Personal injury cases for money damages are called civil cases. In Illinois, there are special rules, codes and statutes that govern civil cases. The person bringing a claim is called a plaintiff. The person or entity accused of wrongful conduct is called a defendant.

There are a variety of personal injury cases, much too exhaustive to list here. However, the following is a list of the more common types of personal injury cases, which will be discussed briefly in this guide:

• Work Injuries - Workers' Compensation Act
• Motor Vehicle/Transportation Accidents
• Construction Accidents/Negligence
• Medical Malpractice
• Dog Bite
• Dram Shop/Intoxication
• General Negligence
• Premises Liability
• Products Liability
• Railroad/FELA Farm and Agricultural Accidents
• Boating Accidents
  

Every injured person does not have a right to compensation from someone else. A plaintiff (injured person) has the responsibility (burden) of proving the defendant(s) did something wrong and that the injuries suffered were caused, in part, as a result of what the defendant(s) did or did not do. If the plaintiff is able to prove these elements, he or she will usually be entitled to compensation.

In addition to the physically injured victim, others may have a derivative or a direct right to compensation as well. For example, in cases of a lawfully wedded couple, the law would allow, under most circumstances, for the spouse of the injured victim to receive certain compensation. As another example, in Illinois, the Wrongful Death Act provides compensation for the spouse and next-of-kin of the decedent for their losses such as loss of support, love, affection, and guidance; the Illinois Survival Act provides the Estate to sue for the pre-death injuries suffered by the decedent.

The types of damages available are provided in specific categories depending on the type of case and a careful analysis of the facts. How much a case is worth is ultimately set by the jury verdict. Whether the offer made before trial is appropriate is usually determined by what the parties believe a jury is likely to do based on the facts and the law of a given case. Depending on the victim's injuries, the legal principles that govern the case, and the jurisdiction where the case is likely to go to trial determine how much an at-fault party should pay to an injured party.

For example, in a typical motor vehicle case, damages may fall into some or all of the following general categories:

• Medical Expenses - past and those provable in the future
• Lost earnings - past and those provable in the future
• Pain, suffering, mental anguish - past and those provable in the future
• Disability or loss of a normal life
• Disfigurement
• Property Damage

These damages are very different from workers' compensation damages, which are explained later, are limited to:

1. Medical expenses;
2. Temporary total disability; and
3. Permanency.
   

The laws governing liability and compensation in civil cases are constantly evolving. Our state and federal government are relentlessly bombarded by attempts from insurance companies, big business, and self-interest groups to restrict and limit a victim's rights and entitlement to compensation. These efforts have been successful in some areas. They have led to very restrictive caps on the amount of damages that a victim may be entitled to collect under some actions, even though the injuries are catastrophic and permanent.

In addition to caps on damages, there are some types of cases with statutes that significantly restrict the manner and the procedures for making a claim. For example, in order to file a medical malpractice claim, the claimant must attach to the lawsuit, a report by a medical professional certifying that the claim is reasonable and meritorious. As you may imagine, even in the most egregious cases, there is a reluctance among doctors to complete these reports against other doctors within their medical community. As a result, it is very difficult to obtain these reports in order to file a malpractice suit.

Statistically, approximately 95% of all cases are settled before a verdict. In every case, the ultimate amount of money that an insurance company or defendant is willing to pay is usually based on how much a jury would be likely to award. Whether you are handling a matter on your own or hiring an attorney to do so, it is critical to evaluate the factors that affect compensation and to appreciate what the jury would be likely to award. These factors include the jurisdiction in which the case will be brought, the strength of the liability side of the case, whether favorable evidence will be admitted, whether unfavorable facts will be excluded, and what the elements of damage are available to be claimed. In some cases, there may be little choice in making a jurisdictional decision. However, in other cases, there are choices and the amount of compensation might vary considerably depending on the choice made.

A jury only hears what the Court determines is admissible. Jurors are twelve people (six in Federal Court) drawn from the community in which they reside. They are supposed to judge the case on the facts that are admitted in Court, however, their judgment is going to be influenced by their personal background and feelings, as well as the reliability of the plaintiff and his witnesses in testifying.

