If you are injured due to another party’s negligence or wrongdoing, you have the right to seek compensation for your damages. However, insurance companies and defense attorneys work hard to avoid liability and shift blame to you. They will deny, delay, and devalue your claim as much as possible.
You need an experienced Cicero car accident lawyer with a proven record of success to help you obtain the justice and compensation you deserve. At Mark L. Karno & Associates, LLC, our Cicero personal injury lawyers have over a century of combined legal experience protecting the rights of injury victims and their families. We have the skills, knowledge, and resources to hold the at-fault parties accountable, combat unfair tactics used by insurance companies, and help you secure maximum compensation for your claim.
Call (312) 701-0090 or visit our contact page and schedule a free consultation to discuss your personal injury claim. We will listen to you, answer your questions, and explain your rights. If we take your case, we will work tirelessly to help you get your life back on track by recovering the full value of your claim.
Why Choose Mark L. Karno & Associates, LLC
- Our Cicero personal injury lawyers have helped secure numerous multi-million dollar awards and settlements for injury victims and their families.
- We have the experience, skills, and resources to build your strongest case and help you secure maximum compensation for your claim.
- We genuinely care about you and your well-being. We want to help you get back on track after an accident by securing the justice and financial compensation you deserve.
- If we take your case, you will pay nothing until we recover compensation on your behalf.
What Is a Cicero Personal Injury Claim?
When another party’s negligence or wrongful conduct causes you harm, they are obligated to compensate you by paying the value of your damages. A personal injury claim arises when you assert your right by seeking the compensation you are owed.
Personal injury claims are civil matters, not criminal. Even if your personal injury claim arose from someone’s criminal conduct, your civil claim is entirely distinct from any criminal charges that may or may not be prosecuted against the defendant.
Some personal injury claims are based on strict liability or intentional torts. However, most personal injury claims are based on negligence. To succeed in a negligence claim, you must prove that four elements exist:
- The defendant owed you a duty of care.
- The defendant breached that duty of care.
- The defendant’s breach of duty caused your accident and injuries.
- You suffered damages caused by the defendant’s breach of care.
These elements may seem straightforward, but they can be challenging to prove. You need an experienced Cicero personal injury lawyer who can investigate your accident to identify all causes and liable parties, take action to preserve vital evidence, and uncover the facts needed to build your strongest case.
Types of Personal Injury Claims in Cicero
Personal injury claims can arise in countless ways. Some of the most common types of Cicero personal injury claims involve motor vehicle accidents, including passenger cars, commercial trucks, SUVs, motorcycles, rideshare vehicles, and pedestrians and cyclists being struck by motor vehicles.
Other common types of personal injury claims in Cicero and the surrounding areas include product liability, workplace accidents, slip-and-fall and other premises liability accidents, dog bites, and medical malpractice.
If you have been injured in one of these or any other type of incident caused by negligence or wrongdoing, you deserve to be represented by an experienced Cicero personal injury attorney with a proven record of success.
How Much Is My Cicero Personal Injury Claim Worth?
No Cicero lawyer can guarantee you how much compensation you will recover for your claim. However, once our Cicero personal injury attorneys have carefully investigated your case, we will provide an estimate of a fair settlement.
In a successful personal injury claim, you can recover all current and future economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages include medical expenses, lost wages, property damage, and other financial expenses and losses incurred due to your accident and injuries.
Non-economic damages are more challenging to prove, but are often even more devastating than economic damages. They include pain and suffering, mental and emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, scarring and disfigurement, disability, and other intangible costs and losses.
Economic and non-economic damages are compensatory because they are designed to compensate you for the harm caused by the defendant’s actions. Punitive damages, however, are intended to punish the wrongdoer and deter similar future conduct. Punitive damages are reserved for cases in which the defendant’s conduct is especially egregious.
At Mark L. Karno & Associates, LLC, we work hard to recover all available damages and to maximize your compensation.
What Is the Statute of Limitations For Cicero Personal Injury Claims?
Under Illinois law (735 ILCS 5/13-202), you’ve generally got two years from when you got hurt to file a lawsuit. Two years sounds like plenty of time, but you need to consult an experienced personal injury lawyer as quickly as possible.
Evidence disappears fast. Witnesses forget what they saw. Surveillance footage is overwrittenafter30, 60, or 90 days, depending on the system. Physical evidence deteriorates or is discarded. The accident scene changes. Buildings get renovated. Roads get repaved. The longer you wait, the harder we have to work to reconstruct what happened.
Your own memory fades, too. Details that seem burned into your brain right after the accident start getting fuzzy within weeks. You may forget the exact sequence of events, what you said, or what they said. These small details might turn out to be important.
Insurance companies get suspicious when you wait. They start asking why it took you so long to file a claim. They’ll argue you weren’t really hurt, or something else caused your injuries later. The delay itself becomes ammunition against you.
Obtaining and analyzing medical records, finding and interviewing witnesses, and retaining experts takes time. The sooner you contact us, the sooner we can begin protecting your rights and building your strongest case.
Additionally, there are exceptions to the two-year rule. Claims against government entities have much shorter deadlines, and you have to give formal notice even before filing suit. Medical malpractice has different rules and sometimes uses a “discovery rule” where the clock doesn’t start until you discover the injury. Minors injured before they turn 18 usually have until their 20th birthday to file.
You must consult an experienced Cicero personal injury attorney promptly to determine your filing deadline.
Why You Need An Experienced Cicero Personal Injury Attorney
Insurance adjusters are not your friends. Their goal is to save the company money by paying you as little as possible to settle your claim. They will use tactics to help them deny, devalue, and delay your claim, hoping you will accept a much lower settlement offer than your claim is worth.
You need the help of an experienced Cicero personal injury lawyer to protect your rights and help you secure the compensation you are entitled to. Your chances of obtaining a successful outcome are much higher if a skilled Cicero personal injury lawyer represents you.
Contact Mark L. Karno & Associates, LLC Today For Your Cicero Personal Injury Case
If you have been injured or lost a loved one due to another party’s negligence or wrongdoing, we want to help you. You may be entitled to recover significant compensation. However, insurance companies and defense attorneys will work hard to avoid liability and settle your claim for a fraction of its actual value.
At Mark L. Karno & Associates, LLC, we have the experience, skills, and resources to help you secure maximum compensation for your damages. Call us today at (312) 701-0090 or visit our contact page and schedule a free consultation to discuss your Cicero personal injury claim.