Carbondale Personal Injury Lawyer

It is devastating to get in a vehicle accident, suffer catastrophic injuries, or lose a loved one due to someone’s negligence and mistake. No matter how hard you try, it’s difficult to understand the arbitrary randomness of it all, particularly if you’ve been a good and law-abiding citizen. 

Yet, this happens all the time in Carbondale, IL. People are injured or killed because someone either didn’t do what they were supposed to do or intentionally hurt others through their actions or inactions. What’s worse is that the injured also have to find ways to pay for their treatment and foot all other accompanying bills.

If you or your loved one has been hurt by another, you may be able to get some financial reprieve in the form of compensation. You can focus on getting well and recovering while Morelli Law’s experienced personal injury lawyers in Carbondale fight to get you a satisfactory settlement. 

Do You Have a Personal Injury Case in Carbondale, Illinois?

Not all injuries can be classified as personal injury. To file a personal injury lawsuit, you must’ve been hurt or injured by another person’s or entity’s actions, errors, negligence, or carelessness. Some incidents that qualify as personal injury cases include:

• Passenger car crashes
• Truck wrecks
• Injuries from defective products
• Slip and fall incidents
• Dog bites
• Construction accidents
• Injuries at the workplace – the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that there were almost 107,000 non-fatal work-related injuries in 2020 
• Injuries sustained at the hospital as a result of a medical practitioner’s negligence

So, if you were involved in one or more of these scenarios, you have the right to file a personal injury lawsuit. You’ll also have to prove that the defendant was negligent in their actions, which is why you or your loved one was hurt. 

Also, your personal injury lawyer will have to show that your injuries were bad enough to warrant compensation or reimbursement. 

Proving Negligence in a Carbondale Personal Injury Lawsuit

A vital component of a personal injury claim is proving negligence. And doing this means that your case must have the following elements:

• Duty – This means that the defendant had a duty to act with reasonable care so that you and/or your loved one are safe within reason.
• Breach – That, due to negligence, carelessness, errors, or recklessness, they acted in a way that put you in harm’s way and endangered your life.
• Causation – That their actions or inactions led to injuries or death.
• Damages – That the injuries or death resulted in significant losses in the form of treatment costs, funeral expenses, property damage, and other associated costs.

A Carbondale personal injury Lawyer will attempt to prove this by:

• Investigating your report
• Gathering evidence
• Talking to witnesses and bystanders
• Building a case
• Identifying all liable parties
• Examining damaged properties if any

If your lawyer is able to establish the defendant’s liability, the lawyer will file a personal injury lawsuit seeking to recover your losses. 

Please note that you only have two years from the date of the injury to file a claim for personal injuries, as outlined in Illinois statutes 735 ILCS 5/13-202. The only exception to the two-year time limit is if the injury wasn’t discovered until much later. 

In this instance, the discovery rule can extend the length of time within which you can file an injury claim. For example, if you developed a herniated disc five years after your accident, and you can trace the injury to that accident, you have two years from the day you discovered the injury to file a compensation claim. 

Whatever the case, you’ll need to commence the process of filing your claims as quickly as you can. Otherwise, your claim can be denied if you fail to meet that deadline. If you have any questions about this, feel free to contact our Carbondale injury lawyers for more information. 

What Damages Can You Recover From a Carbondale Personal Injury Claim?

There are two categories of recoverable damages available to living victims in an Illinois personal injury lawsuit:

Economic Damages

This covers all injuries, damages, and costs that you can put a price tag on. These usually include:

• Lost wages for the days that you spent recovering instead of being at work
• Reduced earning capacity if the injuries and recovery process prevents you from working your regular hours or advancing in your career.
• Property damages cover all items lost, damaged, or broken in the accident.
• Cost of past, present, and future medical treatments that you might need. 
• Household care expenses for when you can’t carry out your regular home maintenance activities and have to hire someone to do it.

Non-Economic Damages

This typically covers injuries that you can’t really put a cash value on. These include:

• Pain and suffering
• Mental anguish
• Emotional distress
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Loss of society 
• Loss of companionship if the accident affected your personal relationship with your partner

Wrongful Death Damages in Carbondale, IL

If you lost a loved one to injuries sustained in an accident, there are certain damages that you might be able to claim. These are:

• Loss of consortium
• Loss of companionship
• Funeral and burial expenses
• Cost of medical treatment up till your loved one’s demise

Our Practice Areas

At Morelli Law Firm, our Carbondale personal injury lawyers can help you claim compensation for your injuries if your case falls into the following practice areas:

• Car accidents
• Truck accidents
• Workers’ compensation
• Premises liability
• Slip and fall 
• Medical malpractice
• Defective drugs
• Brain injury
• Construction accidents
• Nursing home abuse
• Sexual harassment
• Wrongful death

Talk to Experienced Carbondale Personal Injury Lawyers

Personal injury cases in Carbondale, IL can be either straightforward and simple or complex and lengthy. It all depends on the context, the cause of the injuries, and the incident. Car accidents, for instance, don’t take as much time to resolve as truck accidents. 

You need experienced Carbondale personal injury lawyers who can handle any of these case types. At Morelli Law Firm, our lawyers are very capable, experienced, and committed to getting great results for our clients. 

So far, we have recovered over $1 billion in settlement money for our clients. We can help you do the same too. So, contact us today for a free case evaluation.