Lawyers refer to trauma with the potential to permanently interfere with your life, well-being, and livelihood as a catastrophic injury. Thousands of people sustain such injuries in Chicago every year because of car accidents, falls, acts of medical malpractice, or nursing home abuse.
If you or a loved one recently sustained a catastrophic injury in Chicago, you may have the legal right to significant compensation for your losses from those at fault and their insurance companies.
The Chicago catastrophic injury lawyers at Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers, PA, know how to get this compensation for you. We represent Chicago residents in catastrophic injury cases, fighting to secure payment for their losses. Contact us to learn what we can do for you.
The Dolman Law Group works with local counsel in any jurisdiction outside Florida for the purpose of filing lawsuits in jurisdictions wherein we are not licensed. Thus, we will follow each State’s ethical rules to ensure a local attorney is involved.
Table of Contents
- Why Choose Dolman Law Group for a Catastrophic Injury Case?
- Potential Catastrophic Injury Compensation
- Catastrophic Injury Cases We Handle in Chicago
- Types of Catastrophic Injuries for Which We Can Secure Compensation
- We Handle Insurance Companies for You
- Safeguard Your or Your Loved One's Rights After a Catastrophic Injury
- Contact an Experienced Chicago Catastrophic Injury Lawyer Today
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Why Choose Dolman Law Group for a Catastrophic Injury Case?
Choosing the right legal representation can significantly influence the outcome of your catastrophic injury case. Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers, PA, is a top-tier personal injury law firm in the Chicago area, with a team of experienced trial lawyers boasting a stellar track record of success. We have a well-earned reputation as a firm that relentlessly pursues the maximum compensation for our clients while providing personalized legal advice and support.
Potential Catastrophic Injury Compensation
If someone else’s actions caused your catastrophic injury in Chicago, you have the legal right to seek compensation from the at-fault party or parties and their insurers. By law, anyone whose dangerous decisions, actions, or failures to act caused you harm could be legally and financially liable for your losses.
Every Chicago catastrophic injury case that Dolman Law Group handles is unique. There’s no guaranteed standard or fixed amount you could receive. There’s no guarantee of compensation, but hiring a skilled attorney to handle your catastrophic injury case can maximize your chance of a favorable outcome.
The monetary damages you could receive after a catastrophic injury in Chicago could include payment for:
- Present and future medical costs, including surgery, rehabilitation, medication, and medical equipment.
- Home modification costs if you need to change your living space to accommodate your injuries.
- Lost income and job benefits if you cannot work because of your injury.
- Lost earning capacity if the injury changed your future earning capacity.
- Physical pain from the injury and your medical treatment.
- Emotional anguish from your injury.
- Loss of independence or enjoyment of life.
- Scarring, disfigurement, or loss of bodily function.
In cases of extreme recklessness or intentional misconduct, a Cook County court may also award you punitive damages, which punish the at-fault party and deter similar conduct. If a catastrophic injury results in death, the deceased victim’s surviving spouse or family members may pursue monetary damages in a wrongful death lawsuit, which can include payment for loss of the victim’s services, financial support, companionship, society, or consortium.
The types and amounts of damages you may recover for your catastrophic injury depend on diverse factors, such as the daily challenges related to your injury, the strength of the evidence to prove your damages and the at-fault party’s liability, the skill and reputation of your attorney, and the at-fault party’s (or parties’) financial resources.
Talk to an experienced Chicago catastrophic injury lawyer at Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers, PA, today to learn about the damages you could receive.
Catastrophic Injury Cases We Handle in Chicago
Catastrophic injuries can result from a wide array of accidents and incidents, and Dolman Law Group can handle any type of catastrophic injury case. Our experienced team of lawyers has the knowledge and resources to represent clients who sustained catastrophic injuries in the following circumstances.
Motor Vehicle Accidents
Crashes involving cars, trucks, buses, and motorcycles frequently occur in Chicago, with more than 98,000 of them in the Windy City in one recent year, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation. Many of those crashes caused catastrophic injuries to victims, such as vehicle drivers, passengers, bicyclists, and pedestrians. Major thoroughfares, such as Michigan Avenue and Lake Shore Drive, were particularly prone to crashes, but they can happen anywhere.
Falls, Fires, and Premises Liability Incidents
Illinois law obligates owners and tenants of Chicago properties, such as downtown office towers, public parks, shops, and townhouses in Wrigleyville, to ensure the reasonable safety of visitors to their premises. If they fail to fix or warn people about hazardous conditions on their properties, and you are injured in a fall, fire, drowning, and other harmful incidents that occur as a result.
Dangerous Drugs and Other Defective Products
Chicago residents rightfully trust the safety and utility of the products they consume, use, and encounter in their everyday lives. Defectively designed or manufactured consumer and industrial products, such as over-the-counter and prescription medications, packaged foods, children’s toys, kitchen appliances, and household cleaners, can pose extreme dangers to the public. When these products fail to function as expected, they can inflict catastrophic injury or illness.
Mass Casualty Events
A preventable and harmful incident in Chicago can sometimes severely harm multiple victims at once. These so-called mass casualty events can take many forms, such as a mass shooting on the West Side, a train derailment near Union Station, a high-rise apartment fire in Kenwood, or a chemical spill in Bench Park.
