As a suburb of Chicago, Tinley Park has its fair share of accidents. If someone else is responsible for your injuries, our attorneys can help you get justice by filing a lawsuit.
Our lawyers have a wealth of experience in a wide range of injury cases. Whether you were injured in a car accident, waiting for a train, or injured on the job, our team can get the evidence that will prove the elements of your claim. Even if your accident was relatively minor, you should still work with our team so that you are fairly compensated for your losses. However, our firm also has the resources to litigate extremely complex cases, like medical malpractice. If you are unsure if you have a valid legal claim, our team can review it and discuss what you can expect moving forward.
For a free case assessment with our Chicago personal injury attorneys, call Rhatigan Law Offices at (312) 578-8502.
Types of Accidents Our Personal Injury Attorneys File Lawsuits for in Tinley Park, IL
Personal injury claims allow victims to recover the compensation they need to recover. Fortunately, our personal injury attorneys can help you by assessing your claims and identifying the likely defendants, no matter how you were injured. The following are common lawsuits we file in Tinley Park:
Vehicle Accidents
Considering that Tinley Park sits just south of Chicago, nestled right next to I-57 and I-80, vehicle accidents are arguably the most common claims our team files. However, these cases can range from simple claims between two drivers to highly complex cases involving commercial vehicles. Fortunately, we have extensive experience handling virtually any type of vehicle accident claim.
The most straightforward accident claims are between the victim and the other driver. If multiple drivers are involved in the accident, though, we can gather evidence to determine the extent of each driver’s negligence and ensure they are part of your lawsuit.
Your case will typically be more complex when a commercial truck driver injures you. When our team reviews these cases, we will usually first determine whether the trucker is employed by a trucking company or is an independent contractor. If the trucker driver that hit you is a traditional employee of a trucking company, we can also sue the trucking company under the legal doctrine of respondeat superior. Also known as “vicarious liability,” this rule allows us to sue both parties for the truck driver’s negligence as long as they committed the accident while on the job and executing their duties.
If the commercial driver is an independent contractor, it could impact your ability to file a lawsuit against the business they are working with. Vicarious liability does not apply to independent contractors since the “employer” does not have direct control over them. For instance, if you were hit by an Amazon delivery truck or an Uber or Lyft car, you usually cannot sue those companies for the driver’s negligence. However, our lawyers can explore the insurance options offered by these companies while filing a lawsuit against the driver individually.
Train and Bus Accidents
Many residents of Tinley Park use buses and trains operated by Merta and the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) for their daily commutes. As such, accidents on local trains and buses are common. However, filing a lawsuit can be confusing since these companies are actually owned and operated by the local and state governments.
In these cases, “sovereign immunity” will be an issue that protects government workers from lawsuits for negligence. Fortunately, you can sue the government agency for which they work. Our team can explain the special rules involved in these cases, including the shortened filing time to notify the agency of your intention to file a claim.
Pedestrian Accidents
In many cases, pedestrians are injured coming to or leaving a train or bus station. Other pedestrians are injured while strolling the many walkable areas around Tinley Park. Wherever your accident occurred, our team can help gather evidence to show the accident was the other person’s or company’s fault.
For example, a driver might have struck you while you were crossing the street to a bus stop. Depending on where the incident happened, it is possible that it was captured on surveillance cameras, especially if it happened near or at a Merta or CTA station.
Construction Accidents
One area of focus our firm prides itself on is representing victims of construction accidents. Construction sites are almost always dangerous simply by the nature of the work being done. Many of these accidents happen because of falling objects, poor scaffolding, toxic exposure, and defective equipment.
Determining how your construction accident occurred will typically tell us who should be held accountable for it. If you fell, were exposed to toxins, or were hit by a falling object, we might file your claim against the property owner and general contractor for not making the site safe or providing substandard equipment. In other cases, we might file a lawsuit against a third-party worker contracted to work on the construction site because they created the dangerous conditions that caused the accident. In rarer cases, we will sue the manufacturer or designer of a piece of equipment, like a faulty ladder.
Medical Malpractice
Medical malpractice claims are often the most challenging and time-consuming. Much of the work in these cases revolves around determining how your healthcare provider deviated from the standard of care another similar provider would have given you. In many cases, doctors are sued for misdiagnosing a serious condition or completely miss a diagnosis. If another doctor had not missed your diagnosis, we could have shown that you were the victim of malpractice.
In other cases, your doctor might not have obtained your informed consent to a procedure or treatment plan. Healthcare providers are required to inform you of all the potential side effects and risks associated with the particular recommendation, not just its benefits. For example, if a doctor was performing surgery on your stomach, which you consented to, but decided to do a little work on another area you did not discuss, it could be malpractice if the additional treatment was unnecessary or could be performed after getting informed consent for that operation.
Some instances of medical malpractice are obvious. For example, if a surgeon left a piece of equipment inside you after surgery, it is clearly gross negligence and medical malpractice. However, you might not notice a foreign object until it starts causing problems. In these situations, you will usually have more time to file your lawsuit if you cannot reasonably discover the malpractice within the “statute of limitations.”
Our Tinley Park, IL Personal Injury Lawyers Can Help
Our personal injury lawyers at Rhatigan Law Offices can provide you with a free case review by contacting us at (312) 578-8502.
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