Personal Injury Lawyer in North Utica, IL

Burger Law fights on behalf of those who get hurt due to the negligence of another. When you have sustained serious injuries all because someone else behaved recklessly or irresponsibly, Burger Law’s personal injury lawyers in North Utica, IL demand the recovery you are owed and fight for you every step of the way. Call Burger Law now at (779) 800-HURT or contact us online.

To find out how much your personal injury claim may be worth in North Utica, or anywhere in Illinois, check out our complimentary personal injury calculator.

Those who injured you are financially and legally responsible for taking care of your injuries and paying you 100 percent of what you are owed, but that does not mean they will do it willingly. Burger Law’s personal injury lawyer team fights hard for our clients against anyone who is trying to keep them from the recovery they deserve. We handle a litany of cases, including suing drunk drivers, holding negligent healthcare professionals, product manufacturers, business owners accountable, suing City Hall, to securing justice and financial security for North Utica residents after a loved one passed too soon. If you want to know if you have a claim, the damages you may be able to recover or other questions regarding personal injury claims, speak to one of our personal injury lawyers in North Utica, IL as soon as possible at (779) 800-HURT.

Why Burger Law Is The North Utica, IL Personal Injury Law Firm For You

Choosing the right personal injury lawyer for your claim is of utmost importance. You want someone with a history of winning similar cases and who is not afraid to take your case all the way to trial if they have to. In order to have a good understanding of the abilities of a law firm, you need to take into account their previous successes, and what their clients and peers say about them:

Award-Winning North Utica, IL Personal Injury Lawyers

The numerous awards and recognition Burger Law has received from other law firms include:

• Martindale-Hubbell Award — AV Preeminent® Rated by Martindale-Hubbell® from NexisLexis® – a noteworthy 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 award 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 lawyers are certified by an American Bar Association accredited certification board.

Personal Injury Lawyer North Utica, IL – Cases We Have Won

Our North Utica, IL personal injury lawyers fight for the full rights and recoveries of our clients. We fight all who harm our clients, and we insist on nothing but maximum compensation. Our lawyers are dedicated to providing our clients the highest standard of legal advocacy, and we take great pride in our well-deserved successes. Check out some of 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 important to remember that every case is unique, and what you may be eligible to recover is going to depend on the circumstances of your claim. We calculate the full extent of your damages so that there is no money left on the table.

Burger Law Client Success Stories

Beyond the videos below, you can see our full list of client testimonials here.

Definition of a Personal Injury Claim in North Utica, IL

A personal injury claim is your right under Illinois law to get financial compensation for the damage someone else caused, and to hold the rule breakers accountable. The recovery you receive is intended to make you whole. The goal is to put you in the same position you were in before sustained the damages caused by another’s negligence.

In some cases, no outcome in your claim can fully return you to how things were before the injury. While we can get compensation for medical expenses, lost wages and other financial losses, other damages are less tangible. If you lost a loved one, you are permanently disabled, are disfigured or will have to live the rest of your life in chronic pain, no one can truly make that go away. What empathetic and skilled 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 recognition, and to provide you with financial security as it relates to your accident.

Do I Need a Personal Injury Lawyer in North Utica, IL?

While some cases can be successfully navigated without a lawyer, most of the time you will need one to recover the full value of your claim in North Utica, IL. The thing to ask yourself is, will I get more money with them? If your medical expenses are low, you did not miss much time off work and the insurance company is being mostly fair, you may not need an attorney. But, you should hire a lawyer in North Utica, IL under the following circumstances:

• There is a dispute over who is at fault, or you are being blamed for your injuries
• The insurance company is denying they have to cover certain damages
• Your injuries are significant and require extensive medical treatment
• There are multiple parties at fault
• Your damages exceed the liable policyholder’s policy limits

We offer consultations for free, and we are always straightforward 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 are owed, and we have no reason to take on your claim if we do not think we can get you substantially more money.

Do I Have a Personal Injury Case in North Utica, IL?

