Personal Injury Lawyer in Carpentersville, IL

Burger Law defends the rights of those who get hurt because someone else broke the rules. If you or someone you love has been injured all because someone else behaved recklessly or irresponsibly, Burger Law’s personal injury lawyers in Carpentersville, IL demand the recovery you are owed and fight for you every step of the way. Reach out to Burger Law now at (779) 800-HURT or contact us online.

If you want to know how much your personal injury claim may be worth in Carpentersville, or anywhere in Illinois, complete our complimentary personal injury calculator.

The negligent people that injured 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 hard for our clients against whoever is standing in the way of justice. That includes anything from suing large trucking companies, holding negligent doctors, product manufacturers, dog owners responsible, taking the fight to City Hall, to securing justice and financial security for a family after the wrongful death of a family member. If you have questions about your case, what compensation you are owed or other questions regarding personal injury claims, call our personal injury lawyers in Carpentersville, IL immediately at (779) 800-HURT.

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

Choosing the right personal injury lawyer for your case 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 take into account the cases they have won, and their reputation among their clients and other attorneys:

Acclaimed Carpentersville, IL Personal Injury Lawyers

The many awards and honors Burger Law has received from other law firms include:

• Martindale-Hubbell Award — AV Preeminent® Rated by Martindale-Hubbell® from NexisLexis® – a significant achievement awarded to not more than 5 percent of all attorneys nationwide
• 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. Less than 4 percent of all practicing attorneys are certified by an ABA accredited certification board.

Personal Injury Lawyer Carpentersville, IL – Cases We Have Won

Our Carpentersville, IL personal injury lawyers have a demonstrated history of getting great results. We take on all who harm our clients, and we insist on nothing but full compensation. Our lawyers are devoted to giving our clients the highest standard of legal representation, and we have great pride in our well-deserved successes. Read about our recent successes 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 worth mentioning that every injury comes with its own set of circumstances, and what you may be eligible to recover is going to depend on the your specific accident. We fight for you so that there is no money left on the table.

Burger Law Client Testimonials

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

What Is a Personal Injury Claim in Carpentersville, IL?

Under Illinois and U.S. law, you have a right to file a personal injury claim to get monetary reimbursement for the damage another person caused, and to hold wrongdoers accountable. The aim of insurance settlements and civil litigation is to make one whole. The idea is convert all the ways an injury affected you into a dollar amount.

In some cases, no outcome in your claim can fully “put back” all the things you lost in an injury. While you can be reimbursed for medical expenses, time spent off work recovering and other financial losses, other damages cannot truly be expressed through dollar signs. If you lost a loved one, you are permanently disabled, are disfigured or will have to receive medical treatment for the rest of your life, no legal process can make that go away. What empathetic and experienced 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 injuries.

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

While some cases can be successfully navigated without a lawyer, most of the time you will need one to get the full compensation you are owed in Carpentersville, IL. The thing to ask yourself is, can they add value to my claim? If your injuries were not significant, you have minimal lost wages and the insurance company is being mostly fair, you may not need an attorney. But, you should hire a lawyer in Carpentersville, IL if the following is true about your claim:

• There is disagreement over liability, or you are being blamed for your injuries
• 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 are more than an insurance company’s policy limits

Our initial conversations and investigations are free, and we will always be honest with you about how much we can help your claim. Our personal injury lawyers take on cases based on a contingency-fee, meaning you only pay after you have received the full compensation you deserve, and there is no reason for us to take on your claim if we do not think we can get you substantially more money.

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

While legal doctrine can be complex, whether or not you can seek compensation depends on the answer to one particular 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 person you are making a claim against had a responsibility to care for your safety. In some cases this is automatic, as Carpentersville, IL driver owe everyone else on the roads a duty of care, or dog owners owe it to others to keep their dog from biting anyone. In other cases, a particular relationship must be established, for example a doctor-patient relationship or a vendor-patron relationship.
2. Breach of duty — Did someone fail in that duty? Did a driver hit you while they were running a red light? Did a doctor not order the appropriate tests? Did a dog owner let their dog roam unleashed?
3. Cause-in-fact — You must show how the accident resulted in your injuries. For example, you received road rash after being thrown off your bicycle, or had bad side effects from a prescription drug.
4. Proximate cause — This determines who ultimately is to blame. If you were injured in an auto accident, the liable party is usually the driver that hit you. But if the tires were not safe, someone in the product’s chain of distribution may be ultimately liable.
5. Damages — Finally, you need to show that the accident resulted in economic harm. In most cases damages are medical expenses and lost wages. With access to your medical records, damages are easy to prove with the help of an attorney. Once we establish financial losses, we can also seek a financial recovery for pain and suffering damages.