In Illinois, compensation may be affected by the victim's actions and whether they contributed to the injury. An injured party has the responsibility to have taken precautions to protect their own safety. That means that any verdict may be reduced by the percentage of fault that the jury finds the injured party to have contributed to the accident. However, if the injured party's fault is more than 50%, the cause of his or her injury, then the injured party gets nothing.

The statute of limitations is an amount of time that a victim has to make a proper claim for damages suffered. The statue of limitations may be straightforward or complicated. It depends upon the facts in a case. What may be an appropriate statue of limitations in one situation may be very different in another, even though the facts appear to be the same.

For example, in Illinois, motor vehicle collisions are generally governed under a negligence statue of limitations which is typically two years from the date of the crash. However, if the victim is a minor, or a disabled person, the statute of limitations might be significantly longer. A minor has two years from the date of his/her 18th birthday to file an action in the court, whereas the adult victim would have only two years from the date of the crash. The statute of limitations for the occupants of the same car may vary from two years, potentially up to 19 to 20 years, depending on their ages at the time of the crash. Even within this example, the period may be altered. For example, if the crash involved a municipal defendant or a CTA defendant, the statute of limitations again may in fact be shortened considerably and may have other requirements. A failure to file a claim within the appropriate time period may bar you from asserting any claim at all.

Medical Bills: Insurance coverage may not always be as straightforward as we often believe it should be. Insurance policies are really contracts between you and the insurance company. Coverage is defined by the terms of your insurance policy, including the fine print!

Sometimes there may be multiple insurance policies that cover personal injuries. Far too often, however, there is no insurance, not even for medical bills.

In a motor vehicle collision, if the parties are insured, usually there is a level of medical payment coverage (for the automobile) which will pay for the driver's and the passenger(s) in which they are riding up to the limits of that coverage only. This coverage generally applies first for all medical bills up to the limit of the medical payment coverage. After that, your group health plan, Medicare, or Medicaid, may apply.

No matter how guilty a party may be in causing injuries to another, there is no requirement that they pay anything, including medical bills, until they are found guilty and the amount is set by a jury.

Even though you have paid for insurance that has covered some or all of your medical bills, most people are unaware of a provision in almost every policy that requires repayment of the medical bills paid if you collect from a defendant for your injuries. If you do not repay the company, they can sue you for the money and they often do. However, this repayment is almost always negotiable. For example, under Illinois law, a reduction of the repayment amount may be made when an attorney is hired by the injured party and it is through the attorney's efforts that the injured party receives an award. The reasoning is that the insurance company is getting money based upon your attorney's work for which a fee was paid - the insurance company should share in paying that fee for their portion of the recovery.

Often, injured victims believe that when liability against another party is clear, in other words, the crash was the other person's fault, that the other party must pay for their medical expenses. There is no requirement that a defendant voluntarily pay medical bills, lost earnings, or even property damage until ultimately ordered through a court judgment. Even if a defendant states that they will pay for medical bills or even if they begin paying the bills, they are not required to continue doing so and their payments may not be admitted in Court. The amount insurance pays and whether any insurance is entitled to a reimbursement or a lien, must be determined before a case is resolved; otherwise, you may not be receiving what you believe you should be receiving.

Wage Loss:

Property Damage:

Construction Accidents/Negligence

One of the most difficult cases to prove is a medical malpractice case. Not only are they complicated, involving technical issues that most of us are unfamiliar with, but often jurors have an unusually high degree of respect for doctors or hospitals providing considerable leeway in determining whether they are guilty of committing malpractice. Unfortunately, by its very nature, medical malpractice cases are cases that often involve catastrophic damages and/or death for the victims. As stated previously in this guide, there are laws that offer medical people such as doctors, nurses, chiropractors, and hospitals far greater protection in cases against them. Unlike almost any other lawsuit, a medical malpractice claim can only be filed if another medical practitioner practicing in the same field of medicine is willing to support the lawsuit. This represents a substantial expense before the case is even filed. Furthermore, it is difficult to obtain medical personnel to review cases and be critical of medical professionals and hospitals in the same locality where they practice. In a medical malpractice case, a medical professional must be willing to state that the doctor, medical practitioner, or hospital violated the "standard of care." The "standard of care" is the care that is reasonably expected to be rendered to a patient in a particular locality under normal circumstances. Therefore, it is usually a very subjective standard. Medical malpractice cases are almost never settled. Statistically, only about one in three cases are successful. For this reason, medical practitioners, as well as the hospitals choose to fight these suits. Therefore, unless the injuries are catastrophic, it is often much too expensive in terms of expert costs, attorney fees, and other court related costs for an injured person who has been hurt at the hands of poor medical care, to file an action, even if it would be successful. The costs and fees associated with pursuing the action may exceed a successful verdict.

