Regardless of your profession, you deserve a reasonably safe workplace. While some jobs such as construction work involve inherent risks including working from great heights, many steps can be taken to mitigate the risk of worker injury. If you or a loved one was hurt on the job because your work environment was unsafe, make sure you educate yourself about your legal rights. You may be eligible for financial recovery through workers’ compensation and, if the injury was caused by a third party’s negligence, compensation through a personal injury claim.

Injured Workers Can Only Sue Their Employers in Very Limited Circumstances

The Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act requires employers to carry workers’ compensation insurance. The act protects injured workers’ right to receive compensation for medical bills and lost wages resulting from a work injury. Workers’ compensation is “no-fault,” which means that an injured worker is entitled to compensation regardless of whose fault the injury was. The Workers’ Compensation Act also protects employers from being sued by employees except in rare cases. Employees in Illinois can only sue their employer for an injury if:

• The employer intentionally caused the injury by assaulting the employee or otherwise inflicting deliberate harm on him or her

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Auto accidents can result in all sorts of injuries, many of which are severe. One prime example is a herniated disk. While they are not one of the more commonly thought of spinal injuries, herniated disks can still have a significant impact on the lives of car crash victims. If you have suffered a herniated disk in a car crash, a qualified personal injury attorney can help you understand the compensation you may be owed.

What is a Herniated Disk?

Between each of the vertebrae of your spine, there are small, donut-like disks. On the outside, they are thick and tough. On the inside, there is a soft, jelly-like substance. A herniated disk is one in which that jelly-like substance seeps through a tear in the exterior portion of the disk. This seeping can irritate nearby nerves, which may cause numbness, tingling, or weakness in the limbs. It can also result in further degradation of the disk, which, over time, can lead to friction between the spine’s vertebrae.

Symptoms of a Herniated Disk

Herniated disks can result in a range of symptoms, but most are related to numbness, tingling, weakness, and pain in the legs and arms. While these symptoms may not indicate a severe problem, it is still important to seek medical attention if you are experiencing them. Any problems related to bowel and bladder dysfunction, pain in the neck, worsening symptoms, or progressive loss of sensation in the buttocks and upper legs—also known as saddle anesthesia—should be treated as an emergency.

Restaurant and bar owners in Northern Illinois are hopeful that their businesses will soon be able to resume limited indoor dining after restrictions due to the increasing number of cases of COVID-19 in the region. If they are able to open soon, as local news outlets are reporting, they will be just in time for the National Football League’s championship weekend.

Unfortunately, the combination of alcohol, tension, and competing team loyalties can lead to verbal and even physical altercations. People often lose sight of the fact that no perceived slight or indignity related to a sporting event is grounds for assaulting another person. When flared tensions result in personal injuries or even emotional distress in some instances, there are consequences in both the state’s criminal courts and, if a personal injury victim should choose, civil courts. If you have been injured in a physical altercation in an Illinois bar or restaurant, whether as an intended victim or mere bystander, you have the legal right to hold the at-fault party responsible for the harms that you have suffered.

Battery is Both a Crime and a Tort

Physical violence has long been codified in criminal and civil law. In common law (the antecedent to American law), the tort of battery is a “harmful or offensive” intentional contact. Examples include a shove, punch, kick, grab, or inappropriate sexual contact. Importantly, in the context of battery in a bar or restaurant, the legal doctrine of “transferred intent” allows for liability for harm intended by a tortfeasor—the individual who caused the injury—to one person to be transferred when someone other than the intended victim is harmed.

The winter holiday season, with its increased traffic, congestion, activity, and inclement weather, is a time of exposure to increased risk of personal injuries. Whether driving to visit family and friends or shopping in busy malls and stores, auto accidents, slip-and-falls, and mishaps with defective holiday gifts and other products are all possibilities. Any type of injury can upend not just holiday plans but also your employment and educational goals and responsibilities.

As the holiday season draws to a close, hopefully you and your loved ones have stayed safe. However, if you have suffered personal injuries as a result of the negligent or intentionally wrongful conduct of an individual, business, or institution, one of our experienced personal injury lawyers will advocate for your legal right to compensation for the harms and losses you have suffered.

Negligence is a Common Cause of Personal Injuries

With so many Illinois residents on the state’s roads and highways in late December, even amid the COVID-19 health crisis, there is an increased opportunity for auto accidents. The dangers are especially great under conditions like rain, fog, snow, or ice. Importantly, no matter the amount of traffic or severity of the weather, all drivers owe a duty of safe driving to one another. This duty includes driving in accordance with the rules and regulations of the road and never getting behind the wheel when under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or prescription medications.

If you have been injured in any type of accident where someone else is at fault, you have likely thought about how much money is necessary to compensate you for your injuries. While no one can fully restore your health or erase the pain you have felt, monetary damage awards can certainly help to make you whole again.

The ultimate goal of any personal injury suit is to help the victim return to a life as close as possible to his or her life before the accident occurred. In order to achieve this goal, Illinois law recognizes several types of damages that may be awarded in such a lawsuit. The two most common types of damages are “economic damages” and “non-economic damages.” Together, these two types of damages comprise what Illinois law calls “compensatory damages.”

Economic Damages for Personal Injury Victims

Economic damages are those out-of-pocket expenses that are tangible and can be documented. For example, medical bills are economic damages because a medical provider invoice can be used to prove how much the treatment costs. Another example of economic damages is property damage. With this type of damage, a repair shop’s invoice can be used as evidence of how much property damage was caused by the accident.