Roscoe Personal Injury Attorneys
If you or a loved one has been hurt or injured in Roscoe, we can help.
Roscoe, Illinois makes up one of the three cities making up the north central quadrant of Winnebago County, with a combined population of around 25,000 people collectively. While portions of these municipalities do cover major thoroughfares such as I-90, 251, and Illinois Route 2/IL Route 75 segments of this area of Winnebago County. While Roscoe is one of the safest areas in our county, they still have unsafe motorists. A recent traffic enforcement campaign by the Roscoe City Police Department found citations issued to 10 motorists after 33 stops based on not wearing a seatbelt.
What to do After an Auto Accident in Roscoe
In a car crash — while infrequent in the Roscoe area — they do happen. With roughly 1-2 fatal crashes occurring within the city limits of Roscoe every year a seat belt is the bare minimum of ensuring a better outcome if someone were to be involved in a car crash.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration states that 47% of people involved in fatal car accidents were unbuckled. While not commonplace, there are generally 1-2 fatal car accidents in the Roscoe area or it’s vicinity every year according to City Data that has compiled statistics going back to 2005.
One of the other issues we deal with a lot in this area is that there are still agricultural vehicles used on public roadways in the more rural and less congested portions of our county. Generally if someone is operating an industrial, farm, or commercial vehicle in Roscoe, Illinois and they are hurt by a defendant we can file a claim against that individual’s auto insurance.
However given the value of farming, industrial, and commercial vehicles it’s not uncommon to have special provisions that cover personal injuries to an operator IF they are hurt, plus cover property damage to the special vehicle or implement since repairs can be significant if involved in a car crash. Likewise on the other side of the equation is if someone is driving a passenger vehicle and they are struck by someone operating farm equipment, or a commercial or industrial vehicle, they can file a claim directly with the insurance company covering said equipment. While the policy likely covers an amount up to and exceeding what could be considered “catastrophic” it gives piece of mind to someone that would be unfortunate enough to be injured by such equipment that they will be able to have all of their medical care provided for.
I’ve Been Injured in Roscoe. What Are My First Steps?
If you or a loved one has been hurt or injured in the Roscoe area, here are some of the immediate steps you should take if you’ve been hurt or injured generally to protect your rights:
- Get to a safe space
- Take photos of the scene of your injury if you’re able to safely do so. If it’s a car accident, take photos, if you have slipped or fallen, take photos of what caused your fall, etc.
- Obtain transport to be checked out by an ER or Doctor (Oftentimes with the way our bodies deal with shock, it’s not uncommon to not “feel” badly in the immediate aftermath of a car crash, just remember to seek treatment if you start feeling pain in the hours after being involved with a crash).
- If you were hurt on the premises of a business, restaurant, bar, or at your workplace you MUST report the injury. This puts the facility on notice that a claim may exist and they have the duty to then preserve any evidence of what occurred. As a general rule they will not release copies of video, or other materials until much later in the legal process of resolving a claim, and many times they require a lawsuit to be filed first and they reluctantly turn video over during discovery. The same cannot be said for items you may possess that show what caused your injury. You can ALWAYS take photos, and in some extreme cases you will want to retain evidence of what caused your injury. For example if you are at a restaurant or bar and you’re served a beverage or food with a foreign object like broken glass, or something else that caused you an injury you will want to retain that item so that your attorney can safeguard it as part of your case. Or if you’re prescribed a medication that was the errant medication, or the wrong dosage you’ll want to retain that for your lawyer so that we can have the item tested professionally. Turning materials like this over to management of the entity that caused you or a loved one injury, allows them to minimize, alter, lose, or possibly destroy the evidence against them.
- Contact a lawyer before speaking with any insurance companies. If the person that hit you had minimal insurance, or worse yet, no insurance you may need to seek uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage against your own insurance company. Even your own insurance company in this situation will use your recorded statement against you if the opportunity arises to minimize the amount of your recovery if you’re seeking uninsured or under insured motorist coverage. If you’re dealing with a premises liability case, they will want to know much about what happened, what you were doing at the time of the fall, etc. in order to devalue your claim. It is always wise to speak with a lawyer first, prior to speaking with the insurance company.
- Ensure that you follow up with all treatment professionals’ instructions, and do everything they say to ensure a quick physical recovery, and to preserve your rights to a meaningful financial recovery. Gaps in treatment are the insurance companies favorite way to minimize a claim by stating that, “if someone were really hurt they wouldn’t miss any of their treatment”
If you or a loved one were injured in a car crash in Roscoe, you can generally obtain a copy of any crash report about your case by contacting any of the below listed law enforcement agencies. This will display the contact and insurance information of the parties involved in your case and will make our job much easier if you are able to obtain this prior to calling us. Likewise if your accident is so recent that a crash report has not been created yet, we can always gather this information at a later date through a Lexis Nexis system that our office has access to. In the event you are able to contact the appropriate agency for a report here are the common responding agencies in Roscoe.
- Contact the Roscoe Police Department at 10595 Main St. Roscoe, IL 61073 815-623-7338 or on the web.
- The Winnebago County Sheriff’s Department can be contacted for a copy of your crash report directly at 650 W. State St. Rockford, IL 61102, at 815-319-6000, or on the web.
Illinois Time Limits on Filing Suit
Illinois sets a time limit of two years to file a personal injury lawsuit in the state’s civil court system. In most cases, this two-year time limit, known as a “statute of limitations,” begins to run on the date of the accident. Sometimes, however, a statute of limitations might run from the date that you discovered you were injured, rather than the date of the event that injured you. This later date is known as a “discovery date.”
For injury claims against a city or county, you have one year to file a lawsuit. The time limit to sue the state is generally two years, but you must file a formal claim within one year in order to sue.
Get in Touch With A Roscoe Personal Injury Lawyer
For an honest, free, and compassionate consultation about your Roscoe, Illinois personal injury case, feel free to call or text message us confidentially at (815) 964-8303. Remember, our service is absolutely no cost to you unless we earn a recovery on your behalf. Let our law office help you or your loved one navigate the legal side of your case and fight for your financial recovery, while you focus on your physical recovery.