Injury Lawyer Mount Vernon, IL

Injury Lawyer in Mount Vernon, IL. If you were injured by someone else’s negligence, the Mount Vernon, IL injury lawyer firm of Burger Law will offer the highest standard of legal advocacy to get you the recovery you deserve. Speak to an attorney now at (312) 500-HURT or fill out our online form for a complimentary case evaluation.

The rules that govern us as a society are in place so that we can no one is injured or wronged. But there are always wrongdoers, whether by negligence or intentionally bad behavior, are responsible for injuring others. When that happens, there is a legal recourse. However, too often people do not want to take responsibility for their actions and insurance defense attorneys do not want to compensate you as they are bound to. That is when Burger Law’s Mount Vernon, IL injury lawyer team will take up your case and aggressively pursue every legal option to get justice. We have built a reputation among Mount Vernon, IL insurance companies for not accepting anything but the full compensation you are owed. We start investigating and litigating your case from the moment you hire us, and do not rest until justice is served.

Begin your journey to a full recovery right away. An injury happens in an instant and leads to a lot of anxiety about when your life will get back to normal, and if you are going to be able to be present for your Mount Vernon, IL family. At Burger Law, our injury lawyers deal with tough injury cases. We know how to hold liable parties accountable. With our compassionate legal representation, you will always know the status of your claim. We handle all documentation, negotiation and litigation so you can spend your energy on recovering. Even if you just want to know if the insurance company is being fair, we answer questions for free every day. Get in touch with an injury lawyer today at (312) 500-HURT.

If you believe you have a personal injury claim in Mount Vernon or anywhere in Illinois, discover the value of your claim by filling out our free personal injury calculator.

Common Cases our Injury Lawyers Take in Mount Vernon, IL

The Mount Vernon, IL injury lawyers of Burger Law have experience getting great compensation in all kinds of personal injury claims, including:

• Auto accidents, such as:
  • Car accidents
  • Trucking accidents
  • Motorcycle crashes
  • Bus accidents
  • Fatal car accidents
  • Drunk driving accidents
  • Distracted driving accidents
  • Hit-and-run accidents
• Slip and falls and other premises liability claims
• Product liability
• Dog bite
• Medical malpractice, such as:
  • Nursing home negligence
  • Birth injuries
  • Misdiagnosis and failure to diagnosis
  • Leaving objects in after surgery
  • Hospital system errors
• Construction accidents

If your life was touched by a nightmare, we stand by the side of Mount Vernon, IL families who lost a loved one in a wrongful death.

Who Can My Mount Vernon, IL Injury Lawyer Hold Liable?

After a thorough investigation, your injury lawyer will determine who may be held responsible through a variety of types of liability. Different types of liability cases your Mount Vernon, IL injury lawyer at Burger Law has pursued are:

• Ordinary negligenceIt is likely that your claim will be based on ordinary negligence. Examples of this could be someone texting and driving or otherwise driving distracted or fix clearly dangerous conditions on their property. While the behavior may not be appalling, those people still broke the rules and need to compensate you for your injuries.
• Gross negligenceThe supreme court of Illinois has defined gross negligence as “a course of action which … shows an utter indifference to or a conscious disregard for a person’s own safety and the safety of others” (Resolution Trust Corp. v. Franz, 909 F. Supp. 1128 (N.D. Ill. 1995)). Examples of gross negligence include recklessly driving into oncoming traffic, a doctor leaving an instrument in after surgery or a nursing home neglecting to provide residents with enough food and water.

  There are two important facets of gross negligence in Illinois: First, it opens up an avenue to seek punitive damages, which puts more money in your pocket. Second, most government entities and public employees in Illinois have sovereign immunity unless they committed gross negligence, according to 50 ILCS 750/15.1.

• Vicarious liabilityIn personal injury cases, vicarious liability occurs when a “supervisory party,” such as how an employer is liable for their employees, take responsibility for the actions of the people under them if it occurred in the natural course of their employment. For example, if a restaurant worker spills a liquid and does not clean it up or put down a “wet floor” sign. In that circumstance, the employee was negligent, but the employer is liable.
• Third-party liabilityThird-party liability is often an avenue for higher compensation in workers’ compensation claims. In workers’ compensation, the injured employee automatically gets a recovery calculated how that state mandates, in exchange for not being able to sue their employer. However, more compensation may be available if someone besides your employer caused or contributed to your accident. For instance, you can file a claim against a driver if they hit you while you were working in a construction zone.