The victims often suffer similar traumas, but each catastrophic injury can inflict uniquely personal pain and suffering, for which the person harmed deserves compensation.
Medical Malpractice
People who seek medical care in Chicago have the right to expect that they’ll receive quality care. Medical providers sometimes fall short of their obligations to patients by making mistakes that could inflict severe harm. Catastrophic injuries can happen in a medical setting, such as a failure to diagnose a disease, the administration of improper medications, or a so-called never event during surgery or other medical procedure.
Types of Catastrophic Injuries for Which We Can Secure Compensation
The Dolman Law Group team also possesses a deep knowledge of medical science and the financial and practical challenges of a wide range of catastrophic injuries.
We have a wealth of experience in securing compensation for injuries, such as:
- Traumatic brain injuries, which may lead to cognitive impairment, physical disability, and behavioral changes.
- Spinal cord injuries, resulting in total or partial paralysis.
- Severe burns, lacerations, or abrasions, which all lead to significant scarring, disfigurement, and psychological trauma.
- Amputations or crushed limbs, which can drastically change the victim’s mobility and independence.
- Eye injuries, which lead to total or partial vision loss.
- Internal injuries, which disrupt the functioning of vital organs.
No matter what type of trauma you or a loved one sustained in Chicago, we possess the skills and resources to pursue the maximum possible compensation for your losses.
We Handle Insurance Companies for You
Insurance often plays an essential role in paying for a catastrophic injury. While your insurance, if you carry it, may pay some of the costs, the at-fault party’s liability insurance coverage should cover a more significant portion. At-fault parties carry liability insurance so they can pay for the losses you suffer because of their misconduct.
Getting liability insurance companies to pay what they owe can often be a formidable challenge. Insurers are businesses, so they work hard to protect their bottom line. They have a lot to protect in catastrophic injury cases, which often involve hundreds of thousands, and even millions, of dollars in losses for the victim.
To avoid paying their share, insurance companies may use aggressive and underhanded tactics to undermine your claim. An insurance adjuster may try to get you on a recorded phone call so that they can ask loaded questions designed to trip you up. They may also apply high-pressure tactics to convince you to disclose much more about your medical history than they have the right to know.
As experienced Chicago catastrophic injury lawyers, Dolman Law Group knows all too well the strategies and tactics insurance companies can use to shirk their responsibilities. We don’t let them get away with it. In a catastrophic injury case, our team handles all insurance-related things on your behalf, taking the burden entirely off your shoulders.
Our mission is to protect your rights and force insurers to pay what they owe you through our skilled negotiation and litigation, if necessary.
Safeguard Your or Your Loved One’s Rights After a Catastrophic Injury
Although life after a catastrophic injury can be tumultuous and overwhelming, it’s imperative to take the necessary legal and practical steps to safeguard your rights or those of your loved one. Here’s how you can protect your interests and maximize the likelihood of obtaining rightful compensation:
Take Reasonable Steps To Heal
No one expects a quick recovery from a catastrophic injury. The value of your claim, however, depends on demonstrating that you followed medical advice and did all you could to recover as much as possible. How dedicated you are to your recovery can influence the amount of compensation you receive.
Your medical records are also invaluable when it comes to proving your losses. They provide a comprehensive and well-documented account of your injuries and subsequent treatment, which can strengthen your case.
Do Not Accept a Quick Insurance Settlement
After a catastrophic injury, liability insurance companies and lawyers representing the at-fault party may quickly approach you with a settlement offer. Although it may be tempting to accept the money that they dangle in front of you, don’t take it.
Any offer made directly to you is sure to fall well short of the amount necessary to meet your current and future financial needs. If you accept it, you’ll forfeit your right to demand full payment.
Contact a lawyer immediately about any settlement offer you get, and then let the lawyer handle things from there with the insurance company. The team at Dolman Law Group can often convince or make an insurer pay far more than their initial offer.
Save Records To Give to Your Lawyer
Saving all the documents and records you receive related to your catastrophic injury can support your claim. Hold on to all medical records, accident reports, pharmacy receipts, insurance statements, correspondence from your employer, and any other papers you receive that have anything to do with the harm you suffered so that an experienced lawyer can review it. Those documents can often supply crucial evidence supporting your eventual compensation claim.
Hire a Chicago Catastrophic Injury Lawyer Immediately
Don’t wait to hire a skilled catastrophic injury lawyer to handle your injury case in Chicago. Having a knowledgeable attorney on your side can preserve evidence supporting your claim and ensure that you don’t miss any legal deadlines that could impair your rights. This puts you in the strongest possible position to secure the maximum available compensation.
You can afford to hire our lawyers. At Dolman Law Group, we offer a free meeting to anyone suffering from a catastrophic injury. We also represent our clients on contingency, which means they pay nothing unless we win for them.
Contact an Experienced Chicago Catastrophic Injury Lawyer Today
You face significant challenges after suffering a catastrophic injury, but you don’t have to overcome them alone. An experienced attorney can go to work on your behalf to secure the compensation you deserve from the parties at fault and their insurance companies.
To learn more about your rights, contact Dolman Law Group or call our Chicago office at (312) 500-2901.