No matter the job, no matter the field, Illinois workers’ compensation exists to provide assistance to those who are injured at work. Nearly all employers in the state of Illinois are required to carry workers' compensation insurance, with minor exceptions. If you are hurt on the job, your employer is supposed to report your injury to the Workers’ Compensation Commission so your benefits can begin, though employers often attempt to deny workers’ compensation claims, even if they have merit. A workers’ compensation lawyer can help you claim your benefits if your employer does not want to cooperate.

Benefits Provided by Workers’ Compensation

To better ensure that you receive benefits in a timely manner, you must report your injury to your employer within 45 days of the accident or at the earliest time possible. The types of benefits you receive will depend on the extent of your injuries. Workers’ compensation benefits include:

• Medical Expenses: If you are injured and you require medical care, your employer is responsible for paying for those expenses. Workers’ compensation medical benefits cover a variety of things, including emergency room visits, doctor’s visits, hospital stays, surgeries, chiropractic treatment, prescription medications, and even some medical devices.

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Nearly everyone is in a situation at some point throughout the day that puts them in danger of being hit by a car. As a pedestrian, being hit by a car can be severely damaging, if not fatal. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), around 76,000 pedestrians were injured in car accidents across the country in 2019. In addition to that, there were more than 6,200 people killed as pedestrians in a car accident.  Pedestrians are at risk of suffering severe injuries, like broken bones or brain injuries, when hit by a car, mostly due to the sheer difference in mass and size between the person and the vehicle. In many pedestrian accident cases, the pedestrian is able to receive some sort of compensation, which can come in many forms.

Types of Compensation in a Pedestrian Accident Case

When you file a lawsuit against a person for any type of accident, you will need to address the amount and types of compensation that you are seeking to recover. When you are unexpectedly injured, the types of losses you experience can be widespread. In a personal injury case, you can recover many of these losses, which include:

• Medical expenses - An award for any medical expenses you incurred would include any expenses you paid relating to emergency room visits, doctor’s visits, hospital stay costs, surgeries, prescriptions, and physical therapy. However, it is important to note that your medical insurance provider may expect reimbursement for any costs that they paid toward that medical care.

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A violent crime against another person is one of the most serious offenses you can be accused of committing. Crimes such as assault and battery may seem less severe compared to offenses like sexual assault or murder, but they can still result in rather substantial penalties. In Illinois, assault and battery charges often go hand in hand, and they can be misdemeanors or felonies depending on the circumstances. Understanding what type of crime you are accused of and the potential penalties can help you with a defense strategy for your case.

What is Assault?

Often, assault and battery are used interchangeably. However, these two terms do not mean the same thing in the eyes of the law. According to Illinois law, assault occurs when a person is placed in reasonable fear of being hurt, while battery occurs when a person is actually injured. This means that you can be charged with assault if you created a situation that caused another person to fear that they were going to be physically harmed, even if no physical harm occurred. In many cases, assault is charged as a Class C misdemeanor, with a conviction often resulting in only probation or court supervision, depending on the situation. Felony assault, however, comes with more serious consequences.

Understanding Felony Assault Charges

Assault is punished as a felony crime under certain circumstances that increase the seriousness of the act. An assault can be classified as a felony based on the location where the crime took place, the status of the victim, the use of a deadly weapon during the crime, or the use of a motor vehicle. For example, the assault with a dangerous weapon of a police officer or other public official is charged as a Class 4 felony, which carries a prison sentence of one to three years and up to $25,000 in fines. An assault that involves a person shooting a firearm from inside of a motor vehicle is a Class 3 felony, which carries a prison sentence of between two and five years and up to $25,000 in fines.

The composition of the average American family has changed drastically over the years. According to the Pew Research Center, one in four children today lives with parents who are not married. One of the biggest reasons for this is an increase in the number of babies born to unmarried mothers. In 1970, only 26 out of 1,000 births were to unmarried mothers, but in 2016, 42 out of every 1,000 births were to unmarried women. Having a child outside of marriage is common these days, but it can come with its own legal hurdles. If your child is born and you are not married when it happens, you may need to take extra steps to establish paternity for your child.

Voluntarily Establishing Paternity

In Illinois, the paternity of a child is only legally presumed if the mother was married at the time of the child’s birth or within the 300 days prior to the child’s birth. If she was, the man the mother was married to is presumed to be the child’s biological father. If the mother is unmarried when she gives birth, steps must be taken to establish paternity for the child. The easiest way to do this is through a Voluntary Acknowledgment of Paternity, or VAP, for short.

A VAP is a form that the parents must fill out, sign, and either return to hospital staff who will turn it in to the Department of Healthcare and Family Services, or take the form home and send it in at a later date. The form must be signed by both the mother and the father in order to have the father’s name and information added to the child’s birth certificate.

Out of all of the various traffic offenses you could be charged with, speeding is by far one of the most common offenses committed. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there were an estimated 1,031 traffic deaths in Illinois in 2018, and 42 percent of those deaths were due to speeding-related traffic accidents. Speeding is a dangerous driving habit, which is why many states—Illinois included—have strict laws regarding speeding. Some speeding tickets result only in a fine, but there are some instances where a speeding ticket could also result in more serious misdemeanor charges upon conviction.

Speeding Offenses in Illinois

Most of the time, being pulled over for speeding will usually just result in a speeding ticket that comes with a fine of a couple hundred dollars. If you do not agree with the officer that you were speeding, you can contest the ticket, but it often costs more and is more of a headache to contest it than to simply pay the ticket.

However, if you are pulled over for speeding and the officer found that you were driving 26 mph or more over the speed limit, they can choose to charge you with a misdemeanor crime. If you are speeding 26 mph or more, but less than 35 mph over the speed limit, you can be charged with a Class B misdemeanor. If you are speeding 35 mph or more over the speed limit, you can be charged with a Class A misdemeanor.