ILLINOIS PERSONAL INJURY ATTORNEYS
PRACTICE AREAS
Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer
Curcio Law Offices is a top-notch personal injury law firm that provides top notch legal representation for injured victims throughout the Chicagoland area including Cook county, DuPage county, Lake county, Kane county, Will county, and LaSalle county. Our Chicago personal injury lawyers help our clients pursue maximum compensation for serious injuries caused by car accidents, medical malpractice incidents, construction accidents, workplace injuries, product liability, drug injuries, wrongful death, and so much more. When you suffer any serious injury due to someone’s negligence, you need an experienced Chicago personal injury lawyer on your side to protect your rights, fight for your justice, and deter future negligence.
Chicago personal injury attorneys have recovered millions of dollars in combined personal injury verdicts from responsible parties. We can do the same for you. If you’re ready to start an attorney client relationship with an experienced personal injury attorney, call 312-321-1111 today. We offer a free legal consultation to all new clients.
Table of Contents
Personal Injury Law Overview
Personal injury law is also called tort law. A tort is a civil wrong (wrongful act) that unfairly causes someone to suffer loss or harm resulting in legal liability for the person who commits a tortious act. Criminal acts may also be tortious acts but not all tortious acts are criminal acts. Separate court proceedings address the criminal charges and the victim can obtain redress in civil proceedings by the filing of a lawsuit in the civil court. A Chicago personal injury attorney can help you file a claim for compensation regardless of whether the defendant in the criminal proceeding is found guilty.
The most common types of tortious incidents are motor vehicle accidents, slip and falls, medical malpractice cases, product liability claims, and wrongful death cases.
The general goal of a personal injury lawsuit is to ensure the responsible parties compensate the injured person for the life threatening injuries he or she sustained. Personal injury laws vary from state to state and may be difficult for a layperson to interpret. An experienced personal injury lawyer who specializes in this area of the law can help you determine your legal rights and evaluate your chances of receiving fair compensation for your losses. If you or someone you know has been injured due to the negligence or deliberate malice of another, you should contact a Chicago personal injury lawyer to analyze your case.
Motor Vehicle Accidents
Motor vehicle crashes are one of the leading causes of death in the United States. More than 2.3 million adult drivers and passengers were treated in emergency departments as the result of being injured in motor vehicle crashes in 2009. The economic impact is also notable: the lifetime costs of car accident-related deaths and injuries were $430 billion in 2020.
Check out the 2020 motor vehicle statistics in Illinois: more than 246,000 crashes occurred in total. More than 52,000 of these crashes resulted in injuries while about 1,000 crashes resulted in death.
Motor vehicle accidents include car accidents, truck accidents, motorcycle accidents, bicycle accidents, and pedestrian accidents, all of which can cause catastrophic injury. If you or someone you love has suffered from the following injuries due to a negligent driver, you may have grounds for personal injury litigation in Chicago, IL:
- Traumatic brain injury
- Skull or facial fractures
- Spinal cord injuries
- Whiplash
- Partial or complete paralysis
- Broken bones
- Internal organ damage
- Nerve damage
- One or more amputations
- Road rash, bruising, and lacerations
- Loss of fetus
- Wrongful death
Medical Malpractice
Medical negligence occurs when a medical professional’s negligent action or inaction causes major injury, illness, or death to a patient.
Standards and regulations for medical malpractice vary by jurisdiction. There are many types of medical malpractice cases including birth injuries, diagnostic errors, medical device errors, medication errors, plastic surgery malpractice, chiropractor malpractice, nursing home negligence, and so much more.
If you feel crushed under the weight of medical bills due to a negligent medical professional, you may have grounds to file a medical malpractice case in Chicago, IL. Our team of qualified personal injury lawyers are ready to fight for you. Call us today at 312-321-1111 to schedule a free consultation.
Birth Injury
A birth injury is a physical injury that takes place during the birthing process. Birth injuries may also result in cognitive impairment or developmental delay in the child as a result of trauma to the brain. As medical technology has advanced over the past few decades, birth injuries have decreased significantly. Unfortunately, medical mistakes may still sometimes occur due to a doctor’s negligence, which results in a birth injury.
