Legal Question in Personal Injury in Illinois

Re: what are my injuries typically worth

The type of injury you describe is known as 'soft tissue' injury. The difficulty with soft tissue injuries is that there are very few tests that can confirm the existance or severity of the injury.

These days, juries are increasingly reluctant to award anything unless there is an obvious, visible injury. If you sought treatment immediately in the emergency room, and if you followed up with a reasonable therapy program, this will sometimes convince a jury that your injuries were legitimate.

On the other hand, if you did not seek treatment until a week or two after the accident, then a jury will not likely be convinced without and X-RAY or MRI that positively demonstrates an injury.

Insurance companies are well aware of this trend, and many of the sub-standard carriers will not settle claims, or will only offer very little for these types of injuries.

On a separate note:

I have recieved many calls recently from people who were in accidents where the other insurance company has promised them to expidite their property damage claim if they give a recorded statement that they were not injured. A substandard carrier will take such a statement and then deny your claim, knowing that it is not worth it for you to hire a lawyer to handle a $3000 property damage claim. Accordingly, my advice to anyone in an accident is DO NOT GIVE A RECORDED STATEMENT TO AN INSURANCE ADJUSTER.