Recently in Car Accidents Category

If you get into a car accident in Chicago, you may be entitled to a variety of different types of damages.

By contacting a local Chicago car accident attorney, you'll learn that damages can go way beyond medical bills and physical therapy. In fact, depending upon the extent of your injuries, your family members may be able to collect too.

Here are some of the most common types of damages claimed following a car accident:

If you've been involved in a car accident in Illinois, you'll want to know certain things about bringing an auto insurance claim.

Typically, you'll have the option of filing a claim with either your own insurance company or the insurance company of the other driver, according to the Illinois Department of Insurance. Insurance laws differ for bringing a claim against your own insurance company and that of another.

Here are seven things you should know about filing an insurance claim against your own insurer:

The City of Chicago is set to approve or deny a $6.25 million settlement with one of Dwight Washington’s victims today, reports ABC Chicago. If approved, it would be the first, and quite possibly, the largest of multiple settlements arising from a single drunken driving incident that occurred back in 2011.

The victim in this case, Richard Chang, was pinned under the city-owned Ford F-150 and suffered brain damage. He had to relearn how to walk and talk. Because of residual damage, he is unable to continue his previous career as a computer scientist. According to the Sun-Times, lawsuits are still pending for three other victims, including a 26-year-old nanny that pushed the 20-month-old girl that she was watching out of the way before becoming seriously injured herself.

Car accidents look so sweet on television. Squeal, crunch, flip, engine fire, good times. It's not like that in real life however. Some idiot blasts through a stop sign, T-bones your freshly cleaned cherry red classic car, and the airbag pops you in the forehead.

Try remembering proper post-crash procedure after that. You'll probably be thinking of the wasted car wash.

Fortunately, you don't have to. FindLaw's newest guide is so simple and obvious that it is absolutely freaking brilliant. We've given you lots of information about what to do after a car accident, but you can't exactly Google our blog on the side of the highway. The folk upstairs have distilled that information into a handy pamphlet-checklist.

Halloween's a hell of a holiday. Kids get candy. Adults get drunk. Everyone dresses up like an idiot. Sales of Mike Myers movies skyrocket.

(Fun tip: Busta Rhymes' Halloween: Resurrection is by far the greatest of the series.)

Still, many label Halloween as the most dangerous holiday for children. Read onward to find out why.

We know. You're a very excellent driver. There's no way you'd ever be at fault for an accident. Even still, there are idiots out there. You've met them before. They are the ones who block your commute every morning. Being prepared for when one of those idiots eventually hits you (it will happen) is important, and can save you from both having to pay money and perhaps having to spend time in jail.

Jail time? Jail time? Why yes, jail time. If you are in an accident, and not taken to a hospital, you are required to stop at the scene of the accident. If you take off before the police arrive or fail to exchange information, you can (and probably will) be charged with a hit-and-run, even if it's the other driver's fault.

A hit and run can be a felony offense in Illinois if someone is injured, or a severe misdemeanor if only property damage occurs. Either charge can result in more time than you'd like to spend behind bars. It doesn't matter who was at fault in the accident, or that the meeting you were rushing to couldn't be postponed. Leaving the scene of an accident is a crime.

A freight train, carrying tons of coal, derailed in the Glenview-Northbrook area on Wednesday afternoon. The bridge under the train also collapsed. At this point, it is uncertain what came first: the derailment or the collapse of the bridge. A railroad official is cited by the Chicago Sun-Times as stating that the derailment happened before the bridge collapsed. What we do know, however, is that at least one person died after being crushed by the bridge.

What started as a clean-up effort of tons of coal turned into an investigation when the clean-up crew found a bumper of a car. The discovery halted the clean-up and brought out the police. A few hours later, a body was recovered from a car that was crushed under the rubble. It is unknown if there are any additional bodies, but the search effort is ongoing.

The facts of this tragic crash read like a law school exam. Enrique Lituma was kneeling in the middle of a busy street at 3:30 am on Christmas Eve, 2011. Christine Ahn was allegedly driving drunk. The car in front of her managed to avoid him. She didn't, reports the Chicago Sun-Times.

The Cook County medical examiner, for reasons unknown or unreported, ruled the death a suicide. The police report, however, does not mention suicide, reports the Chicago Tribune.

Well, that wasn't fun. You were driving along and some idiot on a unicycle fell into the street. You slammed your breaks on to avoid running him over and a Cadillac Escalade just crumpled your Ford Probe like a soda can. Rear-ended.

Quick, what's your next step?

Ever ordered from a pizza place that guaranteed a fast delivery? A Chicago police officer is paying the price for those fast delivery guarantees, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Officer Brian Berka has filed a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court against Di Nico’s Pizza Berwyn Inc. and its delivery driver. The suit alleges that Berka was injured when a pizza delivery man failed to yield to his police car.