Common types of birth injury cases that our Chicago personal injury lawyers litigate on a regular basis include cerebral palsy, erb’s palsy, meconium aspiration syndrome, and so much more.
Nursing Home Negligence
As the population of people in nursing homes has increased over the years, so too have the incidents of nursing home abuse and neglect. In recognition of this unfortunate fact, Congress enacted the Nursing Home Reform Act in 1987 as part of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987, which established a Resident’s Bill of Rights to ensure that residents of nursing homes receive quality care that will result in their achieving or maintaining their “highest practicable” physical, mental, and psychosocial well-being. Nursing homes receive Medicaid and Medicare payments for long-term care of residents only if they are certified by the state to be in substantial compliance with the requirements of the Nursing Home Reform Act. Illinois has also enacted legislation to ensure the safety and security of its nursing home residents. Our Chicago nursing home abuse and bed sore lawyers stand ready to help you and your family.
Workplace Injuries
Every person has the right to a safe workplace. However, workplace injuries are far too common of an occurrence. In 2010, over 4,500 American workers were killed on the job while millions more suffered serious nonfatal injuries.
Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis, wrote, “Every day in America, 12 people go to work and never come home. Every year in America, 3.3 million people suffer a workplace injury from which they may never recover. These are preventable tragedies that disable our workers, devastate our families and damage our economy.”
Individuals injured in the workplace have a right to pursue compensation through a worker’s compensation claim, but they may also have a right to file a personal injury claim against a responsible third party. An experienced personal injury attorney at Curcio Law Offices can help you determine the best course of action.
Construction Site Accidents
Construction site workers or visitors may be injured as the result of the inherent dangers present at the work site. Power tools, partially built structures, scaffolding, ladders, lifts, heavy machinery, cranes, trucks, and rotating crews of tradesmen account for some of the obvious hazards on construction sites.
Determining the cause of any particular accident is often a complex process. That’s why you need Chicago personal injury lawyers on your side. We can investigate the construction accident, determine who/what is at fault, gather sufficient evidence to support your claim, calculate your damages, and negotiate a fair settlement. Call a Chicago personal injury attorney at 312-321-1111 to schedule a free consultation.
Dangerous & Defective Products
A person injured as the result of using a defective or dangerous product may have a claim against the product manufacturer or distributors. Product manufacturers are held to a standard known as strict liability, which means that the injured person need not prove negligence or intentional wrongdoing on the part of the manufacturer. Demonstrating that the product is defective in some way, which resulted in an injury, is sufficient to win the case. Our legal team has been helping victims of dangerous and defective products prove this in their personal injury claims for years. We can help you do the same. Call our law office today to get started.
Defective Drugs
Pharmaceutical companies are responsible for educating physicians and patients about the potentially harmful side effects of their products. Some drugs have been found to be dangerous even after receiving FDA approval and their release to the public. FDA approval does not guarantee a safe product. Oftentimes, the drug companies negligently or knowingly withhold information about a drug’s potentially harmful side effects.
When the pharmaceutical companies are found to have failed to meet their legal obligation of full disclosure to the public, they may face personal injury lawsuits where they must compensate individuals who have become ill from taking the drug as prescribed. After suffering a major drug injury, it’s crucial that you don’t navigate the complex personal injury claims process alone. Contact Chicago personal injury attorneys at our law firm today.
Slips, Falls And Other Premises Liability
Premises liability refers to the legal obligations of property owners and occupiers to prevent injuries to people on their property. The most common cause of premises liability claims are slip and fall injuries on an uneven floor surface, ice, spilled liquid, or other debris. The liability of the property owner and/or occupier varies significantly depending on the state in which the accident occurred. Our Chicago personal injury lawyers can inform you of all Illinois premises liability laws before you file a claim.
Animal Bites
Each year, approximately 4.5 million people are bitten by dogs, half of them children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Although few people die as a result, one in five dog bites is serious enough to seek medical attention.
