Legal Question in Personal Injury in Illinois

Re: Hit and run

Question: I was hit (twice) by a truck with a prime inc. trailer the have satellites on their truck they know who did it.I can't seem to find a lawyer that will go after the company just my uninsured motoist is that norm or just the easy way out?

Answer: It may just be the easy way out....but it may also be the sensible solution.

Unless your injuries are in excess of the amount of the uninsured motorist policy, I am not sure why you want to pursue a claim which will cost you ten to fifteen thousand dollars to litigate.

While there is no charge for attorneys' fees unless you recover for your injuries, any court cost or litigation expense must be paid regardless.

As such, if you have a twenty thousand dollar injury and you recover twenty thousand dollars from a jury verdict, you would pay a percentage of that verdict in attorneys' fees.

For Example:

$20,000 x .33 = $6,600 fees

Balance = $13,400

Then from THAT balance you would pay/reimburse the litigation costs of the satellite expert, accident reconstructionist, deposition transcripts, filing fees, treating physician deposition charges ($500-750 per hour) and trucking expert witness fees.

In your case, as described, that would be approximately $10,000 - $15,000.

Then from the remainder (if any) you have to pay any medical bills related to the accident (or reimburse your medical payments insurance policy or health insurance subrogation obligation).

As you can quickly determine - the experts make money, the doctors make money and the lawyers make money but you may be worse off than you were before the lawsuit was filed.

The other lawyers probably did the same analysis that I did, but they may not have explained the details to you.

If on the other hand, you do NOT have sufficient (or any) coverage from your uninsured motorist carrier you would have no choice EXCEPT to file suit and hope for the best.

As insurance companies try to make litigation more expense through their "tort reform" public relations campaigns and efforts to put "caps" on damages, they serve only to make their insurance business (or self-insured company) more profitable - unfortunately at the expense of people cannot afford to pay for lawyers out of their own pockets.

Good Luck and let me know if you need any additional information,

Matt Belcher

Re: Hit and run

I would be glad to help you with your case.

Let me know the nature of your injuries.

I have focused my practice on uninsured motorist claims and have drafted state insurance code

laws regarding uninsured motorist arbitration.

Scott Blumenshine