There are numerous claims that are created by a statute or federal code. As we stated earlier, some may involve workplace injuries that preempt the Workers' Compensation Act. In most cases, however, they may offer the injured party far greater rights and compensation. We will discuss only a representative few: Animal Control Act - Dog Bite: The Animal Control Act specifically deals with actions by injured people who have been injured by the failure of a domestic animal owner to control their animal. A lawsuit under the Animal Control Act is considered a Strict Liability Statute. In other words, if the injured person can show they were peaceably conducting themselves where they were entitled to be and without provocation were attacked and injured by an animal owned or controlled by another, then he or she is entitled to a recovery. There is no need to prove any other fault on anyone else's behalf. Dram Shop: The term "dram shop" refers to a facility or store that sells or distributes alcoholic beverages to the public. Typically, a dram shop is a liquor store or a bar or restaurant that sells liquor by an individual drink or by container. If a facility serves a person who they know to be intoxicated, they may be liable for injuries caused by that person to third parties. For example, if your vehicle is truck by an individual who is intoxicated, and it can be proven that the intoxication resulted from being over served at a particular restaurant, that restaurant may be responsible to you for damages caused by the intoxicated customer. However, like the medical lobby, the bar and restaurant lobby is very strong as well. The damages are capped at a very low amount, even for the wrongful death of an individual by an intoxicated person. In addition, the statue of limitations is restrictive on a dram shop action. Railroad Workplace Injuries: There are a number of Federal statutes that are designed to afford greater protection and compensation to workers engaged in most railroad related activities. Which apply may depend on the job being done by the victim at the time or it may depend on the equipment causing the injury. Farm and Agricultural Workplace Injuries: There are various Federal statutes that were enacted to afford greater protection to most seasonal and migrant agricultural workers, depending on certain requirements. They address not only the work being done, but also the transportation of workers. Longshoreman, Dock Workers and Shiphands Workplace Injuries: Under the specific requirements of various Federal statutes, certain workers associated with the loading/unloading, maintenance and/or the operation of ships or vessels on navigational waterways have significant remedies available to them. Once again, a victim's rights and claims are dependant on the work being done or the equipment being used at the time of injury.

Perhaps the biggest category of cases that may be asserted against a wrongful party is in general negligence. Negligence is defined under the law as the failure to do something which a reasonably careful or prudent person would do under the circumstance or, doing something that a reasonably careful or prudent person would not do under the same or similar circumstances. This conduct takes into account a broad range of potential actions that are too multitudinous to attempt to list. Injuries that result from practical jokes, arrogant conduct, or a general disregard for the rights of another to be free from injurious conduct may be sufficient to assert a claim under a general negligence theory. The statute of limitations varies depending on the facts of the case, particularly when a governmental entity may be involved or causes the wrongful conduct.

There are a significant variety of cases that come under the general category of "premises liability" actions. There is a Premises Liability Act in Illinois, which makes the owner of a property responsible for certain actions or inactions that are done on that property which result in injury. As we have previously said, this is not an automatic liability because someone has been hurt on the owner's property. For example, a premises liability action might entail a defect in the parking lot of a store or factory, which causes an injury. However, not every defect is covered. In order to show that a party may be responsible for the defect on the premises, there is a requirement that there be notice to the landowner. Whether the owner knew of should have known of the defect is often a very controversial issue. For example, a grocery store may be liable for a banana peel that a customer slips and falls on, particularly if the banana peel is black and appears to have been there for several hours, however, the store owner will generally not be responsible for a slip and fall on a spill that has just occurred immediately before the customer came to that spot. In that instance, the owner did not have adequate notice to discover and correct the defect. The statute of limitations is generally two years from the date of the injury, but under certain circumstances may be very different. If the injured party is a minor, the statute will be longer. If the party responsible for the injury is a municipal or governmental entity, or the CTA, RTA, the time frame might be much shorter and require additional matters to be filed.