  While Burger Law’s injury lawyers do not take workers’ compensation claims in Mount Vernon, IL, call us if you believe a third party contributed to your injuries.

• Strict liabilityIn strict liability, an entity is liable for your injuries flowing from an activity even if they bear no fault. This type of liability is most commonly used against pet owners who are responsible for animal bites and manufacturers and vendors being responsible for any harm their products cause or someone who carries out an ultrahazardous activity, for example the miskeeping of toxic waste.
• Negligent EntrustmentNegligent entrustment occurs when one person trusts another person to do something or use a device when they are not capable. This is common in car accidents, if a vehicle owner allows someone to drive their care even when they knew the other person was too young to drive.

Your Burger Law injury lawyer in Mount Vernon, IL pursues every person who could possibly be liable. Holding multiple parties accountable is essential when the main defendant has policy limits.

Proving Your Mount Vernon, IL Injury Claim

It is more likely than not that your injury claim will be based on negligence. While tort law is always evolving, currently there are five factors to proving negligence in a personal injury claim:

1. Duty of Care — The defendant had a duty to act in a reasonable manner to prevent causing injury. Examples include another driver in a car, a healthcare professional whose care you were under or a proprietor who has an obligation to keep their property safe.
2. Breach of Duty — That the party with a duty of care failed or were negligent in that duty. Was the driver not looking before going through an intersection? Did a doctor not run all they tests the should have to confirm a diagnosis? Was the property manager aware of a loose wiring but blow off fixing it?
3. Cause in Fact — That the breach of duty caused your injury. Were you hit head-on, causing a whiplash injury? Did you need costly emergency surgery?? Did you slip on black ice and break your collarbone?
4. Proximate Cause — This ultimately determines who is liable. Did a doctor not order a test they should have, or did the person conducting the test not perform it correctly?
5. Damages — If you want to make a claim against someone, you must demonstrate that harm was done. That can be emergency room bills, or emotional and physical harm such as pain and suffering.

Our Mount Vernon, IL Injury Lawyers Demand That You Receive a Full Financial Recovery For Injuries

Some injury claims are more complicated than others. Maybe you were injured by an uninsured driver or the entity that designed and produced a defective product no longer exists. Or maybe you will need medical care for the rest of your life. Whatever complications you may have in your case, our injury lawyers have seen it before and will not back down until you get the full financial recovery you deserve. Injuries can happen in an instant and we have committed our practice to helping people get justice for anything from minor to severe injuries, including:

• Head injuries
• Back, neck and spine injuries
• Spinal cord injuries
• Eye injuries
• Sepsis infections
• Internal injuries
• Burns
• Fractures
• Amputated limbs
• Paralysis
• Dislocations
• PTSD

Whether your injuries resulted in just a brace and a month of physical therapy or will cause you to need lifelong medical care, you should not have to pay for the damage somebody else caused. Call Burger Law today at (312) 500-HURT.

How Much Compensation Can I Receive for My Injuries in in Mount Vernon, IL?

Your compensation will be broken into two types of damages — known as compensatory damages — and those are economic damages and noneconomic damages. They attempt to calculate a dollar amount equal to the financial, emotional and physical harm you have been caused.

Economic Damages

These compensate you for your direct financial losses. They include:

• All of your medical expenses related to the accident, such as emergency room bills, any surgeries, chiropractic visits and assistive devices such as home or vehicle modification. They also include future medical expenses, such as if you had a knee replacement after your accident and will need another one in the future.
• Lost wages from time off work recovering, or your loss of earning potential if can no longer work.
• Property damage, such as your mechanics’ bills or if your cell phone was broken in a slip and fall.
• Out-of-pocket expenses related to the injury such as daycare and the cost of transportation you spent going to and from medical appointments.

In cases where you will have future economic damages, your Mount Vernon, IL injury lawyer at Burger Law will utilize their network of medical professionals and economic experts to calculate how much compensation that requires, adjusted for inflation.

Noneconomic Damages

These compensate you for the way your injuries have affected you that you cannot put a dollar amount on. Typically, your total compensatory damages are your economic damages multiplied by a number between 1.5 and 5 to account for your noneconomic damages. Commonly called pain and suffering, noneconomic damages compensate you for:

• The physical pain your injuries caused you
• Any disfigurement
• Loss of capacity to enjoy life
• Mental anguish or depression
• Loss of companionship or affection from your partner because of your injuries

In claims concerning especially egregious negligence or misconduct, you may be able to recover punitive damages as well. For example, when we sue drunk drivers, we often seek punitive damages so they are further punished and deterred.

