When a worker in Hoffman Estates suffers an injury or illness on the job, they have the right to receive medical care through their employer’s workers’ compensation coverage. If a third party caused the injury or illness, the worker could recover their damages through a personal injury claim or lawsuit.
If you were injured or became sick as a function of your work, our Hoffman Estates workers’ compensation lawyers could help you. We aim to recover an award for your losses through a personal injury claim or lawsuit.
How Much Compensation Can You get From Workers’ Comp?
Illinois law gives you the right to recover certain losses from a workplace injury or illness, regardless of who is at fault. Illinois employers are required to carry workers’ compensation insurance. This is to cover certain losses a worker suffers after sustaining an injury during their work duties.
The financial compensation – or “damages” – you could receive after a workplace injury or illness depend on your case. Four types of workers’ compensation exist. Your lawyer can tell you which you should be eligible to receive.
You Have the Legal Right to Multiple Types of Benefits
Regardless of how your accident happened and who was at fault, your employer’s workers’ compensation insurance should pay you certain benefits.
Cover All Costs Related to Your Medical Care and Treatment
Medical care benefits could cover:
- Treatment from doctors and/or surgeons
- Medications
- Hospitalization
- Out of pocket medical costs
- Emergency room treatment
- Physical therapy/rehabilitation
- Imaging, diagnostics, and lab tests
- Mobility devices
Benefits Should Also Cover a Portion of Your Salary
The Workers’ Compensation Act establishes that a person injured while performing the work duties should receive up to 66 percent of their standard weekly income. Permanent injuries could make a worker eligible for permanent total disability (PTD) or permanent partial disability (PPD) benefits.
Other Benefits You Could Receive
Your injury could prevent you from performing the same work you once did. In this event, the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission also establishes your right to vocational rehabilitation. You can receive training for a new role at the company.
If your loved one passed away from an injury they sustained or the illness they developed on the job, surviving family members can claim death benefits.
Third Party Negligence Could Entitle You to Additional Compensation
You typically cannot file a lawsuit against your employer for an injury you sustained on the job. However, you could pursue compensation from a third party if their negligence caused your injury or illness.
Perhaps you were driving a delivery truck and had a broadside collision with a driver at the junction of Illinois 58 and Higgins Road. A workplace accident caused by a third party could even happen at the office. If you were sitting at your desk at the St. Alexius Medical Center and your chair broke, causing your injuries, you could pursue damages from the chair manufacturer.
A third-party claim or lawsuit could allow you to recover additional types of damages outside of those covered by workers’ compensation benefits. With a personal injury claim or lawsuit, you have the right to pursue pain and suffering and certain other non-economic benefits that are not recoverable with benefits.
Who Could You Sue in a Third-Party Lawsuit?
Defendants in a third-party claim include individuals or entities whose negligence caused your injury or illness. Examples of possible respondents in a third-party claim for a workplace accident include:
- General contractor
- Architect
- Manufacturers of defective equipment
- Cargo loading companies
- Subcontractors
- Vehicle drivers
How Our Lawyers Prove Negligence in Third-Party Claims
If you decide to seek damages from a third party, our attorneys will set out to prove that your injury or illness resulted—at least partially—from the negligence of a party other than your employer. We must establish that the other party:
- Had a legal duty to take reasonable steps to keep you from harm
- Breached their duty of care
- Caused your injury or illness through their violation of duty
- Caused you to sustain economic and non-economic losses
Our legal team will investigate your work accident or situation, gathering evidence that proves third-party liability, by:
- Going to the scene of the accident at your workplace or another location
- Interviewing witnesses
- Reviewing footage from surveillance cameras or traffic signal cameras
- Analyzing safety records
- Obtaining the accident report
- Collaborating with accident reconstruction specialists
- Working with medical, economic, and occupational therapists
Our Firm Can Help with Workers’ Compensation for Any Type of Worker
Our workers’ compensation lawyers are here for the injured people of Hoffman Estates, including those struggling with losses caused in the course of making a living. Any type of worker could have an accident on the job, including:
Our Team has Helped Injured Workers Recover Millions in Damages
We have recovered the following for other clients:
- $7.5 million: For a construction worker who suffered injury from being struck by a falling support wall (at the time, this was the highest amount ever awarded in the county for a construction injury)
- $3.2 million: For a construction worker who fell in a foundation trench (a record-breaking award for a construction injury in the county)
- $1.5 million: For a truck driver who was in a collision on the expressway
- $1.4 million: For a laborer who ingested carbon monoxide while on the job
- $1.3 million: For a union truck driver who was transporting concrete when another vehicle rear-ended him
How Our Workers’ Compensation Lawyers Will Help You Recover Benefits
Workers’ compensation should be straightforward, but sometimes these matters can take a turn, leaving workers with denied claims. The last thing you need as you try to recover from your injuries is to struggle through the effort of filing paperwork, analyzing your right to benefits, and appealing a denied claim.
Our legal team will take this burden off your shoulders, allowing you to pursue benefits on your behalf so you can tend to your injuries. Toward this end, our team will:
- Fight for your right to receive benefits
- Investigate your workplace accident or situation that caused your injury or illness
- Help you appeal denied claims
- Handle problems with the insurance company
- Negotiate a settlement with the insurer
- Serve as your legal counsel
How Long do I Have to File a Third-Party Lawsuit in Illinois?
The statute of limitations (735 ILCS 5/13-202) for filing a lawsuit in Illinois is two years. If a loved one died from their workplace injury, you would have two years from the date of the accident or discovery of their illness under 740 ILCS 180/2.
The sooner you hire our firm, the more time you give us to build your case, negotiate with insurers, and take legal action, if necessary.
Our Workers’ Compensation Lawyers Represent Injured Hoffman Estates Workers
You can call our firm for a free case evaluation. Within 48 hours, one of our Hoffman Estates workers’ compensation lawyers will meet with you. You need not worry about legal fees at this time. The initial consultation is free, and we charge fees if and when we win compensation for you.
Call The Kryder Law Group, LLC, today for a free case review.
(312) 223-1700 