While most Illinois drivers know the need to drive defensively and pay attention at all times, some don’t. Accidents often occur due to reckless driving, drunk driving, fatigue, or inattention. Unfortunately, victims frequently sustain major injuries, necessitating lengthy hospital stays and recuperation times.
After an accident, you don’t want to be left worrying about how to provide for your family if you’re out of work and dealing with high medical bills. Fortunately, Illinois law allows you to receive compensation from the negligent party.
An O’Fallon car accident attorney from Morelli Law Firm can help you with your claim. We understand money can’t make everything better. But it can at least provide you with a relative sense of financial ease, allowing you to focus on recovery and getting back on your feet.
Filing Insurance Claims After a Car Accident in O’Fallon, IL
One of the best ways to recover compensation to cover your losses after an accident in O’Fallon is to have your auto accident attorney begin the process of recovering compensation for you. There are two ways to do this:
- Notify your insurance company
- File an insurance claim with the at-fault party’s insurance company
Contacting Insurance
When you reach out to your insurance provider, they will begin the claims process, which often involves contacting the at-fault party’s insurance provider and seeking compensation from the liable party’s insurance provider.
However, your lawyer may contact the liable party’s insurer directly. Please note that the insurance company is going to try to assign blame to you in a bid to either underpay you or deny your claims.
This is why it’s best to let your lawyer handle the claims process on your behalf. Your attorney will fight to get you a satisfactory settlement offer. And if the insurance provider refuses to settle, your lawyer can file an injury lawsuit with the courts. This way, you can truly get appropriate compensation for your injuries and recover your losses.
Proving Negligence in a Car Accident Case in Illinois
A crucial part of recovery in an injury claim is establishing fault. As per the Illinois modified comparative negligence rule, the at-fault party has to be at least 50 percent responsible for the accident and subsequent injuries.
So, even if you’re partly at fault for the injuries but are less than 50 percent responsible, you will be able to get your compensation. How much you’ll receive will be subject to your degree of culpability.
For instance, if you’re awarded a $100,000 settlement, but were found to be 30 percent liable, you’ll only receive 70 percent, which is $70,000. Because the insurance companies are aware of this rule, they will likely try to push some of the liability to you.
If You Are More Than 50% at Fault
If you are found to be more than 50 percent responsible, you could forfeit your claim or have it denied.
The best way to ensure that the insurance firms do not foist the bulk of the responsibility on you and get your fair compensation, is to have a competent attorney handle the claims process and prove that the liable party was more responsible–if not totally responsible–for the wreck and your pain.
O’Fallon Car Accident Lawyer Near Me 877-751-9800
Compensation for Car Accident Victims in O’Fallon, IL
The essence of every car accident insurance claim is financial recovery. Victims of auto crashes in Illinois can recover the following damages when they file a compensation claim:
- Medical costs: This covers all medical and healthcare expenses.
- Loss of income: This is meant to help replace your income from work while you’re hospitalized and unable to work.
- Property damage: This will cover the cost of vehicle repairs or replacement.
- Reduced capacity to earn an income: If the crash affects your income earning capacity, this will help make up the difference.
- Loss of future earning potential: If the accident affected you so much that you can’t earn as much you’d ordinarily have in the future, this will cover it.
- Out-of-pocket costs: If there are additional costs like household maintenance costs arising from your inability to carry out regular activities that’ll maintain your home.
- Pain and suffering: There’s a considerable amount of pain and trauma that often follows a car crash. You can get compensation for them if your attorney can prove it.
- Mental distress: This will cover all forms of treatment for mental anxiety that’s brought on by the accident.
- PTSD and depression: Covers psychiatric treatments and medications that’ll help you cope with these conditions.
- Temporary or permanent disability: If you are disabled temporarily or permanently and unable to work or carry out regular life activities, this compensation will take care of that.
- Disfigurement and scarring: If you’re scarred or disfigured from the accident, you could get some compensation for that.
- Loss of companionship: This applies if a victim dies from the injuries they sustained in the accident or the person is unable to function as a partner.
- Loss of consortium: Similar to loss of companionship, but includes other aspects of a relationship that are affected by the accident.
Depending on the circumstances of your case, your car accident attorney in O’Fallon, IL, can identify the damages that you can claim and file them on your behalf. But to increase your chances of getting maximum compensation, you have to file the claim within the stipulated two-year deadline outlined in 735 ILCS § 5/13-202.
Talk to an Experienced O’Fallon Car Accident Lawyer
While you can try to recover the compensation all by yourself, the reality is it’s much easier when you allow an experienced O’Fallon car accident lawyer to do the heavy lifting. At Morelli Law Firm, our auto accident attorneys are experienced and familiar with the auto accident compensation claims process.
We have helped many clients like yourself recover satisfactory results. And where the insurance companies were unwilling to pay, we initiated legal actions against them and won the case in court. If you want to win and increase your chances of getting a lot of money as compensation, we can help. Contact us today for a free case evaluation.