How the Injury Claim Process Works in Mount Vernon, IL

Immediately after being injured, your first steps need to be to go to urgent care or your primary care physician and report the injury. If your injuries were not significant and liability is clear, you might not need an injury lawyer to negotiate a settlement with an insurance adjuster. But But you should always at least consult with an injury lawyer in Mount Vernon, IL to see if the settlement offer is fair. If the insurance company refuses to play ball and you decide to get a lawyer, that attorney will then guide you through the claims process. Do not stop going to your chiropractic or physical therapy appointments until you reach your maximum medical improvement.

Your Injury Lawyer Conducts an Investigation Into Your Claim

We will collect any evidence you have such as photos or eyewitness names and numbers, and then your Burger Law injury lawyer in Mount Vernon, IL will perform an exhaustive investigation into your injury to get video surveillance, police reports and more. We will consult with expert witnesses to help prove liability and describe how another’s negligence caused your injuries. Lastly, we will ascertain what medical treatment you may need in the future, how your injuries will affect your ability to make a living and how they have affected your ability to enjoy life in order to determine what a maximum financial recovery is in your case.

Your Injury Lawyer Sends a Demand Package and Begins Negotiations

After determining how much money you are owed, we will send the liable party a demand package, which includes proof of all your damage and the other party’s liability. This begins the negotiation stage of your injury claim. Most insurance companies try to take advantage of people and not pay them the full financial recovery they are owed. Insurance adjusters will try to utilize a lot of tricks, but your Mount Vernon, IL injury lawyer at Burger Law knows how to combat them.

In the best case scenarios, negotiation results in a fair settlement. But if not, your claim proceeds to the litigation phase.

Your Injury Lawyer Begins Litigation

Burger Law is begins litigation earlier on in the process than most other Mount Vernon, IL injury lawyer firms. We want to put the insurance company on their heels. Filing a lawsuit begins a process that may end in your case going to trial. A settlement is never off the table, and a lot of times, filing suit will motivate the insurance company to finally offer a fair settlement.

The Discovery Phase Begins

The discovery phase is the formal process of sharing information with the other side to prevent an “ambush trial”. Your Mount Vernon, IL injury lawyer and the insurance company’s lawyer will exchange information about what evidence they will present and what witnesses they will call at trial. Depositions will be held — an out-of-court statement made under oath — of everyone involved in or who witnessed the accident or injury.

Your Injury Lawyer Begins Mediation and Continues Negotiating

Mediation is the last chance for an injury claim to be settled before going to trial. In it, a trained mediator who acts as a neutral third party, listens to arguments from both sides. The mediator does not decide what happens in the case, but they can help an unfair insurance company see reason .

Trial and Verdict

Mediation often works, but in rare cases it does not. We have had several cases where the liable party finally decides to be reasonable on the eve of trial. However, if your injury lawyer and the other side’s attorney are at a complete impasse, the case will go to trial. Burger Law’s injury lawyers have over 30 years of experience as Mount Vernon, IL trial attorneys and know how to fight for your compensation from voir dire to cross-examinations and closing arguments. In a recent case, we were able to secure a $133.7 million jury verdict on behalf of Missouri correctional officers.

Resolving Liens

Your Burger Law injury lawyer’s job is not over after you are awarded maximum compensation. In Illinois personal injury law, anyone who treated you or paid for treatment, such as a doctor or your health insurance, can make a claim to a portion of your financial recovery for reimbursement. We use the law stipulated in Illinois Health Care Services Lien Act to continue fighting for you and resolve those liens so you get the most amount of money in your pocket.

How Long Do I Have to File an Injury Claim in Mount Vernon, IL?

Each state has its own set statute of limitations, and Illinois’ is much shorter than other states at just two years, under 735 ILCS 5/13-202. The countdown starts the day that you are injured. However, other statutes in Illinois do allow for some exceptions:

• 735 ILCS 5/13-208 — If the party you were making a claim against leaves the state of Illinois, the the clock is paused until they return to the state.
• 735 ILCS 5/13-211 — If the injured party was a minor or under a “legal disability” listed in 5 ILCS 70/1.06, you have until two years after the 18th birthday or are no longer under the disability.
• 735 ILCS 5/13-212 — In medical malpractice, the deadline is extended until two years after you discovered or should have discovered the injury to file a claim. However, the extension cannot go beyond four years unless you had an extension under the 735 ILCS 5/13-211.
• 740 ILCS 180/2 — In wrongful death cases, you have two years from the date of death, not the date of the accident. If the death was due to “violent intentional conduct,” you have five years from the date of death or one year after the criminal case is completed, whichever is later.

