Illinois Lawyer Referrals and Legal Guidance

Archive for December, 2011

5 Tips About Pain and Suffering Damages in Illinois

Wednesday, December 21st, 2011

Every lawsuit where someone has been hurt involves a computation of what the damages are—a dollar amount that represents the value of your injuries. One area of injury that is more challenging to quantify, is damages for your pain and suffering. Here are some tips on the “what” and “how” of pain and suffering damages:

1. Pain and suffering is in the category of damages that are considered “non-economic” damages. You don’t necessarily have a receipt that can quantify your pain. Also, pain and suffering are completely subjective. The same injury may represent a very different result to two different people. This also means that jurors are likely to view differently what your pain and suffering are worth, when they have to assign a dollar amount. And depending on where your case is being heard, different geographic areas can have different views on non-economic damages. Big cities may award pain and suffering damages differently than rural areas.

2. When presenting your damages for pain and suffering, there are many different aspects that can be included. It is more than just the trauma you experienced during and immediately after your injury. It can also include ongoing and future pain and anguish that are physical, mental and emotional.

3. Physical pain can be proven by using your medical records and testimony from your physicians. Not only should your injuries be detailed in your records, but any continued consultation and suggestions for future care should be as well. Other people that knew you both before and since the accident may also be good sources of information about what you have and continue to experience. They can testify about their observations about how you live your life, now that you have had the injury.

4. Your mental and emotional anguish may also be proven through medical testimony and witnesses to your trauma and its effects on you. Consulting with a psychologist or other mental health professional may help both your treatment, and in proving your actual level of suffering. Some examples of mental and emotional trauma that can cause ongoing suffering after an injury include: depression, anxiety, fear, shock, humiliation, and grief. These traumas can affect you immediately as well as in the long-term.

5. Loss of consortium is another non-economic type of damage that is allowed in Illinois. It is similar to pain and suffering, in that it is very subjective and difficult to assign a dollar figure. It covers the damages, typically in a wrongful death case, that one suffers from the loss of the relationship of the victim of the accident. It can include the loss of a spouse’s affection, care, and sexual relations. It can also include the loss of a person’s companionship and contributions to the household.

Tags: Champaign injury lawyer, Des Plaines injury lawyer
Posted in Five Tips | Comments Off

Cook County Criminal Defense Attorney Courts

Tuesday, December 20th, 2011

The nature of the criminal charges against you – traffic violation to serious felony – will determine where in Cook County your case will be heard. It could be one of several criminal courts in the county. Wherever your case is heard, you should choose an attorney who regularly appears there and has developed relationships with the prosecutors and judges.

26th and California is where main felonies in Chicago, such as murder, armed robbery, weapons charges and some assault and battery cases, are tried. Preliminary hearings may be held elsewhere in Cook County but the trial will likely be at this courthouse.

Daley Center is where most civil matters in Cook County are heard as well as many minor traffic offenses in Chicago, such as speeding. Typically, traffic charges will only result in a fine if you are convicted but sometimes you can lose your driving privileges or incur higher insurance rates. Therefore, it is highly recommended that you consult not simply any attorney but specifically a Chicago traffic defense attorney.

Skokie Courthouse (located at 5600 Old Orchard Road in Skokie) is also known as the District 2 court and hears both criminal and civil cases ranging from the minor to serious offenses.

Rolling Meadows Courthouse (located at 2121 Euclid Avenue in Rolling Meadows) is also known as District 3 court and hears both criminal and civil cases ranging from the minor to serious offenses.

Maywood Courthouse (located at 1500 Maybrook Avenue in Maywood) is also known as the District 4 court and hears both criminal and civil cases ranging from the minor to serious offenses.

Bridgeview Courthouse (located at 10220 South 76th Avenue in Bridgeview) is also known as the District 5 court and hears both criminal and civil cases ranging from the minor to serious offenses.

Markham Courthouse (located at 16501 South Kedzie Parkway in Markham) is also known as the District 6 court and hears both criminal and civil cases ranging from the minor to serious offenses.

555 W. Harrison hears domestic violence cases in Chicago and jury trials on misdemeanors. If convicted of either, you could be sent to state prison.

