Legal Question in Insurance Law in Illinois

Hi. I am an Illinois wrongful death and personal injury attorney. As with any injury or death case, the facts are critically important, and the answer to your inquiry is highly fact-specific. My presumption, and I certainly may be incorrect, is that the death occurred on property that you own or run a business on and you are trying to determine if your insurance or you or your company is liable to pay the damages. The specific language in your policy (assuming you have insurance) is controlling, and would supersede common law regarding whether a death is considered an accident. Generally speaking, if it was clearly murder (meaning malicious intent to kill, and not acting in self-defense), it would not be considered an accident under Illinois law. However, parties with interests adverse to yours, or through their attorneys, may try to claim the death was accidental. I would highly recommend speaking with an attorney, and, in order to give an accurate answer, more details would be needed.

For convenience, I can be reached via e-mail at [email protected] or by phone, day or evening.

NOTE: This answer is for educational purposes and does not constitute legal advice. The use of this site does not create an attorney-client relationship or privilege between the user and the attorney responding.