There is a widespread misconception about personal injury cases in Champaign County and across Illinois - that you will battle it out in the courtroom with an insurance company.  The Auto accident and personal injury team at Holder Law Group has certainly had to hold defendants, and of course their insurance companies, accountable in the courtroom before, but most of the time has been able to bring cases to a resolution without going to Court. However, while you may hear the term "personal injury" and immediately think "court room," the truth is that your case will unlikely go to court.

Despite this fact, the lawyers at Holder Law Group believe that every case needs to be prepared as if it is going to trial and that, at the end of the day, both the client and the lawyer need to be ready to go "all the way."  Insurance companies, not individuals, are responsible for paying for the damages and injuries sustained in car accidents, fall cases, and medical malpractice, and insurance companies will do everything in their power not to pay.  This is why a local, Champaign-Urbana accident lawyer will be your best resource in getting compensation.

You would think it would be beneficial for an insurance company to battle their case out in court, but it really isn't for most cases. Insurance companies want to look like the good guys and challenging an injured party in court goes against that.  Still, many companies, particularly the ones that advertise on television like Allstate, Country Companies, State Farm, and GEICO, will often rather pay for lawyers then compensate people injured in car accidents or at the hands of doctors. This is why it is important to have a skilled local attorney to make jurors and insurance adjusters understand that there must be accountability. 

For insurance companies, it is easier if they try to negotiate your case down outside of court and settle if at all possible. However, this doesn't mean you should let them talk you out of legal presentation just because you might not go inside a courtroom. Insurance adjusters know they can pull the wool over your eyes, but only if you don't have a lawyer that knows better by your side. Even if your case probably won't go to court, you should still be sure to get a lawyer to make sure you get a settlement that is fair for your injuries.  Insurance adjusters and the corporate boards of directors are only driven by profits and will use many tricks to pay you less for your injuries.

Need help after an auto accident or personal injury case in Champaign County or Central Illinois? Have you been hurt in an accident and are considering a personal injury suit in Illinois? The process may seem straightforward enough, but make no mistake, it is not something you want to do alone. If you want to make sure you get the compensation that is fair for all your injuries, then contact us today to see what we can do for you.

For women and families in Champaign Urbana who are traveling through the pregnancy and childbirth process, the number one priority is to stay healthy and listen to the advice of your doctor.  Champaign Urbana malpractice attorneys at the Holder Law Group understand that delivering a child is a common process with many doctors delivering thousands of children through the course of their career.  This applies to rural hospitals in Central Illinois as well as in metropolitan areas such as Chicago Illinois. However, while it happens every day, it is by no means a completely safe process. Many things can go wrong, and that is only compounded when your doctor makes the conscious decision to take a more risky course of action.

While many women in labor progress normally, and even sometimes quickly, on occasion labor can be a very lengthy process.  It could last for several days and often doctors will seek to speed things up for the best interest of both mother and child. There are dedicated drugs for this process, such as a hormone drip with Oxytocin, but sometimes these don't work as quickly as needed to suite the needs the patient of the doctor. In these situations, some Illinois doctors take the risk and administer off-label drugs not meant for the labor and delivery process. There are several off-label drugs that can help speed up labor, but the most common culprit is misoprostol. In standard use, this is an ulcer drug, but it can also be used to help dilate the cervix.

While the use of Oxytocin itself is the subject of some controversy, the unfortunate reality is that misoprostol is less safe, though popular, and while it may be effective for speeding up the labor process, it can also be dangerous. Using misoprostol for labor runs the risk of causing a uterine rupture. This can cause the mother to hemorrhage and the child to go into distress after life support has been cut off. In these cases, emergency surgery is required, but the mother or the child may not survive.  Incidents such as these do happen across Illinois during childbirth as well.

As some continue to use misoprostol for labor safely, it has not yet begun to face legal action, but using off-label drugs in the birthing process for Illinois mothers can be risky and can lead to medical malpractice cases.   At Holder Law Group, we believe that childbirth is dangerous enough and the medication used to speed up the process should not add to the danger. If you have discovered that they were used in the birth of your child, contact us today. Using drugs not as intended is a very clear case of medical malpractice.

One of the most common question I hear in representing injured clients in Champaign Urbana and across Illinois is, "how long will it take to get paid." The truth is, they can be short or long depending on how much investigation, negotiation, and litigation is required. While there is no set way to predict how long a mass tort case will take, there are a few factors that can help you estimate.

What Lengthens an injury claim?

The length of an injury or auto accident claim often isn't so much affected by litigation so much as it is affected by gathering evidence for the claim. The more evidence you have, the stronger your claim will be. However, the more evidence there is, the longer it will take to gather and analyze.

Factors that will lengthen a mass tort or personal injury claim include:

• Gathering and interviewing expert witnesses. Depending on the nature of the claim, this could include doctors, scientists, researchers, developers, and even marketing or economics specialists. Furthermore, travel to depose these expert witnesses can further lengthen the process
• Collection of evidence. Gathering evidence such as medical records or company documents can often take months to gather as well as analyze. The process can be further slowed down if those involved with providing the evidence slow down the process with inaction or stacking the deck with documents unrelated to the case.
• Settlement negotiations. Some cases may be settled out of court, but getting a settlement that everyone can agree on takes a large amount of time and negotiation.

All of the above slow down the process, so for clients of injury claims and auto accident claims, there will likely be a large amount of downtime involved while their lawyer gathers evidence and interviews witnesses. Those involved in personal injury cases of all kinds should be aware that it will take some time before any compensation is received.

At the end of the day it is worth noting that Holder Law Group, like many other plaintiffs law firms, work on a contingency fee basis which means that we advance all the costs of litigation and only recover if we win.  This being the case, we have every motivation to resolves cases as quickly as possible.

Are you considering pursuing a personal injury claim in Illinois? Then come talk to us. Holder Law Group knows how long and frustrating any tort case can be, but if you believe you have a claim, you shouldn't just let it go.