Naperville Car Accident Attorneys Serving The Western Suburbs Of Chicago And Illinois

Last updated on August 15, 2024

No matter how your car accident happened, your pathway to physical and financial recovery may be full of struggles and losses, including:

• Medical expenses
• Loss of income
• Pain and suffering

Discovering the right way to obtain full and fair compensation can be challenging, but sometimes true justice doesn’t come easy. Getting legal advice is important, especially when the stakes are extra high after a severe or catastrophic injury or after a fatality. Our office will help you with the first step to any car accident investigation; we will obtain and provide a free copy of the police report (Illinois Traffic Crash Report) even before you decide to work with us.

Most people do not have the detailed knowledge and experience that is necessary to navigate communications with law enforcement agents, medical providers and insurance companies without losing out on proper and well-deserved compensation. At Marker & Crannell in Naperville, we are ready to determine and prove how your accident happened and help you maximize your recovery.

Our Naperville Car Accident Lawyers Will Investigate Your Car Accident Injuries

Auto accidents are a painful and ever-present problem in our modern life. Although safety features in both cars and trafficways have improved over time, crashes still occur, primarily because of human error. Heavy traffic, distracted drivers, and bad weather all contribute to the occurrence of car accidents and resulting injuries

If, while investigating your case, we find that someone else – such as another driver or business was negligent, your personal injury case will have a solid footing. Common causes of vehicle accidents in the Chicago area and elsewhere include:

• Excessive speed
• Sudden lane changes, unsignaled turns and other traffic law violations
• Driver distraction
• Traffic congestion and/or work zones contributing to sudden starts and stops
• The presence of different vehicle types in Chicago and interstate traffic, including motorcycles and large trucks

Other trends that lead to car accident injuries include:

• The higher incidence of fatalities among occupants of cars who were not wearing seatbelts
• Hazards associated with pedestrians and bicyclists along roadways
• The dangers of defective car parts, such as tires, signal lights, brakes, steering mechanisms, and seatbelts

All discoverable details may matter during an investigation after a crash. The liable party or parties may include one or more other drivers, a car manufacturer or a city, or the business the at-fault driver was driving for. Finding ALL of the responsible parties can be crucial to ensuring a full recovery. In cases where coverage limits for the obvious at-fault party are too low to allow a full recovery for our clients, we leave no stone unturned in our search for any other person or entity that shares fault in causing the accident.

When you work with a personal injury lawyer at Marker & Crannell, you do not have to worry about legal fees for the investigation. That’s because we represent people on a contingency basis. Our payment comes as a percentage of the final payout of a verdict or settlement, so there is no need to tally up hours of attorneys’ time when you entrust your case to our guidance.

Work With A Trial Lawyer To Maximize Your Recovery After A Car Accident In Illinois

Your case will be in good hands when Marker & Crannell is your personal injury firm. In 2022 alone, our firm collected $ 1 million in excess recoveries for our clients, $700,000-plus of which was by jury trial verdict. When insurance companies know that your attorney isn’t afraid to go to trial, even on tough cases, it puts pressure on them to offer a fair settlement to avoid the possibility of a large verdict. Sometimes the best outcome for a client is reached through a settlement, but sometimes the only avenue for a fair outcome is trial. Our impressive settlements are possible because our trial team is ready and eager to hold the insurance company accountable in court when they lowball our clients.

When selecting your representation, don’t hire a settlement artist. The only way to get full and fair compensation for your damages is to hire a trial lawyer. If we settle your case, the attorney fees are 1/3 of the recovery. If we go to trial and get a jury verdict, the attorney fees don’t increase; they are still 1/3 of the recovery.

Fewer than 1% of claims go all the way to trial in Illinois. We don’t go to trial on every case, but we try enough cases that insurance companies take us seriously. They know that we know what we’re doing, we get good results, and we’re not afraid to put our cases in a jury’s hands.

If you hire an attorney who doesn’t try cases, your case’s value will be set by the insurance company. Hire us, and we’ll tell you the real value, and we won’t settle for less…unless you want to do so. To settle or not settle is always a client’s decision.

What Compensation Is Available After A Car Crash In Naperville?

In the aftermath of a car accident, injured victims have a right to pursue financial compensation that addresses the full spectrum of their losses. This is about more than property damage – it is about being compensated fairly for injuries as well. Damages available in Illinois include:

• Economic damages covering measurable financial losses such as medical bills, lost wages and property damage.
• Noneconomic damages to compensate for more subjective losses like pain and suffering, emotional distress, disfiguration, and loss of enjoyment of life.

Determining the extent of these damages involves assessing the severity of injuries, the impact on the victim’s daily life and the future consequences of the crash. In this assessment, medical records, employment documentation and expert testimony are often vital.

Understanding insurance coverage is essential, as Illinois follows a fault-based system. This means that the at-fault driver’s insurance is responsible for covering the damages. However, victims may also seek compensation from their own insurance policies under certain circumstances, such as if the at-fault driver is uninsured or underinsured.

How Fault Is Determined After A Wreck In Illinois

Fault determination in Illinois car crashes follows the principle of comparative negligence. This doctrine allows multiple parties to be held responsible based on their percentage of fault in causing the accident.

For example, if you are found to be 30% at fault for an accident, your compensation will be reduced by that percentage. This means that if the total damages amount to $100,000, you would only be eligible to receive $70,000.

Understanding comparative negligence is critical because it directly impacts the compensation one can receive. Factors determining fault include traffic laws, witness statements and accident reconstruction reports, to name just a few. Insurers and courts evaluate these elements to assign fault percentages.

In Illinois, even when a party is partially at fault, they can still recover damages if their fault does not exceed 50%. This system helps ensure victims receive compensation proportionate to their level of fault.

Insurance companies regularly attempt to use comparative negligence to lowball unrepresented injury victims in settlement discussions. Our attorneys have been hired in rear-end collisions where, before we got involved, the insurance company attempted to put 30-50% of the blame on our clients despite being rear-ended while stopped at a stop light. They were simply trying to take advantage of these injury victims and bully them into getting a 30-50% discount.

Turn To Our Car Accident Attorneys In Naperville, Serving Aurora And Beyond

Were you or was your loved one injured in a car or truck accident of one of these types on a city street or area highway or interstate?

• Head-on collision
• Rear-end collision
• Sideswipe
• T-bone accident
• Hit-and-run accident – possibly a one-car accident with a runaway vehicle that caused the crash
• Multivehicle accident
• Car-bus accident
• Commercial vehicle accident
• Semi-truck accident
• Bicycle or pedestrian accident
• Rideshare vehicle accident (e.g. Uber, Lyft)
• Common carrier accidents (e.g. taxi, bus, train)

No matter how the accident happened, we are ready to apply our extensive knowledge and experience to help you recover the compensation you deserve.

Free Consultations With Our Car Accident Lawyers In The Naperville-Aurora Area

Initial meetings with our attorneys are free and you will not pay lawyers’ fees until you receive a settlement or verdict payout. Call us at 630-912-6009 or send an email inquiry to get a free consultation scheduled. If you would like to skip the initial intake process, you have the option to complete this form prior to our meeting.

After your initial no-cost consultation with members of our personal injury team, we will obtain and send you a free police car accident report if one is available.