Belleville, IL Personal Injury Lawyers

Burger Law fights on behalf of those who are injured because someone else did no respect their safety. If you or a loved one are seriously injured in an accident or incident caused by another person’s actions, Burger Law’s personal injury lawyers in Belleville, IL demand the recovery you are owed and fight for you every step of the way. Call Burger Law now at online form.

To calculate the value of your personal injury claim in Belleville, or anywhere in Illinois, complete our free personal injury calculator.

The negligent parties that hurt you have an obligation to compensate you for all of your damages, but they will not do it willingly. Burger Law’s personal injury lawyer team fights back for the injured against whoever is standing in the way of justice. That includes anything from suing large trucking companies, holding negligent physicians, product manufacturers, dog owners accountable, suing the government, to securing justice and financial security for Belleville residents after a a family member passed too soon. If you have questions about your case, the damages you may be able to recover or other questions regarding personal injury claims, call our personal injury lawyers in Belleville, IL immediately at (618) 500-HURT.

Why Choose Burger Law’s Belleville, IL Personal Injury Lawyers For Your Claim

Choosing the right personal injury lawyer for you is crucial. You want someone with a history of winning similar cases and who you know will not back down from a fight. In order to gauge the abilities of an injury law firm, you need to look at the cases they have won, and their reputation among their clients and peers:

Acclaimed Belleville, IL Personal Injury Lawyers

The many awards and accolades Burger Law has received from other attorneys include:

• Martindale-Hubbell Award — AV Preeminent® Rated by Martindale-Hubbell® from NexisLexis® – a remarkable achievement awarded to not more than 5 percent of all lawyers in the U.S.
• Million and Multi-Million Dollar Advocate Honor — Members of the Million and Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum, an honor only given to 1 percent of attorneys in the United States.
• Top 100 Trial Lawyers Honor — Selected to the Top 100 Trial Lawyers by The National Trial Lawyers, an invitation-only honor that is comprised of the most qualified attorneys in each state.
• Board Certified By the National Board of Trial Advocacy — Board certified in Civil Trial Advocacy and Civil Pretrial Practice Advocacy by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. Fewer than 4 percent of all practicing lawyers are certified by an ABA accredited certification board.

Belleville, IL Personal Injury Cases We Have Won

Our Belleville, IL personal injury lawyers fight for the full rights and recoveries of our clients. We take on all who have hurt our clients, and we fight for a full recovery every time. Our lawyers are committed to giving our clients amazing legal advocacy, and we have great pride in our well-deserved victories. Check out some of our case results for our personal injury clients below:

• $5 Million Settlement – Father Killed By Reckless Truck Driver
• $3 Million Judgment – Son Murdered by Pam Hupp
• $2.5 Million Settlement for Father’s Fatal Car Accident
• From $0 to $2 Million Car Accident Settlement
• $2 Million Settlement – Injured Woman Settles Highway Crash Lawsuit
• $1.435 Million Settlement For Deck Collapse That Injured Couple
• $1 Million Settlement to Family of Man with Sepsis Infection
• Medical Malpractice Case Settles for Over $1 Million
• $900,000 Medical Malpractice Settlement
• $765,000 Settlement After Fatal Collision
• $600,000 Tractor-Trailer Crash
• $600,000 Settlement – Widow in ATV Accident Settles with Property Owner
• Class Action $600,000 Settlement Against the State of Illinois
• $495,000 Uninsured Motorcycle Verdict
• $400,000 Settlement in Employment Discrimination Case
• $350,000 Settlement in Ladder Case

It is still important to note that no two cases are the same, and the financial recovery you receive is going to be based entirely upon the circumstances of your claim. We investigate and calculate the full extent of your damages so that you can make a complete recovery and communicate with you clearly to make sure expectations are aligned.

