Waukegan, Illinois is located about 35 miles north of Downtown Chicago and has a population of around 86,000. It’s the 9th largest city in Illinois, and acts as a major suburb of Chicago. If you’ve been involved in a personal injury accident in Waukegan, the experienced attorneys at Abels & Annes have an office conveniently located near you.
A personal injury claim can be used to pursue necessary compensation due to motor vehicle accidents that result in injuries, such as car accidents, truck accidents, motorcycle accidents, pedestrian accidents, and bicycle accidents. You can also file a claim if you were injured in a slip and fall, medical malpractice, nursing home abuse, daycare abuse, and other incidents that result in injuries because of another party’s negligence.
Personal injury lawsuits play a crucial role in helping injury victims recover from massive medical bills, lost wages from missing time from work, and other expenses that should not be their responsibility.
If you were injured due to another person's negligence, you can hold them responsible and get the compensation you deserve. Contact Abels & Annes in Waukegan today for a free, no-obligation consultation. We work on a contingency fee basis, which means we don't get paid unless you recover money.
Why Should I File A Personal Injury Lawsuit?
When you’re involved in a personal injury accident, you often find yourself with growing medical bills, lost income, emotional trauma, and other expenses that result from your accident and injuries. If your accident was caused because of someone else’s negligence, they should be the ones responsible for paying your bills, not you. Filing a personal injury claim or lawsuit is the only way to make sure that happens.
Being involved in a personal injury accident can change your life. Injuries often have a large effect on the life of victims, whether it be because of a long recovery, a change in your ability to work, pain and suffering, or the loss of a loved one. Pursuing a personal injury case is the best way to hold the other party responsible for their actions and to make sure you are not left holding the bill.
How Do Personal Injury Attorneys Help Their Clients?
Hiring a Waukegan personal injury attorney means that the playing field will be leveled from the moment you sign them on to help with your case. Your attorney will deal with the insurance companies on your behalf, investigate your case, keep you informed on the progress, and file a lawsuit in court if necessary.
The insurance companies all have trained adjusters and lawyers working on their side and you can even things out by finding your own attorney. Some people try to handle their accident case on their own, but if injuries or death are involved, hiring an experienced attorney is the best way to make sure you get the highest amount of compensation possible.
Your attorney will negotiate with the defendant's insurance company–and your own insurance company if necessary–to make sure that you get a fair settlement amount that will cover all your damages and help you to get as much of your life back as possible.
While these are the most important things an attorney does for you, they’re also there to support you during this tough time in your life. An experienced attorney will be able to take the weight off your shoulders so that you can focus on recovering from your injuries, while they worry about the legalities.
Client Testimonial
"I could not recommend Abels & Annes more! I had a great experience working with Connor Quinn after my bicycle accident last June. Connor immediately got back to any questions or concerns I had about my case and thoroughly explained next steps and timing. Would recommend Abels & Annes to anyone that needs a personal injury lawyer." - A. Schwendenman (Nov, 2020) Read more reviews on Google!
★★★★★
What Are the Different Types Of Personal Injury Claims?
Abels and Annes handles all types of personal injury cases. Some of the most common types of personal injury claims include:
Motor Vehicle Accidents: Motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) are one of the most common types of personal injury claims filed in US courts. MVAs include accidents involving cars, semi-trucks, pedestrians, motorcycles, and bicycles. Motor vehicle accidents can also include accidents involving ATVs, boats, and other recreational vehicles.
Motor vehicle accident claims often result when the negligence of a driver causes injuries to an innocent victim(s). Some of the most common causes of MVAs are distracted driving, driving under the influence, reckless and aggressive driving, and speeding.
A motor vehicle accident can be a life-changing experience. The crash itself is often only the beginning of what can be a long and daunting process of recovering from your injuries, filing a claim, determining fault and liability, and getting the compensation you need. Don't go through it alone.
- Waukegan Car Accident Attorneys
- Waukegan Truck Accident Attorneys
- Waukegan Motorcycle Accident Attorneys
- Waukegan Bicycle Accident Attorneys
- Waukegan Pedestrian Accident Attorneys
- Waukegan Slip and Fall Injury Attorneys
- Waukegan Traumatic Brain Injury Attorneys
- Waukegan Neck and Back Injury Attorneys
Slip and Fall Accidents: A slip and fall accident is an encompassing term that refers to a person falling down and getting injured due to the negligence of another party. Slip and falls can occur anywhere: in a grocery store or other business, at a friend’s house, in a rented apartment, or at the workplace. Slips and falls are often caused because of spills that haven’t been cleaned up, loose railings or broken stairs that weren’t fixed, improper training in the workplace, loose floor tiles, unsecured floor mats, or poorly lit areas. There are many different causes of slip and fall accidents, as they can happen almost anywhere, but one common thing they all share is that they could have been prevented if proper steps had been taken to remedy the hazard.
Nursing Home Abuse: Abuse in nursing homes is one of the most devastating things that can happen to a person and their family. It creates a sense of grief, hopelessness and anger, not to mention pain and suffering for the person suffering the abuse. This type of situation can take many forms, such as physical abuse, sexual abuse, mental abuse, and neglect.
Physical abuse refers to the physical harm of a senior, often in the form of pushing, punching, kicking, or other physical acts of violence. Sexual abuse can include rape, inappropriate touching, inappropriate pictures, and anything else that violates the person sexually. Mental abuse involves anything that causes emotional trauma, like yelling or belittling the victim, calling them names, or being verbally aggressive with them. Neglect refers to the act of failing to care for a resident’s needs in general. Seniors in nursing homes are there because they already have a hard time taking care of themselves, and when this assistance is withheld it can cause serious harm. Neglect can include not giving a person their medications, not monitoring eating and drinking habits, not changing the resident’s clothes or sheets, or simply not properly monitoring the senior and letting bed sores develop.