Belmont & Western (located at 2452 West Belmont Avenue), 3150 W. Flournoy, 5555 W. Grand Avenue, 155 W. 51st Street and 727 E. 111th Street are courts where preliminary hearings are conducted for felony crimes in Chicago. If the case on felony charges is going to a grand jury, it is transferred to 26th and California or one of the suburban district courthouses. These locations are also where bench trials on misdemeanor charges in Chicago are heard, such as solicitation of a prostitute, disorderly conduct, assault, battery and other crimes.

It is worth repeating that for practical but primarily strategic reasons, it is highly recommended that you choose an attorney who regularly appears in the courthouse where your matter will be heard and is, therefore, familiar with the prosecutors and judges at that location.

To Learn more visit http://www.findgreatlawyers.com/IllCrimLaw.htm

Tags: Chicago criminal defense law firm, Cook County criminal defense attorney
Posted in Criminal Defense in Illinois | Comments Off

After an Accident Or Injury, Do This

Monday, December 19th, 2011

If you are hurt in a car accident or a slip and fall or any other type of injury, there are certain things you should do and know – the first of which is to take care of yourself. Seek medical treatment for your pain and injuries immediately. If you felt fine at first but experience pain or discomfort a few days later, get medical treatment. At the end of the day, regardless of who is at fault, your health is the most important thing.

Next, complete an accident form or police report. If you are unable to do so, have an independent, trustworthy party do it. For example, if you slipped and fell in a store, the store is a potential defendant. The store may be reluctant to provide you with an accident report. Get an independent one from the police or demand a signed copy from the store.

Write down what happened. For your doctor’s sake, for your lawyer’s sake, for the police’ sake and for memory’s sake, record it in a journal. Memories tend to fade or be skewed over time and you don’t want to forget any important (or valuable) details.

But, don’t share it with anyone other than the police, your doctor or your lawyer. Tread carefully with potential defendants and their representatives. A potential defendant’s insurance company or other representative may try to get you to give a signed statement. Do not do this without a lawyer. You run the risk of having your words twisted and severely hurting any potential case you may have.

In addition to writing down the events as you remember them in your own private journal, take photos and videos of your injuries or other damage. This should also be done immediately and will assist in proving liability. A good Illinois personal injury lawyer will advise you on the importance of such documentation.

Keep accurate records of all medical expenses incurred and lost wages or time away from work. Even if your insurance pays a medical bill, it will still be included in your damages. So, keep track of all of this information.
Be mindful that when neighbors, co-workers, family and friends hear of what happened to you, they will offer unsolicited legal and other advice or share stories of someone in the same situation who recovered a certain amount of money. Do not take any of this to heart. No two cases are exactly the same. There are many differentiating factors, such as degree of injury and other facts.

Instead, do the above and focus on getting well. Until your medical treatment is complete, you cannot settle a case.

To learn more visit http://www.findgreatlawyers.com/IllPersonalInjury.htm

Tags: Lake County injury attorney, Orland Park injury attorney
Posted in Injury Cases | Comments Off

Class Action Attorneys and Lawsuits

Friday, December 16th, 2011

You hear a lot about class action lawsuits but, if you’ve never been a part of one or even if you have, you may not be aware of the following 10 interesting facts about these lawsuits that we learned from an Illinois class action attorney.

10 interesting facts about class action lawsuits

1. Certain things will determine if it is worth bringing a group of people together for a class lawsuit, such as the number of people affected, whether they have the same issues and whether the entire class’ interests will be served by bringing suit.

2. If you lost only about $100, it’s not worth pursuing an action because the filing costs alone will be more than that. However, if 10,000 people lost $100, they can bring a class action lawsuit and costs and attorneys’ fees will come out of whatever the recovery amount is. So, if the case is successful, you will recover something, at least. If not, you are in no worse position than you were before.

3. If you decide that you don’t want to be part of a case, you can still make your situation known to the Illinois Attorney General Department of Consumer Fraud, your city’s consumer service department, as well as the Better Business Bureau.