Even if you think two years is enough time, claims take time and you should never delay in speaking to an attorney. If you were harmed because of the misdeeds of another, speak to a Burger Law injury lawyer in Mount Vernon, IL today at (312) 500-HURT.

How Much Does it Cost to Hire an Injury Lawyer in Mount Vernon, IL?

You never need to worry about being able to afford an injury lawyer. Burger Law works on a contingency fee basis: our payment depends on how much your recover is, and you only pay when you receive the full compensation you deserve. That means there is no barrier to pursuing the medical care you need, and you only have to go back to work when you can perform the tasks of your job safely. You can spend your energy on healing and do not need to worry about how much legal representation costs.

Other cases we take on in Mount Vernon, IL include:

• Survival Action Lawyer in Illinois
• Truck Crash Lawyers in Illinois
• Wrongful Death Lawyers in Illinois
• Semi-Truck Accident Lawyer in Illinois
• Car Accident Attorney in Illinois

CALL BURGER LAW NOW

Mount Vernon, IL Injury Claim Lawyer | Burger Law

Injuries are always unexpected and often result in immediate physical, financial and emotional burdens for the injured party and their family. But this too shall pass. Every Mount Vernon, IL injury lawyer at Burger Law has committed their lives to serving the injured and vulnerable by fighting back against the wrongdoers. In our 30 years practicing law we have secured our clients over $180 million in verdicts and settlements. For the the best possible results in your case, get in touch with a Burger Law Mount Vernon, IL injury lawyer at (312) 500-HURT or fill out the contact form on our website for a free case review.

Client Reviews

What our clients are saying about us

Juanita Matthews

Year of 2023

This law firm is absolutely amazing. They took on my case, when nobody else would! They fought hard for me when it seemed there was no hope. They kept me informed and always asked for my input before making decisions on my case. Gary puts himself into every case unlike most law firm owners. Gary and his team really care about every one of their clients, and fights hard to get you a fair settlement. They actually won my case out of court, and then reduced my fees to make sure I could get my car fixed and be able to get back to some normality. I would recommend Burger Law over and above any other firm! If you go somewhere else you aren’t getting the best!

Shaunda S.

7 months ago

I am very happy with the staff at Burger Law. I mostly worked with Michael Sheldon, and he did an amazing job. I trusted him completely with my case, and he did not disappoint. I would definitely recommend this team if your ever in need of good attorneys.

Emelia M.

3 months ago

Burger Law Firm is fantastic. Laura and Genevieve were so amazing and helpful throughout the entire process. They helped me with my personal injury case every step of the way and succeeded at getting me the results I desired.

Helen L.

a year ago

We had a great experience with Burger Law for representing us after a serious car accident. Truly impressed by how professional and supportive the entire team is. And, many thanks to Genavieve and Laura – you are amazing!

Judy M.

a year ago

They did an amazing job on my case! Communication with them was great!!! Kept me informed and in the loop with everything that was going on!!! Will definitely be the 1st ones I’ll call if ever I’m in another accident!!! Thank you very much!!!

Chelsea C.

5 months ago

Let me tell you something about Burger Law.. they are so attentive and kind. Jennifer is my savior!! I love the whole team!!! They are truly a miracle team!! I appreciate their business and would recommend it to others.

David D.

2 months ago

Absolutely the best law firm in the St. Louis area. No matter the size of your case you are treated as if you are the only client on the roster. Will explain anything thoroughly and they work around your availability. Very impressed and appreciative of the service.

Lisa B.

11 months ago

Gary and Casey took great care of me for 2.5 years as my lawsuit was finally settled. I feel he helped me achieve justice for me and my 4 children after their father died from medical malpractice and neglect. Thanks to Gary, my kids now have a great start to their college and adult lives. Thank you Gary and Casey, for fighting for us so hard at our most trying and difficult time in our lives thus far. Love and God bless from my family to yours!

View More Reviews on Google Maps and Yelp