While civil law can be complex, whether or not you can seek compensation generally depends on one particular question: did someone else’s negligence cause you injuries? From a legal standpoint, you have to prove the five elements of negligence:

1. Duty of care — You first need to demonstrate that the liable party owed it to you to value your safety. In some cases this is automatic, as North Utica, IL driver owe drivers, passengers and pedestrians a duty of care, or dog owners owe it to others not to let their dog injure anyone. In other cases, a unique relationship must have formed, such as the relationship between a doctor and patient or between a vendor and a buyer.
2. Breach of duty — Did someone fail in that responsibility? Did a driver crash into you you because they were looking at their phone? Did a doctor fail to diagnose a condition? Did a store owner fail to fix an obviously dangerous condition?
3. Cause-in-fact — You must show how the accident resulted in your injuries. For instance, you broke your arm when your car was t-boned, or had bad side effects from a prescription drug.
4. Proximate cause — This determines who needs to be held accountable. If you were injured in an auto accident, the liable party is usually the driver that hit you. But if the brakes were not safe, someone in the vehicle’s chain of distribution may be ultimately liable.
5. Damages — Finally, you must show that you sustained some form of financial loss as a direct result of your injuries. In personal injury cases, this is usually medical expenses and lost wages. With access to your medical records, this last part will be fairly easy to prove with the help of an attorney. After proving economic damages, we can seek a financial recovery for less tangible losses.

If you have any doubts about the validity of your claim, speak to a lawyer in North Utica, IL who has won a similar claim before. Call a personal injury lawyer today at (779) 800-HURT.

Types of Cases Our North Utica, IL Personal Injury Lawyers Win

Practicing injury law in North Utica, IL requires that you know how negligence laws apply to a wide range of cases. 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 have the experience to take on other cases. At Burger Law, we know how to hold the liable party accountable no matter the circumstances. Cases we take on in North Utica 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 annually. The majority of those are auto accident claims, such as:

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

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 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 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.

Sometimes, a vehicle manufacturer, construction company or local municipality may have at least contributed to your injuries. Your Burger Law personal injury lawyer will carry out a full investigation into your claim to find every liable party and hold them accountable.

Premises Liability

Property owners and managers have an obligation to take reasonable measures to make sure their premises is not hazardous for people who are legally on it. 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, stipulates that property owners 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.” Generally, if there is a dangerous condition that is not obvious, the owner needs to either repair 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
• Poorly lit stairs and walking paths
• Black ice
• Wet concrete
• Debris such as litter, fallen leaves and branches, rocks, etc
• Rugs that are not flat
• Stray cords
• In-ground sprinklers or hardscape features hidden in the grass
• Broken safety rails

Not all injuries on a property result in a premises liability claim. If you were trespassing, did not pay attention to warning signs, such as a “wet floor sign,” or were running or not acting in a safe manner, you likely do not have a slip and fall claim. Successful premises liability claims depend on the following:

• The owner or manager created the dangerous 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 hazard and fixed 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 North Utica, 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

Based on data from John Hopkins University, medical errors are responsible for over 250,000 deaths a year. While not all of those constitutes negligence, when it does, a physician needs to pay for hurting you.

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

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 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 imperative that the health professional who writes the affidavit is in the same practice area and geographic region as the health professional you are making a claim against. A thoracic surgeon in Chicago has a different standard of care than a pediatrician in Rockland, Maine. Burger Law has a network of expert witnesses in North Utica and in other parts of Illinois who can help verify that your medical malpractice suit is valid.

Common instances of medical malpractice in North Utica, IL include:

• Nursing home abuse
• Birth injuries
• Misdiagnosis and failure to diagnosis
• Leaving objects in after surgery
• Hospital system errors
• Lack of consent
• Failing to order tests that a prudent doctor would
• Ignoring a patient’s complaints
• Not sending you to a specialist or recommending a different treatment plan when theirs is not working
• Prescribing the wrong medication or the wrong dosage

Dog Bites

Each day, nearly 1,000 people seek emergency medical treatment for dog bites, and every year about 12,480 people are hospitalized. 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, states that a dog owner is strictly liable for your the injuries their dog causes, as long as there was no provocation and you were legally allowed to be where you were. “Strict liability” means that the owner is automatically liable, whether they were negligent or not. 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 result in reconstructive surgeries or permanent scarring. Regardless of the seriousness of your injuries, you likely need an experienced and skilled North Utica, IL personal injury lawyer to secure you the full compensation you deserve.

