Accidents happen every day, and while most are minor, others could be extremely detrimental to your quality of life. When such injuries are caused by someone else’s careless or negligent actions, it may be even more difficult to move on after the accident.
If someone else is responsible for your injuries, you may be able to file a personal injury lawsuit against the at-fault party. These lawsuits could force the person who caused you harm to pay compensation for losses and expenses like medical costs and pain and suffering.
However, these lawsuits can also be very complicated, especially for someone with little to no legal experience. In order to get the full amount of compensation available and ensure your claim is filed correctly, you should speak to a Cicero personal injury lawyer about your case. En Español.
Negligence in Personal Injury Lawsuits
Everyone has a responsibility to ensure that their actions do not harm anyone else around them, whether they are a doctor in a hospital or a driver on the road. When a person does not take care to ensure their behavior does not harm anyone, and someone does become hurt as a result, it could be said that they acted negligently.
Virtually all Cicero personal injury lawsuits revolve around this legal concept of negligence. When someone is negligent and causes injury to someone else, the person who was injured may be able to file a lawsuit against them to seek damages—or compensation—for their injuries.
Comparative Fault
There are times when more than one person may be found at fault, and it may be determined that the injured party contributed to their accident. Under Cicero’s comparative fault rule, they may still be able to seek compensation, but their total damage award may be reduced.
Comparative fault law states that when a person is partially at fault for an accident in which they became injured, they could be assigned a percentage of fault. If their personal injury suit is successful, the total amount of compensation the court awarded them would be reduced by the percentage of fault they were assigned.
For example, if an injured plaintiff is ruled to be 10 percent at fault for the accident that injured them, they would only be allowed to recover 90 percent of their total damage award. So, if the court awarded them $30,000 in compensation, they would ultimately receive $27,000 as their net compensation.
Those who have a lawsuit filed against them often argue that the injured party was partially at fault in order to reduce the amount of compensation they may be ordered to pay. A personal injury lawyer in Cicero could work to refute these claims in the interest of getting their client full compensation.
Other Considerations in Cicero Personal Injury Cases
Many states place caps on the amount of compensation an injured party can receive through a lawsuit. Formerly, courts in Cicero placed damage caps on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases, but in 2010 these damage caps were found to be violation of the Illinois State Constitution. As a result, there are no damage caps placed on any personal injury case in Cicero.
However, Illinois does still maintain a statute of limitations—the timeframe in which an injured party must file their lawsuit—on personal injury cases. In Cicero, injured parties have only two years from the date of the accident to file a claim, so it is often important for accident victims to act quickly after becoming aware of their injury.
Contact a Cicero Personal Injury Attorney Today
If you were injured in an accident and you believe someone else was to blame, speak to a Cicero personal injury lawyer as soon as possible. While the two-year statute of limitations applies to most personal injury cases, there are some—such as claims against the government—that provide less time to file.
A qualified attorney could advise on the statutes and regulations relevant to specific cases and represent you in court in pursuit of the full amount of compensation to which you may be entitled. To schedule an initial consultation, call today.
