Driving is such a mundane part of our daily routines that we are often blindsided when an accident occurs. Car accidents are rarely blameless, and an attorney can help you hold the negligent party responsible for causing the collision.
Car accidents might happen on any road, street, or highway, making them dangerous and unpredictable. The Lincoln Park neighborhood in Chicago is full of busy roads, highways, and numerous tourist destinations where accidents are common. After a crash, you can take legal action by filing an insurance claim with the other driver’s insurance or initiating a lawsuit. Often, injured drivers file an insurance claim first, then pursue a lawsuit if they still need compensation. Compensation should cover your economic damages and non-economic injuries, which can be significant in serious accidents. To prove the other driver was negligent, we need evidence establishing the critical legal elements of negligence as they apply in your case.
The recovery process after a car crash can be difficult, and our car accident lawyers can handle your case while you focus on getting better. For a free case evaluation, contact the Rhatigan Law Offices. Call us at (312) 578-8502.
How a Car Accident Can Happen in Lincoln Park
The causes behind car accidents vary widely, and no two cases are exactly alike. Our car accident lawyers can help you after a crash and work on getting you compensation for your damages.
U.S. Highway 41 is a large federal highway that runs from Florida all the way up to Michigan and right along the coast of the Lincoln Park area by the lake. This is a very busy highway, and accidents have been known to happen when drivers are negligent. Perhaps another driver was trying to make an exit and recklessly cut you off or failed to signal and caused a collision. The speed limits on major highways tend to be higher, making accidents more severe.
Lake Shore Drive is a part of U.S. Highway 41 and was designed to provide drivers with scenic views of the lake and Lincoln Park. As such, it is heavily trafficked, and accidents sometimes occur. People exiting Lake Shore Drive for the beach and the many tourist attraction in that area might forget to exercise due caution and cause a bad crash.
West Fullerton Ave and North Lincoln Ave are some of the main arteries in the neighborhood. Traffic flows in and out of the neighborhood on these roads, and accidents are not uncommon. Whether people are hurrying to work in the morning or touring the city, negligent drivers on busy main roads are major causes of car accidents.
Taking Legal Action After a Car Accident in Lincoln Park
All drivers must carry insurance, and an insurance claim is often the first legal action injured drivers pursue. Illinois is a fault-based insurance state, meaning injured drivers must file third-party claims with the other driver’s insurance. Additionally, injured drivers must prove to the insurance company that the other driver is at fault for the crash. If the insurance company does not believe your claims, they might deny you compensation.
Sometimes, it is impossible to file a third-party claim because the other driver is uninsured. If you have uninsured motorist coverage, you can file a claim through your own insurance. Even so, insurance policies are often limited to certain economic losses, and non-economic damages like pain and suffering are usually not included.
If insurance does not pan out as you had hoped, our car accident lawyers can help you file a lawsuit. Lawsuits can be more time-consuming than insurance claims, but they often allow injured drivers to get the full value of their damages, economic and non-economic.
Determining Damages in a Lincoln Park Car Accident Lawsuit
Injuries from car accidents can be hard to predict. Some people miraculously walk away unscathed, while others are badly hurt. Our car accident attorneys can review your injuries and expenses to calculate your damages and potential compensation.
Injuries or losses that took a financial toll should be tallied up and reflected in your claims for economic damages. Medical bills are often the biggest expense for injured drivers, and they can really drive up the value of economic damages. We must also account for the value of income you miss out on because you are too injured to return to work and the value of your damaged vehicle.
Some damages do not cost any money, but they can still be compensated because of the pain they cause the plaintiff. Non-economic damages include subjective experiences like bodily pain, emotional anguish, humiliation, and damage to your reputation. Each plaintiff might experience these things differently, so their non-economic damages calculations are unique to their case and circumstances.
How to Prove the Other Driver Was Negligent in Your Lincoln Park Car Accident Case
To prove your claims, our car accident lawyers need to show the court that the defendant was negligent when they caused the car accident. Negligence is not simply just recklessness or careless actions. It is a legal concept comprised of four elements: duty, breach, causation, and damages.
The element of duty refers to the legal duty of care the defendant owed the plaintiff. In a car accident lawsuit, this duty is the defendant’s duty to drive with reasonable safety under the circumstances while obeying traffic laws. All drivers on the road are said to have this duty. Next, we must show that the defendant breached this duty and violated their duty of care. The breach must be the direct and proximate cause of the accident, and the damages in your case must be real, not just possibilities.
To prove these elements, we need evidence. The evidence we need depends on how the accident occurred. For example, if the defendant T-boned you in an intersection because they blew a red light, footage from red light cameras or traffic citations for running the light can be used as evidence. We can also look for witnesses who saw the crash happen or have other personal knowledge relevant to the case.
Contact Our Lincoln Park Car Accident Lawyers for Help
If you were injured in an auto collision, the other driver can be held responsible for their negligence and made to pay you fair compensation. For a free case review, call our car accident lawyers at the Rhatigan Law Offices at (312) 578-8502.
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