Legal Question in Personal Injury in Illinois
bike vs. SUV
My case is one that a laywer claims that Illinios law states that because I am partially at fault in my case 30% that it is a liabillity only case. That I am suing the owner of the car and not the driver or the insurance co. So it is a hard to prove case of liabilty even though I was hit and had broken bones. Both myself bike rider. And the car driver that hit me received ticket mine was dismissed. Does ILL. law not allow me to sue the Insurance company of the auto. in this type of case. The owner of the auto is from Missouri and his daughter was driving his car in ILL. I was riding bike toward the direction of traffic. At light, the driver of SUV made right turn on red light and struck me as I entered the intersection next to her right corner bumper.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: bike vs. SUV
I was going to delete your question but I see another lawyer has simply send you an advertisement instead of taking time and respond to you. So disregard the other lawyers nonsense.
No--In Illinois you cannot sue the insurance company. You can only sue the insured and then the insurance company will provide a defense for the other driver.
How have you determined that you are 30% at fault? There are many details that you have left out to allow me to see what goes on in your case.
Do you already have an attorney? If not, call my office and I will be able to discuss this further with you. If you have an attorney, get details as to how 30% has been decided? Why not %35 or why not %20...
I hope this helps,
Contact me with any questions you may have.
Taradji Law Offices
Re: bike vs. SUV
To answer your question - You may NOT sue the insurance company directly.
Because the insurance company provides coverage for the mistakes of their drivers, therefore, you need to sue the responsible party - who will then be "defended and indemnified" by the insurance company.
I also apologize for the spam that some lawyers leave on this website. Lawguru is supposed to be a fee service where people get answers to their questions...not where they open themselves up to spam.
You really should speak with a lawyer in person in your case - if you sustained an injury with broken bones then you have a serious case.
For someone to tell you an arbitrary amount (30%) that you were contributorily negligent sounds like an insurance company trying to pull a fast one on you, or maybe a lawyer who has only limited experience in these kinds of cases, or maybe he is exactly correct. Because there are so many variables, it is difficult to answer the question completely without a lot more information.
Good luck,
Matt Belcher
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