As the unique individual you are, the kind of lawyer that works for one person may not be the right fit for you. Our philosophy is that carefully selecting the right attorney to represent you upfront can hugely benefit all parties. To help you make that decision, our attorneys make themselves available to talk and answer legal questions for free. Get started by contacting us online now or check out some of these free resources created by our Illinois personal injury lawyers:

• List of Illinois facts, laws and resources
• Free ebooks written by Gary Burger on the ins and outs of various types of personal injury cases and real client success stories
• 500+ informative videos on our YouTube channel @BurgerLaw
• A blog regularly updated with new posts on important legal concepts related to Illinois personal injury law and news

Burger Law Client Testimonials

In addition to the videos below, you can watch more client testimonials here.

Definition of a Personal Injury Claim in Belleville, IL

Under Illinois and U.S. law, you have a right to file a personal injury claim to get monetary reimbursement for the damage done by another person’s negligence, and to achieve justice. The recovery you receive is intended to make you whole. The goal is to put you in the same position you were in before another person injured you.

Sometimes, no outcome in your claim can truly return you to how things were before the injury. While you can be reimbursed for the financial losses you sustained, other damages cannot truly be expressed through dollar signs. If you lost a loved one, you are permanently disabled, are permanently scarred or will have to receive medical treatment for the rest of your life, no legal process can change that. What compassionate and talented personal injury lawyers like those at Burger Law are able to do is secure you fair compensation in order to provide a sense of justice and acknowledgment, and to give you financial security as it relates to your accident.

Do I Need a Personal Injury Lawyer in Belleville, IL?

That depends on the specifics of your case, but most of the time, yes, you will need a personal injury lawyer to recover the full value of your claim in Belleville, IL. The important question is, can they add value to my claim? If your medical expenses are low, you did not miss much time off work and the other party’s fault is clearly established, a lawyer might not be necessary. But, you should hire an attorney in Belleville, IL under the following circumstances:

• There is a dispute about liability, or the insurance company says the injuries are your fault
• The insurance company is denying they have to cover certain damages
• Your injuries are serious and require extensive medical treatment
• There are multiple parties that is liable for your injuries
• Your damages exceed an insurance company’s policy limits

We offer consultations for free, and we are always direct about whether or not it is in your best interest to hire our services. Our personal injury lawyers work on a contingency-fee basis, meaning you only pay after you have received the full compensation you deserve, and there is no reason for us to accept you as a client if we do not think we can significantly increase your final payout.

What Do You Need to Prove to Win a Personal Injury Claim in Belleville, IL?

While the legal specifics concerning negligence and liability can be confusing, whether or not you can seek compensation generally depends on one specific question: were you injured because someone else was negligent? If so, legally speaking you must prove the five elements of negligence:

1. Duty of care — You first need to show that the liable party owed it to you to value your safety. In some cases this is automatic, as Belleville, IL driver owe drivers, passengers and pedestrians a duty of care, or dog owners owe it to others to keep their dog from biting anyone. Other times, a special relationship must have formed, for instance the relationship between a doctor and patient or between a vendor and a buyer.
2. Breach of duty — Did the other party fail in that responsibility? Did a driver hit you while they were distracted? Did a physician misdiagnose a condition? Did a trucking company force their employee to drive longer than regulations allow?
3. Causation — You must demonstrate how the breach of duty caused your injuries. For instance, you sustained a whiplash injury after being rear ended, or were burned by a defective product when it overheated.
4. Proximate cause — This determines who ultimately is at fault. If you were hit by a vehicle, the liable party is usually the driver that hit you. But if the brakes were not safe, a manufacturer or mechanic may be the one who is ultimately liable.
5. Damages — Lastly, you must show that you sustained some form of financial loss as a direct result of your injuries. In most cases damages are medical expenses and lost wages. With access to your medical records, an attorney will be able to establish your financial losses with an insurance company. Once we establish financial losses, we can also seek a financial recovery for less tangible losses.

If you have any doubts about the validity of your claim, speak to a lawyer in Belleville, IL who has won a similar claim before. Get in touch with a personal injury lawyer now at 618-500-HURT (4878).