Product Liability

Like dog owners, the designers, manufacturers, distributors and vendors of a product are strictly liable for the injuries a defective product causes. There are three types of product liability claims in North Utica, IL:

1. Design defect — This is a defect that was present when the product was initially conceptualized. This could include tables or furniture that naturally tip over, 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 an entire line of products. Examples include rat droppings getting caught in packaging, or a seatbelt with a loose screw that comes undone during impact.
3. Failure to warn — This refers to labeling that does not mention certain risks when the product is put to foreseeable use. For example, an electric shaver not mentioning that shock can occur if used in the shower.

In order to have a successful claim, you must demonstrate that the product carried inherent risks 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 know how to get great results whenever someone was injured through no fault of their own. One of the benefits of choosing a Burger Law North Utica, IL personal injury lawyer is that we are not limited to any one type of claim, 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 North Utica, IL?

The journey to getting maximum compensation for your injuries starts the day you are injured. While some cases only take a few months, others can take several years before a jury finally renders a decision. In total, the path to getting compensation consists of:

• Getting Medical Care — Get medical attention as soon as possible after an injury, and keep attending all treatments that your physician recommends. The insurance company will be harder to deal with if you wait, and not getting the full treatment will lower how much compensation you receive. Our personal injury lawyers have a network of experienced North Utica, IL health professionals who can help you in your recovery.
• Speaking With an Attorney — Even if you do not know if you need an attorney, it is best to consult with one as soon as possible so they can become familiar with your case. A good attorney will be honest with you about whether or not their services are needed.
• Investigation and Documentation — Once you have legal representation, your personal injury lawyer will carry out a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding your injuries, ascertain who we need to hold accountable and acquire the evidence required for the best possible financial recovery. You should also keep detailed records of your expenses related to your injuries, and how they affect your day-to-day 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 insist that nothing but the full amount will be agreed to. Most of the time, they will respond with a lower offer, and there will be several back-and-forths until they agree to pay for 100 percent of your damages.
• Filing a Lawsuit — If negotiations do not result in fair compensation, 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 option for an agreement before trial. In mediation, an objective third party will try to get each party to accept the merits of the other side’s arguments.
• Pre-Trial — If mediation still does not result in a fair settlement, the “discovery” phase begins. In this phase, we will speak to eyewitnesses and expert witnesses, gather more evidence and share with and request documentation with the other side.
• Trial — It is rare that a personal injury claim makes it all the way to trial. Indeed, many times we have gotten a fair settlement offer just before trial begins. However, if the insurance company still cannot see reason, 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 North Utica, IL clients have never been through the personal injury claims process before, and are unsure of what lies ahead. Burger Law will be your advocate every step of the way, keep you up to date on the status of your claim and manage all documentation, negotiation and litigation so you can spend your energy on your physical recovery.

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

Typically, there are two types of compensation available in a personal injury claim: economic damages and non-economic damages:

• Economic damages compensate you for the economic harm related to your injuries, including:
  • Lost wages
  • Lost earning potential if your injuries do not allow you to earn a living as you used to
  • Medical bills, past and future
  • Out-of-pocket expenses
• Non-economic damages compensate you for the less tangible aspects of your injuries, such as:
  • 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 liable harmed you on purpose or they were incredibly reckless. 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 get you the best possible financial recovery.

What Is the Statute of Limitations for Personal Injury Claims in North Utica, IL?

In Illinois, the statute of limitations is relatively short at two years for most personal injury claims, under 735 ILCS 5/. That means the clock starts ticking when your accident occurs, and expires after two years. However, there are three notable exceptions:

1. If you were under 18 at the time of injury, 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 a minor at the time. Then you would have until four years after your 18th birthday.

While two years may seem like a long time, your attorney will want as much time as possible to build your case. Do not delay in speaking to an attorney. Call a personal injury lawyer today at (779) 800-HURT.

Other types of claims we handle in North Utica, 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 North Utica, IL Now

Burger Law’s North Utica, IL personal injury lawyers fiercely believe in zealous representation. That means we get started on your case immediately, pursue every legal option we have, stand up to insurance companies on your behalf and do not give up until you are awarded the full compensation you are owed. We only give our clients the highest standard of legal advocacy; all of our advice will be based on the facts of the case and our experience, but we always leave the ultimate decisions on your claim to you and your North Utica, 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 North Utica, IL personal injury lawyer now at (779) 800-HURT or contact us online for a free consultation.