In 2012, more than 27,000 people underwent reconstructive surgery as the result of a dog bite. Both domestic (cats, ferrets, birds) and undomesticated (large cats, reptiles) ordinarily found in the wild but owned by some people as pets, have also been known to attack both children and adults.
Railroad Accidents
Trains travel more than 1.5 million miles in the United States each day. Although trains are one of the oldest and safest means of transportation, crashes and employee-related accidents frequently occur resulting in hundreds of deaths and thousands of serious injuries each year. Human error, mechanical malfunction, improper operating procedure, inadequate safety devices, and negligence may be causes of railroad accidents.
Railroad Employee Accidents
The Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA) is a law that was passed by the government in 1908 to protect railroad workers injured in railroad accidents. Designed to calm public anger over the devastating injuries and deaths on the rails, the law gives engineers, brakemen, switchmen, and other railroad employees the right to sue for on-the-job injuries in state or federal courts. Over the years, the railroad law has been strengthened, both by Congress and U.S. Supreme Court decisions, to provide real protection to injured railroad employees.
Wrongful Death
A wrongful death claim is unique in that it alleges that a person died as the result of someone else’s negligence. The claim may be the result of any type of accident that results in the death of a person as the result of someone else’s negligence. Wrongful death can occur from a car accident, a medical malpractice incident, or any other type of occurrence that would otherwise be considered a personal injury matter.
Wrongful death cases, just like personal injury cases, are designed to restore the victim’s life back to their pre-accident state. Obviously, no amount of financial compensation can bring a person back to life. Fair compensation can, however, allow the family members left behind to pay off medical bills, lost wages, and so much more as a direct result of the wrongful death. That way, they can only focus on grieving, not financial stressors.
Assault And Battery
Assault and battery are offenses in both criminal and civil law. Therefore they can give rise to criminal and/or civil liability. Assault refers to an attempt to physically harm another person and battery is the actual infliction of harm. In the civil context, assault and battery are treated as separate offenses. Assault and battery are different from other personal injury cases in that they are “intentional torts” – meaning the offender acted with the intent to cause a certain result whereas the typical personal injury case requires the injured party to prove negligence or willful and wanton conduct.
Toxic Exposure And Poisoning
A toxic tort is an injury to a person’s bodily integrity, financial situation, or other interest caused by the negligence or carelessness of another, which ultimately leads to exposure to a toxin or chemical. Many of the effects of toxic exposure are permanent, and often victims are not aware that the medical problems they have experienced are directly related to that toxic exposure.
A common example of this type of personal injury claim is mesothelioma, which is an illness caused by long-term exposure to asbestos.
Community Exposure
The effect of community toxic exposure and the legal crusade to root out the cause of the pollution was the subject of the movie Erin Brockovich starring Julia Roberts. The attorneys held the Pacific Gas & Electric Co. responsible for polluting drinking water for the entire town of Hinkley, California, with the chemical hexavalent chromium resulting in an inordinately high rate of cancer among the residents. The case resulted in the largest settlement ever paid in a direct action lawsuit in U.S. history. To learn more about dangerous substances polluting the water table, contact the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Safe Drinking Water Hotline at (800) 426-4791.
If you suspect that you or your loved one’s health is suffering due to toxic exposure, Chicago personal injury lawyers at Curcio Law Offices can investigate your claim and help you recover compensation.
Workplace Exposure
Toxic exposure may also be the result of working conditions. In many occupations, workers run the risk of harmful exposure to toxic chemicals. Employees laboring in industries such as photo developing, fabrication, hospital work, airline work, mechanical repairs, and construction are often vulnerable to toxic exposure.
What are Common Damages for a Personal Injury Claim?
In order to recover maximum compensation for injuries, illness, or wrongful death, clients need to have the best personal injury lawyers on their side. A personal injury lawyer at Curcio Law Offices in can help victims recover compensation for the following damages:
- Past and future medical bills
- Past and future rehabilitative bills
- Caregiving bills
- Lost wages
- Loss of earning capacity
- Physical pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Counseling expenses
- Loss of consortium
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Permanent scarring, disfigurement, and disability
- Funeral and burial expenses if the personal injury resulted in wrongful death
