If you are injured in a store in Illinois, you can receive compensation whether you are or aren’t at fault for the accident. This is according to the state’s comparative fault law in which the value of the settlement is based on the percentage of the fault.
Understanding the Comparative Fault Law
According to the law, you can collect damages even if the accident is partly your fault and the court can adjust the settlement accordingly. This is determined by the modified comparative fault rule.
To understand this law, let’s take a simple example. Say you are shopping in a grocery store and are reading the label on a can without looking where you are going. If you trip and injure yourself in this case, you will be partly at fault for your injuries.
As a person who is in charge of all of his/her mental and physical faculties, you have a duty of care to prevent such incidences. However, even in this case, you will be 5 percent at fault and the store will be 95 percent at fault. (If you slipped on a wet spot that wasn’t cordoned off properly, you may be eligible for more). If you are awarded $100,000 by the court and it is reduced by 5 percent, you will receive a generous $95,000 in compensation.
However, if the court determines you were 50 percent responsible for your injuries, that amount will be split in half and you would receive $50,000 in compensation. If you are more than 50 percent responsible, the verdict may be in favor of the store owners.
You have two (2) years from the date of the accident to file a personal injury claim with an attorney for your claim to be valid. In some cases, the statute of limitations may start running from the date you discovered your injuries from the accident (such as internal bleeding or a hairline fracture).
If you suffered a traumatic brain injury from the accident, you deserve each penny you receive from the store owners. The consequences of this injury can be life-altering and lifelong in some cases. Get in touch with us at The Law Offices of Robert T. Edens for a consultation today. We offer our services in Chicago, Waukegan, Woodstock, Libertyville and Antioch, IL. Our cases are usually retained on a contingency fee basis and we won’t even ask for it until you recover fair damages from your case.