What Are Common Personal Injury Lawsuits in Belleville, IL?

Being a personal injury lawyer in Belleville, IL requires that you have a vast knowledge of the different types of cases that people deal with. Knowing the difference between the laws and defendants applicable to different types of claims is paramount. A lawyer who only knows how to deal with car insurance companies may not have the experience to take on other cases. At Burger Law, we know how to hold the liable party accountable whenever negligence results in an injury. Cases we specialize in in Belleville and throughout Illinois include:

Auto Accidents

Statistics from the Bureau of Justice Statistics indicate that there are 300,000 to 500,000 personal injury claims every year. Just over half of those result from auto accidents, including car, truck, pedestrian, bicycle, motorcycle, boats, busses and more.

Truck accidents can be especially catastrophic because of the amount of force they carry in an accident, and motorcyclists, bicyclists and pedestrians are all at heightened risk of being severely injured as they do not have the same protection closed-vehicle occupants have. Under 625 ILCS 5/11-1003.1, anyone behind the wheel must “exercise due care” to keep everyone else on the road safe. If someone breaks the rules of the road and you end up hurt, you have an auto accident claim against them.

In some cases, a vehicle manufacturer, construction company or governmental entity may be fully or partially to blame for your injuries. As part of our services, your Burger Law personal injury lawyer will carry out a complete investigation into your claim to find out who and what exactly caused your injuries.

Premises Liability

Proprietors have a duty to take reasonable measures to make sure their property does not carry any risks for people who are not trespassing. If you are injured in a slip and fall because a property was unreasonably dangerous, you can make a premises liability claim. 740 ILCS 130/, also known as the Illinois Premises Liability Act, mandates that proprietors owe a duty of care to people who lawfully enter their property that is “of reasonable care under the circumstances regarding the state of the premises or acts done or omitted on them.” Essentially, if there is a hazardous condition that is not obvious, the owner has a responsibility to either repair the condition, post signage or rope it off. Examples of a dangerous condition on a property include:

• Spills
• A recently mopped floor
• Broken concrete on a walkway
• Broken stairs
• Broken decks and balconies
• Potholes
• Sudden changes in surface level
• Ledges
• Poor lighting
• Black ice
• Wet concrete
• Debris such as litter, fallen leaves and branches, rocks, etc
• Rugs that are not flat
• Electrical cords
• In-ground sprinklers or hardscape features hidden in the grass
• Absence of safety rails

Not all injuries on a property result in a premises liability claim. If you were in a part of a property you were not allowed to be, ignored warning signs, for example a “wet floor sign,” or were running or acting dangerously, it might be hard to get compensation. Successful premises liability claims depend on the following:

• The owner or manager created the dangerous conditions; or
• The owner or manager knew about the danger and failed to repair it; or
• The owner or manager tried to fix the condition and repaired it negligently; or
• The owner or manager should have known about the condition, either because it happens often, had been there for an extended length of time or due to other complaints

A property owner or insurance company in Belleville, IL may tell you they do not owe you anything because they should not have been reasonable expected to repair or warn against the accident or because you are to blame. That is not true, and do not accept any settlement offer until you have spoken to a personal injury lawyer.

Medical Malpractice

According to a 2016 study from John Hopkins University, medical errors cause over a quarter of a million deaths each year. While not all of those amount to negligence, when it does, you can make a medical malpractice claim.

Proving a medical malpractice claim is based on what is known as the standard of care. The standard is how a prudent doctor, in the same area and with the same training as the one you are making a claim against, would treat a specific condition.

Pursuant to 735 ILCS 5/2-622, any medical malpractice claim must be accompanied by an affidavit from a health professional who:

• is knowledgeable in the relevant issues of the claim
• practices or teaches the same field as the negligent doctor, or has practiced or taught in that field within the last six years
• is qualified to review the facts of your case, and determines your claim is “reasonable and meritorious”

It is vital that the health professional who writes the affidavit has the same training and practices in the same area as the health professional you are making a claim against. A neurologist in Chicago is held to a different standard of care than a pediatrician in Camden, Maine. Burger Law has a network of expert witnesses in Belleville and in other parts of Illinois who can corroborate your claim.

