Small Claims Court for Negligence Cases
At times, a personal injury case against a company or other entity may not warrant representation by an Illinois personal injury lawyer. If the medical bills and injury are not sufficient to warrant the high expense of gong through the court system where you are represented by a Chicago personal injury attorney, you may consider small claims court.
Filing a case in Small Claims Court is relatively inexpensive and is designed for cases to be prosecuted without an Illinois personal injury lawyer. (Small Claims Court is like the People’s Court on TV.) This is especially applicable when you are suing a company who is likely to have Medical Payment Coverage. If they do, that would cover your medical bills even if defendant was not negligent. Usually companies have a medical payment coverage provision in their policy covering about 5 to 10,000 in bills.
If there is no coverage for MPC (medical payment coverage) you will have difficulty in this type of case because you will have to prove defendant was negligent. They will claim they were not careless or negligent, and you may then need representation by a qualified Chicago personal injury attorney.
Proving negligence or carelessness can be complicated. In Illinois, personal injury lawyers are very familiar with these cases and can usually offer good advice. Consider the merits of your case, and the extent of the costs associated with your injury, and you can determine whether or not to represent yourself in small claims court.
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