If you believe your loved one has suffered harm due to some type of nursing home abuse, do not wait a moment longer to contact a personal injury attorney to assist you in getting justice.
Child Sexual Abuse: Sexual abuse of a child creates lasting psychological trauma that often persists well into adulthood. Victims of sexual abuse often experience PTSD, depression, anxiety, and all types of emotional disorders long after the incident occurred. Although it is impossible to undo these heinous acts, it is possible for the victim or their family to get compensation for any resulting medical bills and pain and suffering.
If your child was sexually abused–either by clergy, at school, or in an organization–you can pursue compensation for damages.
Medical Malpractice: Medical malpractice occurs when a doctor, nurse, or other hospital staff is negligent and causes significant damages. This can occur because of improper care, misdiagnosis, administering the wrong medication or dosage, discharging too early, making a negligent error during surgery, or anything else that causes unnecessary harm in a healthcare setting. These cases are difficult to pursue, but they are not rare. In fact, a recent Johns Hopkins study shows that medical errors are the third-leading cause of death in the US. If you or a loved one suffered serious harm due to medical malpractice, an experienced attorney can help you get the justice you deserve.
Wrongful Death: Unfortunately, some accidents are so severe that a person dies from their injuries. If a loved one passed away because of injuries they sustained in a personal injury accident, the surviving family members can bring a wrongful death lawsuit. In addition to the emotional trauma of losing a loved one, families are often also left with considerable financial stress from pre-death medical treatment, funeral costs, and the loss of future income. The compensation provided by a wrongful death lawsuit can help ease this financial stress.
How Much Is My Personal Injury Case Worth?
The value of your personal injury case depends on many different factors, but two of the most common are the amount of damages your injuries caused and how much coverage is available from the insurance policies.
First, let’s consider your damages. The value of your case is directly tied to how much economic and non-economic damages your injuries created. For example:
- Medical bills
- Ambulance transportation
- Lost wages
- Pain and suffering
- Future loss of earning capacity
- Future medical bills or costs
- Loss of normal life
- Permanent disability or disfigurement
The severity of your injuries and the impact they’ve had on your life will be considered. This concept is best known as pain and suffering. There is no set rule for determining the value of pain and suffering in a personal injury case, but there are several ways attorneys calculate its value. This includes the severity of your injuries, past jury verdicts and settlements, their experience from other cases, and your medical prognosis.
You also have to consider how much insurance coverage the other party has available. You typically will not get more money than the amount of insurance coverage that exists. Also, depending on the situation, you may be able to seek compensation from both the negligent party's insurance company and your own insurance policy.
An experienced Waukegan personal injury attorney can help you to better understand the value of your case once they know all the facts.
What Kind of Damages Can I Get Compensation For?
Medical Bills: If you’ve suffered an injury due to a personal injury accident, then you will definitely have medical bills that begin accruing almost immediately. The more severe your injuries are, the more likely you are to have significant medical bills. Medical bills can include emergency room visits, visits to doctors and specialists, ambulance rides, surgery costs, mental or physical therapy, and more.
Lost Wages: After your injury, you may be out of work because you’re receiving treatment or recovering from your injuries. You can receive compensation for any wages you lost while you were off work since it was not your fault that you were unable to earn income during that time.
Pain and Suffering: Pain and suffering damages can be hard to estimate, and they can vary greatly from case to case. They’re calculated based on severity of injuries and how much a person’s life has changed after the accident. Things like losing the ability to walk, or being disfigured, or never being able to pick up your grandchild again are examples of pain and suffering. Like we discussed above, there is no objective way to calculate pain and suffering, and the amount is determined in negotiations or by a jury.
Wrongful Death: If someone you love passed away because of their personal injury accident, the surviving family can file a claim to seek damages like medical bills, funeral costs, emotional distress, and other expenses associated with their death.
How Much Does A Personal Injury Lawyer Cost?
At Abels & Annes, we don’t take a fee unless money is recovered for you. You don’t have to pay anything up front, and we’ll only collect our fee if you win your case. This is known as working on a contingency fee basis.
Most personal injury attorneys charge a fixed fee that may vary based on whether or not the case goes to trial. If the case is settled during negotiations pretrial, then most attorneys charge 33⅓ percent (one-third) of the settlement. If the case has to go to trial and be presented to a jury, then some attorneys will still charge the same one-third fee, but others may increase their fee to 40 percent of the verdict. In almost all cases, our law firm charges a one-third fee and does not increase to 40 percent.
Sometimes insurance companies will tell injured victims to avoid paying this fee by taking a quick settlement offer from them. However, a study by the Insurance Research Council showed that people who hire a personal injury attorney recover on average 3.5 times more than they would on their own. This means, even after fees are deducted, that they walk away with significantly more money than they would have if they handled the case on their own. That same study showed that of all the injury victims who received a settlement, 85% of them had an attorney working on their side.
Contact a Waukegan Personal Injury Lawyer
If you or a loved one has been injured due to negligence, contact an experienced Waukegan personal injury attorney today. Hiring an injury attorney can greatly help your chances of winning your case. Your attorney will be able to negotiate a higher settlement on your behalf, and if necessary, argue your case in court. It can be complex to represent yourself, and you may end up damaging your case without even realizing it. That’s why it’s best to have lawyers working on your behalf. At the very least, speak with a personal injury attorney for free and let them give you their opinion on your claim. You really have nothing to lose.
For a free case evaluation, please contact us online, using the chat box below, or by calling us at (224) 998-6007.