Common instances of medical malpractice in Belleville, IL include:

• Nursing home abuse
• Birth injuries
• Misdiagnosis and failure to diagnosis
• Forgetting to remove objects during surgery
• Hospital communication errors
• Lack of consent
• Failing to order tests that a prudent doctor would
• Ignoring a patient’s complaints
• Not changing course when their treatment plan is not working
• Prescription errors

Dog Bites

Each day, almost 1,000 people seek emergency care for dog bites, and annually dog bites lead to about 12,600 hospitalizations. According to a Chicago Tribune article, Illinois insurance companies pay out the second-most money for dog bites than any state in the country.

510 ILCS 5/, the Illinois Animal Control Act, mandates that a dog owner is strictly liable for your damages if it bit you, as long as you did not provoke it and were not trespassing. “Strict liability” means that the owner is liable as a matter of law and you do not have to prove negligence. This means, the owner cannot get out of paying you by saying they did not know the dog was aggressive, or that it was not their fault the animal got free.

While some dog bites lead to only superficial wounds, others can lead to expensive surgeries or permanent scarring. In any case, you likely need an experienced and skilled Belleville, IL personal injury lawyer to ensure you get the best possible compensation you are owed.

Product Liability

Strict liability also applies to anyone involved in the chain of distribution of a defective product. There are generally three theories a personal injury lawyer will use to make a product liability claim in Belleville, IL:

1. Design defect — This is a defect that was present when the product was initially designed. This could include an SUV that is prone to rollover accidents, or an electrical appliance that melts when turned on high.
2. Manufacturing defect — This type of defect usually occurs to only one or several individual products, instead of every product with the same design. Examples include rat droppings getting caught in packaging, or improperly attached electrical outlets.
3. Failure to warn — This refers to labeling that does not mention certain risks when the product is put to foreseeable use. For example, a medication that does not include certain side-effects in the labeling.

In order to make a product liability claim, you must show that the product carried inherent risks when used in a foreseeable manner, that it was the proximate cause of injuries and that you had not significantly modified the product.

Burger Law’s personal injury lawyers know how to get great results whenever someone was injured through no fault of their own. One of the great parts of choosing a Burger Law Belleville, IL personal injury lawyer is that our team takes on all types of personal injury claims, and this actually gives our lawyers exceptional experience that they can use to benefit all their clients. Having experience with each type of claim gives our team the perfect understanding of how to fight for our clients’ rights and recoveries.

What Is the Personal Injury Claims Process in Belleville, IL?

The journey to securing maximum compensation for your injuries starts the second you are injured. While some cases only take a few months, others go completely through to a jury trial. Generally, the path to getting compensation consists of:

