Illinois Personal Injury Claims

How to File a Personal Injury Claim in IL

• Schedule a Free Consultation – After you call us or submit your details via our online form, we’ll get in touch right away. An experienced attorney will personally review your situation, listen to your concerns, and clearly explain your next steps as well as what you can expect.
• Let Us Investigate While You Heal – Your priority should be getting well. We’ll take care of the rest. Our team will get to work right away. This includes collecting evidence, interviewing witnesses, compiling your medical records, reviewing your treatment with medical experts, assessing your injury’s impact on your life, determining all the damages you’ve incurred as a result, identifying those at-fault, and dealing with all the parties involved.
• Create a Strategy and File Your Complaint – Once we know your goals and what’s required for a proper recovery, we’ll craft a plan and start the formal process of pursuing your claim. This begins with filing your initial complaint, which outlines what happened to cause your injury and the basis for your action. It will identify the liable parties, explain how they are responsible, and that you are seeking a legal remedy or compensation for the harm they caused.
• Court Filings and the Defendant’s Response – Once a complaint is filed, it needs to be entered with the court. There are precise methods for how the court needs to be notified, best handled by an experienced lawyer. From there, the parties referenced are given a chance to respond to your allegations. While a failure to respond can result in a default judgment being made in your favor, it’s more likely they will deny responsibility, and your case will move forward.
• The Discovery Process, Motions, & Negotiations – This usually represents the majority of the time involved with a personal injury case. Discovery is the official fact-finding period, where each side will collect evidence to support their case. Then, the attorneys will draft legal arguments on matters of law and the relevant evidence. While this is going on, your attorney will also be participating in discussions with the other side’s insurance company or legal counsel, where trial alternatives and settlement offers are discussed. It is important to work with a lawyer who is experienced in this area because the vast majority of personal injury claims are resolved by agreeing on a suitable recovery.
• Trial & Verdict – If your personal injury case is not resolved with an acceptable amount of compensation, it will likely move on to a trial in front of a judge or jury. Both sides’ legal counsel will be given the opportunity to argue their points of view, present evidence, and have the matter settled by the court. While most cases do not progress this far, it is critical to have a lawyer who is comfortable and experienced at trial. By preparing every case for trial, it strengthens your case and can provide significant leverage over insurance companies, who typically want to deal with cases as quickly as possible.