotiations fail, your case may go to trial. In a trial, both sides argue their case and present their cases. The judge or jury will then hear the evidence and decide how much compensation you should receive.

How Much Time Do I Have to Sue?

In Illinois, the statute of limitations is two years in most car accident cases. However, shorter one-year deadlines apply to certain defendants, such as municipalities.

statute of limitations in car accident case in Illinois

Minors with accident injuries typically have two years from their 18th birthday to file a lawsuit against most defendants. But again, there are shorter exceptions.

You must file your lawsuit within the statute of limitations. Otherwise, you cannot pursue the case in court or recover any damages.

Do not wait until the last minute to find an attorney. Most lawyers will not take a case that is too close to the statute of limitations.

Chicago Car Accident FAQs

What if my car accident injuries are permanent?

Some people suffer life-altering injuries in crashes, and they have permanent impairments. If you will never recover from your injury, it can keep you from working, require ongoing medical care, and prevent you from your usual daily activities.

Car accident claims involving permanent injuries require skilled legal assistance. These claim values are often much higher, and many future and intangible losses are challenging to prove.

Our attorneys represent clients with catastrophic injuries, and we have successfully obtained the maximum possible compensation for people with permanent impairments.

What if my loved one died in a crash?

Many car accidents are fatal, and this tragedy can leave you and your family with emotional and financial losses.

Our firm regularly handles wrongful death claims for surviving families following fatal crashes. We provide the compassion and dedication your family deserves in this difficult time.

Who is at fault for a single-car accident?

A one-car crash can occur when a car rolls over, runs off the road, or hits a stationary object. If you are a passenger in a car and suffer injuries, the driver’s insurance should cover your losses.

If you are the driver and believe you did nothing wrong, we can evaluate whether someone else might be liable. For example, did someone else run you off the road? Did your car malfunction and cause you to lose control? These are questions we will examine to help you understand your rights.

The Chicago Accident Lawyers at Abels & Annes Are Here to Help You

Chicago auto accident attorney, Gary Annes
Gary Annes, Chicago Car Accident Attorney

If you suffered injuries in an auto accident or someone you love tragically died from a crash, let the car accident attorneys at Abels & Annes help you assess and understand your rights and potential remedies. We can help you obtain the compensation you need to recover fully.

Call (312) 924-7575 or use our confidential online case evaluation form to contact us.

Your consultation is free, and we will not charge you any fees unless you receive a financial recovery.

The car accident lawyers at Abels & Annes have experience representing Chicago drivers and passengers who suffered injuries in car accidents. We will independently investigate your accident and do what is necessary to help you recover. This allows you to concentrate on the important and difficult tasks of healing and getting your life back in order.

Schedule a Free Consultation With a Chicago Car Accident Attorney Today

If you have injuries, request a free consultation or call (312) 924-7575 to speak with our Chicago car accident lawyers today.

Abels & Annes, P.C.

Address: 100 N LaSalle St #1710,
Chicago, IL 60602

Phone: (855) 529-2442

Client Testimonial

<iframe width="200" height="113" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RAJKflK8BlA?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen title="Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer Receives Great Client Review!"></iframe>