• Getting Medical Treatment — Get medical treatment as soon as possible after an injury, and keep attending all treatments that your physician recommends. Waiting too long could bring complications to your claim, and not getting the full treatment will reduce both your economic and noneconomic damages. Our personal injury lawyers work with several experienced Belleville, IL health professionals who can ensure you recover physically as best as possible.
• Speaking With an Attorney — Even if you are not sure you are going to need to hire a lawyer, you need to know what your options are as soon as possible. A good attorney will be straightforward with you about whether or not their services are needed.
• Investigation and Documentation — Once you have retained a lawyer’s services, your personal injury lawyer will conduct a comprehensive investigation into your claim, determine every liable party and acquire the evidence they need to get you the best possible financial recovery. You can help by keeping detailed records of your expenses related to your injuries, and how keeping a journal detailing how your injuries have affected your life.
• Settlement Demand and Negotiations — Once we know how much your claim is worth, we will send a settlement demand package to those who are liable for compensating you. In the package we will include full documentation of all of your damages, and demand a financial recovery for all the ways your injuries have affected you. Most of the time, they will respond with a lower offer, and there will be several back-and-forth’s until they agree to pay for all of your damages.
• Filing a Lawsuit — If negotiations do not lead anywhere, we will file a lawsuit in court, which begins the formal process of your claim going to trial. During this time, we will continue negotiating in an effort to avoid a trial.
• Mediation — Mediation is often the last chance for a settlement before trial. In mediation, an objective third party listens to arguments from both sides and tries to get everyone to reach an agreement.
• Pre-Trial — If mediation still does not result in a fair settlement, the “discovery” phase begins. In discovery, we will speak to eyewitnesses and expert witnesses, obtain more evidence and both parties will share with the other what they plan to use as evidence in trial.
• Trial — Only six percent of personal injury claims go to trial. In fact, we often finally get the settlement we were seeking in the weeks immediately before trial. However, if the insurance company refuses to do the right thing, the case will go in front of a judge and jury. Trial consists of:
  • Jury selection
  • Opening statements
  • Testimony and cross-examination
  • Closing arguments
  • Jury instruction
  • Jury deliberation and verdict

Most of our Belleville, IL clients have never been through the personal injury claims process before, and do not know what to expect. Burger Law will be by your side every step of the way, keep you up to date on the status of your claim and oversee all documentation, negotiation and litigation so you can spend your energy on your physical recovery.

How Much Is My Personal Injury Claim in Belleville, IL Worth?

In general, there are two types of damages you can be compensated for in a personal injury claim: economic damages and non-economic damages:

• Economic damages compensate you for your financial losses resulting from your injuries, including:
  • Lost wages
  • Lost earning potential if your injuries result in permanent disability
  • Medical expenses, past and future
  • Out-of-pocket expenses
• Non-economic damages compensate you for the less tangible aspects of your injuries, including:
  • Pain and suffering
  • Stress and anxiety
  • Loss of ability to enjoy life
  • Scarring and disfigurement
  • Inconvenience
  • Physical impairment
  • Loss of consortium

In some cases, we may also be able to pursue punitive damages if the negligent party’s conduct was purposefully harmful or grossly negligent. Examples can include a drunk driver, or a doctor who performs surgery after drinking. While punitive damages are rarely awarded, your Burger Law personal injury lawyer will pursue every legal avenue We can to maximize your compensation.

What Is the Time Limit for Personal Injury Claims in Belleville, IL?

In Illinois, the statute of limitations is relatively short at two years for most personal injury claims, under 735 ILCS 5/. That means you must file a claim within two years of when the injury occurred. However, there are three important exceptions:

1. If you were under 18 when the injury occurred, you have two years to file a claim after your 18th birthday.
2. If you were under a “legal disability” when the injury occurred, you have two years from the date the disability was “removed.”
3. In medical malpractice cases, you have two years from the date you discovered the injury or could reasonably have been expected to discover the injury. No medical malpractice claim can be made more than four years after the injury occurred, unless you were under 18. Then you would have until your 22nd birthday.

While two years may seem like a long time, thoroughly investigating an injury and developing a legal strategy takes time. Do not delay in speaking to an attorney. Call a personal injury lawyer today at (618) 500-HURT.

Other cases we handle in Belleville, IL include:

• Personal injury
• Car accident
• Truck accident
• Wrongful death
• Motorcycle accident
• Dog bite

Speak to Personal Injury Lawyer in Belleville, IL Now

Burger Law’s Belleville, IL personal injury lawyers hold ourselves to the standard of zealous representation. That means we get started on your case immediately, pursue every legal option we have, fight back against insurance companies on your behalf and do not let down until you receive the full compensation you are owed. We offer the highest level of legal representation; all of our advice will be sincere and in your best interest, but we always leave the ultimate decisions on your claim to you and your family. You do not have to pay for someone else’s careless actions. To start on your road to true recovery, call a Burger Law Illinois personal injury lawyer now at (618) 500-HURT or contact us online for a free consultation.