4. You may not want to be part of a lawsuit and, instead, prefer to bring the case on your own. However, there are instances where a judge may require that similar cases be part of a class claim so that the defendant does not incur excessive costs by repeatedly defending similar cases.

5. The four most common types of class action lawsuits are employment related (such as a group of workers affected by an illegal act of the employer), securities law (such as a group of investors harmed by the wrongful acts of one company), consumer fraud (such as a group of consumers harmed by one defendant) and product liability (such as a group of people harmed by a defective product).

6. These lawsuits could, in some cases, have millions of plaintiffs. That is why a “lead plaintiff” is selected to attend meetings, depositions and possibly testify at trial. This person may be selected because he or she will make a good witness and because his situation is a good representation of what the whole class has experienced.

7. The lead plaintiff could receive more money from the recovery amount, as determined by the judge, than the rest of the group for to compensate for his or her time and effort.

8. Attorneys that handle these cases do not ask for any payment up front. Rather, they receive a court-approved percentage of the recovery amount, if any.

9. We think it is important to select an attorney with at least 10 years of experience handling claims to the one you are pursuing and that he or she is part of a financially stable firm that can foot the bill for costs and fees during the litigation of the suit.

10. Illinois class action rules and regulations can be very intricate and there are also federal rules that might apply, which can cause your case to end up in federal court. Your experienced attorney should be very familiar with all of these.

There is more to class lawsuits than the above but these are some the interesting facts about these types cases.

To learn more visit http://www.findgreatlawyers.com/ClassActionConsumerFraud.htm

Tags: Cicero class action lawyer, Decatur class action lawyer
Posted in Litigation | Comments Off

Why Can’t I Find a Legal Malpractice Lawyer?

Thursday, December 15th, 2011

Are they protecting each other? Is there some sort of stigma in the legal community if you take legal malpractice cases?

Perhaps. A lot of attorneys handle legal malpractice cases but they don’t advertise it, while at the same time, they will heavily promote their legal malpractice work.

One reason is that they may have a conflict of interest with the lawyer you want to sue. For example, the attorney you want to hire may already be representing an attorney at the same firm as the attorney you want to sue. The attorney you want to hire cannot represent an attorney at a firm and then sue another attorney at the same firm. Lawyers must adhere to an ethical code in Illinois and many are reluctant to enter any area that may even be a shade of grey because the risks are too great, including fines, suspension and even disbarment.

Another reason is that the legal community in Chicago is an active one. Lawyers come together in court, at bar association meetings and even at social events. They interact with each other regularly through work and outside of work. Many do not want to jeopardize that camaraderie and that alone may make finding someone to handle your legal malpractice case a challenge, but not impossible if you have a solid case.

Having a solid case is the main reason many lawyers do not advertise their legal malpractice work. They don’t want to run the risk of being flooded with calls from dissatisfied clients whose lawyer did a poor job, but who can’t prove economic harm or enough of a financial loss to make it worth pursuing.

In a legal malpractice case, you have to prove that the plaintiff would have had a substantially better result in his case if the lawyer had not performed so inadequately. Even if the attorney’s mistake is plain to see, you still have to prove causation. You have to show that the reason you lost your case was not because of any other factor, but the direct result of your attorney’s error.

Also, payment in legal malpractice cases is on a contingency basis, which means you do not pay by the hour but, rather, your attorney gets a portion of whatever you recover. On the flip side, your attorney gets nothing if you recover nothing. Therefore, the risk is huge for the attorney taking on such a case and so your case has to be worth taking. This means your damages have to be quite high and your case has to have a good chance of winning.

There are 35,000+ lawyers in Chicago and there are many attorneys who will take a legal malpractice case – even if they don’t advertise it. But, your case has to be solid and worth their time and expense.

To find out more visit http://www.findgreatlawyers.com/LegalMalpractice.htm

Tags: Naperville legal malpractice attorney, Rockford legal malpractice lawyer
Posted in Injury Cases | Comments Off

5 Things You Should Know About Employment Severance Agreements

Wednesday, December 14th, 2011

With companies downsizing and unemployment numbers rising, you may find yourself dealing with the end of your job. This can be an uncertain time, and made all the more complicated by the question: Am I entitled to severance, and if so, should I take it? Here are some things you should know:

1. What is a severance agreement?

Severance agreements, or separation agreements, are contracts that control the ending of the employment relationship. They contain the terms that will control your leaving your job, and what you may receive in return. Typically the employee will agree that he or she will not pursue any legal claims against the company, or will not say or do certain things related to the company. In exchange, the company will pay the employee extra money, or provide some other extra benefit.

