Legal Question in Personal Injury in Illinois

You need to approach your matter in two parts. First you must address the traffic matter. If you pay the ticket, you are pleading guilty. That will affect your driving record, possibly your insurance premium and the civil case (injury) that may arise from the accident. You should have an attorney take a look at your case to determine whether you can fight your case or negotiate a resolution to your case that will protect you with your insurance and the civil case.

You can drive on your ticket until your case is resolved.

Please call if you would like to discuss your matter, good luck. 773-791-9682

Purav Bhatt

First, if there is insurance on the car, make sure that the incident has been reported to your insurance company. This is very important since if you know there has been injury that there will be a claim against you for those injuries and if you do not notify your insurance company in a timely manner, they may decide not to provide you with coverage and so you will be on your own.

Two, you will get your license back once the issues with your ticket has been resolved. There are various pleadings you may enter--some of them will have ramifications more than others. For example, if you plead guilty, the guilty plea is an admission and will be used against you in the possible future civil action. If you plead "not guilty" and go to trial, even if you are found to be guilty, that plea may not be used against you in the civil action. There is also the no-contest plea which is very tricky and depends on the language used--one language will allow the use of the plea against you in a civil action and another form of it won't allow this to happen- The long and short of it is that you may benefit from taking up an hour time of traffic attorney and run these things by him or her so you know what to do at traffic court.

Three-if there were injuries chances are very strong that you will be sued for the damages. Make sure that you transmit any and all paperwork you receive in the mail to your insurance agent so that they may discuss and see if they can settle the case without litigation.

If you do not have insurance and get paperwork from the other side's attorney or representative, you will need to speak with an attorney-it will cost you money, but in the long run you will spend less and will have lower exposure than if you try to do it yourself or simply ignore it==which is the worst thing you can do.

I hope this helps-

I would also point out that as long as you were a permissive driver, you are going to be covered by the auto insurance on the vehicle you were driving. If the injured passengers were in your car, then they will be making claims with the insurance that covers your vehicle. Make sure your agent knows about the accident so that the insurer can investigate the claim and handle the losses. Good luck.