The only way to know for certain if you have an injury claim is to speak to an attorney who has handled your type of claim in Carpentersville, IL before. Call a personal injury lawyer now at (779) 800-HURT.

What Are Common Personal Injury Case in Carpentersville, IL?

Practicing injury law in Carpentersville, IL requires that you have a vast knowledge of the different types of cases that people deal with. Knowing the difference between how the law applies to auto accidents, medical malpractice and slip and falls is essential. A lawyer who only knows how to deal with car insurance companies may not be the best choice to get you full compensation in a different claim. At Burger Law, we know how to secure justice for the injured whenever negligence results in an injury. We have won millions for our Carpentersville, IL clients in the following types of cases:

Auto Accidents

The Bureau of Justice Statistics estimates that there are 300,000 to 500,000 personal injury claims in any given year. Just over half of those result from auto accidents, including:

• Car Accidents
• Truck Accidents
• Motorcycle Accidents
• Bicycle Accidents
• Pedestrian Accidents

Truck accidents can cause serious injuries because of the amount of force they carry in an accident, and motorcyclists, bicyclists and pedestrians are all at heightened risk of catastrophic injury or death due to their relatively limited protection. Under 625 ILCS 5/11-1003.1, anyone behind the wheel must “exercise due care” to avoid colliding with anybody or anything else on the Illinois roads. If someone breaks the rules of the road, causes an accident and injures you, you have an auto accident claim against them.

Sometimes, a vehicle manufacturer, construction company or governmental entity may have at least contributed to your injuries. As part of our services, your Burger Law personal injury lawyer will carry out an exhaustive investigation into your claim to find every liable party and hold them accountable.

Premises Liability

Proprietors have a responsibility to take reasonable measures to make sure their premises does not carry any risks for people who are not trespassing. If you sustain damages in a slip and fall because a property was unsafe, you may have a premises liability claim. 740 ILCS 130/, also known as the Illinois Premises Liability Act, mandates that property owners have a duty of care to people who legally enter their property that is “of reasonable care under the circumstances regarding the state of the premises or acts done or omitted on them.” Basically, if there is a hazardous condition that is not obvious, the owner needs to either fix the hazard, post signage or rope it off. Some hazardous conditions 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
• Wiring
• In-ground sprinklers or hardscape features hidden in the grass
• Absence of safety rails

Not all injuries on a property lead to a valid premises liability claim. If you were trespassing, ignored warning signs, for example a “wet floor sign,” or were running or not acting in a safe manner, it might be hard to get compensation. The following must be true in order to make a claim:

• The owner or manager created the hazardous conditions; or
• The owner or manager was aware of the hazard and neglected to fix it; or
• The owner or manager tried to repair 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 adjuster in Carpentersville, IL may try to convince you that they are not liable for your slip and fall injuries 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 are responsible for more than 250,000 deaths a year. While not every error amount to negligence, when it does, a doctor needs to be held accountable for breaking your trust.

Proving a medical malpractice claim is based on what is referred to as the standard of care. The standard is how a prudent healthcare professional, in the same area and with the same training as the one you are making a claim against, would treat whatever ailment you saw them for.

Under 735 ILCS 5/2-622, any medical malpractice lawsuit 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 doctor you are suing, 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 imperative that the doctor who writes the affidavit is in the same practice area and geographic region as the health professional you are suing. A neurologist in Chicago is held to a different standard of care than a general practitioner in Decorah, Iowa. Burger Law has a network of expert witnesses in Carpentersville and throughout Illinois who can corroborate that your doctor violated the standard of care.

Common examples of medical malpractice in Carpentersville, IL include:

• Nursing home abuse
• Birth injuries
• Misdiagnosis and failure to diagnosis
• Forgetting to remove objects during surgery
• Hospital communication errors
• Failure to secure consent
• Failing to order tests that a prudent doctor would
• Blowing off a patient’s complaints
• Not changing course when their treatment plan is not working
• Prescribing the wrong medication or the wrong dosage

Dog Bites

Every day, nearly 1,000 people require emergency medical treatment for dog bites, and annually dog bites lead to about 12,600 hospitalizations. According to a Chicago Tribune article, Illinois has the second-highest rate of dog bites 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 that the owner owes you a recovery even if they did not necessarily do anything wrong.

While some dog bites lead to only superficial wounds, others result in expensive surgeries or permanent disfigurement. In any case, you likely need an experienced and skilled Carpentersville, IL personal injury lawyer to secure you the best possible compensation you are owed.