2. Who gets a severance agreement; am I entitled to it?

There is no blanket entitlement to a severance agreement. The law does not require employers to provide any severance when terminating an employee. It is generally offered when the employer is trying to create a feeling of good will in an otherwise bad situation. Or it is offered where potential claims by the employee may exist against the company, and they are looking to break it off “cleanly.”

In some situations, though, the company may have a severance plan in place that has been clearly established that could require the employer to offer a severance package upon termination, if you fit within the criteria of the plan.

3. What should my employer offer, and what might I be giving up if I take the severance agreement?

Your employer cannot just offer you what you would otherwise be entitled to, if you will be expected to give something up in return. Your wages, commissions, and vacation pay that you have already earned are not enough.

Whatever is being asked of you must be laid out very clearly, for the severance agreement to be valid. Most typically, the terms may include: agreeing not to bring any claims against the employer for wages that are in dispute, and for discrimination or other wrongful discharge; cooperation with the employer in future matters; non-disparagement of the company; and restrictive covenants preventing you from competing with the company.

4. Will a severance agreement affect my right to unemployment benefits?

Your unemployment benefits should not be affected by receiving a severance package from your employer. However, if the severance includes payment for wages that cover a particular time period, then you would need to wait until that period is over before applying for unemployment.

5. How do I decide if the severance agreement is right for me?

Having a good lawyer help you evaluate and negotiate the terms can benefit you greatly in this decision. Your employer will need to provide you with an appropriate amount of time for you to review the issues with a lawyer before you sign the agreement.

While it may seem very appealing to take the money and run when you’re losing your job, you need to carefully consider what is being asked of you in the severance agreement. It may not be the clean break that if seems at first.

You will want to look at what your possible claims could be against your employer. Your lawyer can identify the possible claims, and evaluate the likelihood you would succeed in these claims and what they could be worth. Also, any restrictions on what jobs you may take in the future, and what you are allowed to say about this employer need to be looked at carefully to see if it is worth what you are receiving under the severance agreement.

Tags: Des Plaines labor lawyer, Orland Park employment lawyer
Posted in Five Tips | Comments Off

What to Look For in a Class Action Attorney

Tuesday, December 13th, 2011

- Choose an attorney who primarily handles major class action lawsuits. Look for least ten years of experience in handling these types of cases.

- Reputation is important. Choose a firm with a solid reputation in the legal community for handling these lawsuits.

- Your attorney should have a proven track record in the specific area of law related to your case. For example, if your lawsuit involves a defective product that caused injury or illness, we strongly recommend you obtain a lawyer who has successfully handled similar product liability cases.

- Illinois class action rules and regulations can be complex and certain federal rules might even place the case in federal court and not state court (such as the Class Action Fairness Act). Your attorney should be thoroughly familiar with Illinois class action rules and regulations as well as applicable federal law and be able to navigate the intricacies of both.

- Look for an attorney at a financially stable firm that is able to cover the costs and expenses that will be incurred and will not seek money from its clients during the litigation.

- Your attorney should be honest with you and the other plaintiffs about the potential for success in the lawsuit.

- Although class action suits may involve a large number of plaintiff clients, your attorney should still keep his or her clients informed and up to speed on all significant developments in the case.

- Your attorney should not make decisions on your behalf without considering your needs and desires. It is important to express to your attorney what you need and want and your attorney should act on your behalf with this information in mind.

- You are the customer. Your attorney should treat you with respect, promptly returning all phone calls and e-mails and taking the time to answer questions.

- Attorneys in class lawsuits are paid on a contingency basis. This means that they are only paid if the suit is successful and they are paid out of whatever amount is recovered from the defendant. The judge determines what percentage of the recovery amount the attorney will receive and it is based on a number of factors, including the work involved and the amount recovered.