Car accidents can lead to serious injuries that require intense medical care for the victim to recover. This can happen even with the presence of the most up-to-date modern safety features in motor vehicles. Unfortunately, medical expenses from car accident injuries can reach enormous amounts, which can make the expenses very hard to deal with, even for people with effective insurance policies. In situations like these, you might not know who to turn to.
Luckily, our lawyers are here to help you out. We are experienced attorneys who can navigate a car crash lawsuit like it is one of our neighborhood roads. We will help you sue the correct parties, collect evidence, build a strong case for yourself, and fight in court to get you the financial compensation you need to get back to living after a car accident if it comes down to a trial.
For a free, confidential, no-obligation case review, call our car accident lawyers from the Rhatigan Law Offices at the number (312) 578-8502.
Types of Car Accidents in Elgin, IL
Car accidents can happen in a lot of different ways. At first, it may not seem very important exactly what kind of car accident yours was. However, it can actually be very useful to our car accident lawyers to understand the finer details of your accident. Doing so can help identify potentially liable parties or uncover new, powerful arguments to use in your case.
Head-On Collisions
Head-on collisions happen when two cars traveling in opposite directions at each other collide. These accidents can be particularly nasty because the most likely areas to hit are both driver’s seats. At high speeds, this could result in both drivers being trapped in their own vehicle, needing to be cut out of it to get saved.
T-Bone Accidents
T-bone accidents happen when one car hits another perpendicularly in the side. These accidents are dangerous for different reasons. In an accident involving the front of a car, the accident involves the area of the vehicle with arguably the most built-in safety features. Accidents impacting the side, on the other hand, hit an area where there are simply fewer cars in front of the impact. Even in very safe vehicles, an impact to the side has a good chance of producing a worse injury than an impact to the front of the vehicle. It is not uncommon for victims of T-bone accidents to have severe bruising and broken bones.
Single-Vehicle Accidents
Single-vehicle accidents, as the name would suggest, involve only one car. However, that does not mean that it is the fault of that vehicle’s driver. On the contrary, the accident may have been caused by either a problem with the vehicle, known as a defect, or a dangerous road condition. Alternatively, an aggressive driver may have forced the unfortunate motorist to take an evasive maneuver and get in an accident. However, it may be found that the aggressive driver contributed to the accident despite the fact that they did not hit the victim.
Damages in an Elgin, IL Car Accident Lawsuit
Damages are what you are awarded in a successful lawsuit. A court’s job in a personal injury case is to get the plaintiff as close as possible to their financial state prior to the injury. When this is not literally possible, financial compensation is issued instead.
There are three primary categories of damages: economic damages, non-economic damages, and punitive damages. While you demand damages as a single amount in your lawsuit, these categories are useful for understanding how the court thinks about damages.
Economic Damages
Economic damages are based on things with actual monetary value. They often have bills, receipts, invoices, or other physical evidence that states their value. Your hospital bills, other medical costs, and any damage to your vehicle fall under the category of economic damages.
Non-Economic Damages
Unlike economic damages, non-economic damages are not based on things with tangible evidence of their monetary value. Instead, non-economic damages cover things that are more nebulous like physical pain and suffering, mental anguish and distress, and lost enjoyment of life. For pain and suffering, you and our lawyers will come up with what we believe the pain from the accident is worth.
Mental anguish and lost enjoyment of life are closely related. Indeed, lingering mental anguish from the accident may diminish your enjoyment of life. For example, flashbacks and PTSD symptoms at street intersections that remind you of where your accident took place should result in payments.
You can also get lost enjoyment of life damages from losing the ability to do certain things. For example, if you enjoyed working out and cannot anymore because the accident left you with limited use of your arms and legs, you can get damages based on your inability to do things you once enjoyed.
Punitive Damages
Punitive damages are distinct from economic and non-economic damages in that they do not have to do so much with the condition of the plaintiff. Instead, punitive damages are awarded or not, depending on the conduct of the defendant. Punitive damages are only awarded when the plaintiff can prove that the defendant acted especially badly. Usually, this requires a finding that the defendant intentionally tried to injure the plaintiff or acted with “malice.” This is a high bar to prove, so make sure to go over this possibility with our lawyers as we prepare your case.
Talk with Our Elgin, IL Car Accident Lawyers Right Away
The Rhatigan Law Offices has car accident lawyers available to take your calls and give free case reviews when you reach out to use at the number (312) 578-8502.
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