Posted on July 26, 2024 in Personal Injury Lawsuits

Nearly 50 million Americans contract food poisoning, or foodborne illnesses, each year. Almost 130,000 of those people are hospitalized, and more than 3,000 die, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In the last week alone, the CDC has warned of a listeria outbreak associated with deli meats that left 12 people hospitalized and two dead.

If you have contracted a foodborne illness, the manufacturer of the food may be liable under product liability laws. If you became ill from food you ate at a restaurant, then the restaurant is considered the food manufacturer and may be liable for damages. This is due to a legal principle known as strict liability.

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 Posted on July 22, 2024 in Workers’ Compensation

Working from home has ballooned in popularity since the COVID-19 pandemic. Approximately 22 million Americans — or about 14 percent of adults — work from home, while 41 percent do so on at least a part-time basis. By 2025, over a quarter of Americans are expected to work remotely. Remote work is so popular, in fact, that 42 percent of office workers say they would take a 10 percent pay cut just to do so.

This new increase in remote work, however, has also led to increased questions about workers’ compensation. Can you claim compensation for a work injury suffered at home? Is your employer responsible for your safety if you work remotely?

The answer is that your employer may still be liable for certain injuries if you work from home, which this article will explore. If you were injured while working remotely, consult an Illinois workers’ compensation attorney to discuss your legal options.

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 Posted on July 20, 2024 in Premises Liability

Imagine you attend a concert in Illinois. During the event, a metal pipe falls from the ceiling and hits your head, causing an injury. Or, suppose one of the concertgoers assaults and seriously injures you. These incidents might fall under an area of personal injury law called premises liability. 

Premises liability means that whoever owns or manages a property is responsible for taking reasonable care to avoid injuries on that property. Otherwise, he or she is considered negligent. If someone sustains an injury due to that negligence, the owner or manager can be liable to pay for damages resulting from the injury.

This article will discuss examples of negligence at a concert and who is responsible. If you or someone you know has sustained an injury at a concert, be sure to consult an Illinois premises liability attorney.

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 Posted on July 10, 2024 in Accident Liability

It is public knowledge that drunk driving is a deadly act that causes severe injuries and fatalities. According to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, nearly half of car deaths in Illinois involve alcohol. But in addition to being dangerous, drunk driving is also an irresponsible act. Drivers who get behind the wheel while impaired by alcohol are aware of the risks of driving under the influence.

Under Illinois law, the same may be said of whoever gave the driver the alcohol. A bar that serves alcohol is presumed to be aware of the risks that can arise from doing so, like drunk driving. Therefore, Illinois has "dram shop" laws that sometimes hold a bar liable for damages caused by a drunk driver. This article will discuss dram shop laws and when they apply. Contact an Illinois drunk driving accident attorney right away if you or someone you know has been injured by a drunk driver.

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 Posted on July 04, 2024 in Car Accidents

Car accidents are traumatic. Even if you are lucky enough to walk away from a car wreck with minimal physical injuries, you may still suffer psychological shock. That is why some car crash victims experience confusion after the accident and are unsure of which actions to take. Making mistakes in the crucial moments immediately following a car accident, however, can affect the strength of your claim for damages.

This article will discuss some of the most common mistakes people make after a car accident. Keep in mind that the best way to avoid mistakes after a car collision is to seek the guidance of an Illinois car accident attorney.

Failing to Call the Police

In Illinois, you are required to call the police after a car accident if:

• The crash caused bodily injury.

• The crash caused a death.

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 Posted on July 01, 2024 in Personal Injury Lawsuits

Social media comes with risks. One of those risks is that your content can be used against you. What you say on Facebook, TikTok, or X, for example, is public and can be seen by anyone. You have limited control over who sees your content and what they do with it. People are so used to using social media, however, that they often forget about the risks.

Under the law, your posts on social media are considered statements and are admissible in court. This means you should be extra careful what you post on social media because it can affect legal proceedings. Divorce trials, criminal cases, and personal injury claims can all be affected by social media content. To find out how your content might impact your claim, show your social media accounts to an Illinois personal injury attorney.

Here are three ways social media can affect your personal injury claim.

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 Posted on June 26, 2024 in Accident Liability

If you want to be compensated for injuries you received in a car crash, you will need to follow a certain process. One of your first steps in that process is to file a claim with the at-fault driver’s insurance company, which you should do with the help of an Illinois car accident lawyer. The insurer will investigate the crash and seek to answer the main question: who is at fault?

The person who is at fault — or negligent — in the car accident is usually the one who is liable to pay for damages. In Illinois, however, more than one person can be at fault for a personal injury, including the victim. A victim can be at fault in certain cases, like if he or she fails to wear a seatbelt. This is because Illinois follows a modified comparative negligence law.

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 Posted on June 20, 2024 in Accident Liability

Some people who sustain injuries in an accident also suffer damages as a result of those injuries. These damages can be economic, like medical bills, or they can be non-economic, like emotional distress. If a personal injury victim wants to be compensated for those damages, he or she must find out who is liable.

Personal injury victims usually look for who is at fault for their injuries. However, as your Illinois personal injury lawyer will tell you, fault is not the same thing as liability. Liability refers to legal responsibility. If you want to claim damages from a person, company, or government, you need to prove that he, she, or it is liable for your injury.

Fault and Liability Are Not Always the Same Thing

It is important not to confuse fault and liability in personal injury law. They are two separate legal concepts. If a person is at fault for your injury, it means that he or she caused it. If a person is liable for your injury, it means he or she is legally responsible for the damages, regardless of who caused it.

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 Posted on June 18, 2024 in Car Accidents

If you were injured in a car accident and you want to be compensated for damages, you will likely need to show that the other driver was at fault. Depending on the accident, this can be hard to prove. 

Since there are not always witnesses available, some drivers rely on dash cams. A dash cam is a camera installed on the car’s dashboard that can record footage happening inside or outside the vehicle, (depending on the device). Some cars are made with dash cams built in, while other vehicles require one to be installed.

Illinois law requires all installed dash cams to be:

• Smaller than five inches

• Placed on the bottom corner of the dashboard on the driver’s side

You may be able to use footage from a dash cam in the event of a car accident, but you should ask your Illinois car accident attorney first. There are recording laws in Illinois that might make that complicated.

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 Posted on June 11, 2024 in Personal Injury Lawsuits

When someone is injured because of someone else’s negligence, they can sometimes sue for damages related to the personal injury. Some of these damages are economic, such as medical expenses or lost wages. Other damages are not economic, meaning they are not about compensating the victim for a financial loss. Such damages include pain, suffering, and emotional distress. An injured party can be awarded compensation for non-economic damages.

The difficulty, however, comes with proving non-economic damages like emotional distress, which is why a personal injury claim for damages is best handled by an Illinois personal injury attorney.

This article will discuss what emotional distress is and how to prove it.

What Is Emotional Distress?

In the context of personal injury, emotional distress is mental suffering over an event that occurred as a result of someone’s behavior. It can develop after a traumatic injury or other event. Signs of emotional distress include:

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