Product Liability

Like dog owners, anyone in the chain of distribution of a product is strictly liable for the damages a defective product causes. There are three categories of product liability claims in Carpentersville, IL:

1. Design defect — This is a defect that occurs even if the product is manufactured correctly. This could include an SUV that is susceptible to rollover accidents, or an electrical appliance that melts when turned on high.
2. Manufacturing defect — This type of defect affects several individual products instead of every product with the same design. Examples include rat droppings getting caught in a soda can, or a seatbelt with a loose screw that comes undone during impact.
3. Marketing defect — This refers to instructions 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 have a successful claim, you must demonstrate that the product was “unreasonably dangerous” when it was used in a way a manufacturer could reasonably expect, that it was the proximate cause of injuries and that you had not substantially modified the product.

Burger Law’s personal injury lawyers will take on any case in which someone was injured through no fault of their own. One of the benefits of choosing a Burger Law Carpentersville, IL personal injury lawyer is that our team takes on all types of personal injury claims, and have won your type of claim before. We understand that case types often overlap, and 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 Carpentersville, IL?

The path to securing maximum compensation for your injuries starts the second you are injured. While some accidents and injuries settle fairly early, others go completely through to a jury trial. In total, the path to getting compensation consists of:

• Getting Medical Treatment — Seek medical care as soon as possible after an injury, and follow your doctor’s treatment plans to a “T.” Waiting too long could bring complications to your claim, and not attending all your sessions will lower both your economic and noneconomic damages. Our personal injury lawyers work with several trustworthy Carpentersville, IL health professionals who can ensure you get the full treatment you need.
• Consulting With an Attorney — Even if you are not sure you are going to need legal representation, you need to know what your options are as soon as possible. A good lawyer will tell you bluntly what your legal options are.
• Investigation and Documentation — Once you have hired an attorney, your personal injury lawyer will perform a comprehensive investigation into the circumstances surrounding your injuries, ascertain who we need to hold accountable and obtain the evidence needed for the best possible financial recovery. You can help by keeping a record of every dollar you have spent because of your injuries, and how keeping a journal detailing how your injuries have affected your life.
• Settlement Demand and Negotiations — Once we have determined the full extent of your damages, we will send a settlement demand package to those who are liable for compensating you. In the package we will include how we calculated your damages, and insist that nothing but the full amount is acceptable. Usually, they will respond with a lower offer, and there will be several back-and-forths until they decide to be truly fair.
• Filing a Lawsuit — If negotiations do not lead anywhere, we will proceed to litigating the case and setting up a trial. During this time, we will continue negotiating in an effort to avoid a trial.
• Mediation — If a settlement agreement still has not been reached, your personal injury lawyer and the liable party will likely pursue mediation. In mediation, a neutral third party will try to get each party to accept the merits of the other side’s arguments.
• Pre-Trial — If mediation fails, the “discovery” phase begins. In discovery, we will speak to eyewitnesses and expert witnesses, acquire more evidence and both parties will share with the other what they plan to bring up at trial.
• Trial — It is rare that a personal injury claim makes it all the way to trial. In fact, we often finally get the settlement we were seeking in the weeks immediately before trial. However, if the insurance company still cannot see reason, we will fight for your compensation 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 people who speak with our Carpentersville, IL personal injury lawyers have never had to deal with seeking compensation for an injury before, and do not know what to expect. Burger Law will be by your side from our initial consultation to full compensation, keep you up to date on the status of your claim and oversee all documentation, negotiation and litigation so you can focus on your physical recovery.

What Compensation Can I Recover In My Carpentersville, IL Personal Injury Claim?

Typically, 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 the economic harm resulting from your injuries, including:
  • Lost wages
  • Lost earning potential if your injuries do not allow you to earn a living as you used to
  • Medical costs, past and future
  • Out-of-pocket expenses
• Non-economic damages compensate you for losses that are harder to put a dollar figure on, including:
  • Pain and suffering
  • Stress and anxiety
  • Loss of ability to enjoy life
  • Scarring and disfigurement
  • Inconvenience
  • Physical impairment
  • Loss of consortium

Sometimes, we may also be able to pursue punitive damages if the at-fault harmed you intentionally or they were 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 possible to get you the best possible financial recovery.

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

In Illinois, the statute of limitations is shorter than most states at just two years, under 735 ILCS 5/. That means the clock starts ticking when your accident occurs, and expires after two years. However, there are three noteworthy exceptions:

1. If you were under 18 when the injury occurred, you have until your 20th 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 should have discovered 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 not cause immediate concern, 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 (779) 800-HURT.

Other types of claims we take on in Carpentersville, IL include:

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

Speak to Personal Injury Lawyer in Carpentersville, IL Now

Burger Law’s Carpentersville, IL personal injury lawyers fiercely believe in zealous representation. That means we start working for your recovery immediately, pursue every legal option we have, fight back against insurance companies on your behalf and do not give up until you get the maximum compensation you deserve. We offer the highest standard of legal advocacy; 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 Carpentersville, IL 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 Carpentersville, IL personal injury lawyer now at (779) 800-HURT or contact us online for a free consultation.