Home Edwardsville Personal Injury Attorney
EDWARDSVILLE PERSONAL INJURY ATTORNEY
The Midwest's Most Effective Injury Law Firm
This page has been written, edited, and reviewed by a team of legal writers following our comprehensive editorial guidelines. This page was approved by Founding Partner, Terry Crouppen who has more than 40 years of legal experience as a personal injury attorney. Our last modified date shows when this page was last reviewed.
This page has been written, edited, and reviewed by a team of legal writers following our comprehensive editorial guidelines. This page was approved by Founding Partner, Terry Crouppen who has more than 40 years of legal experience as a personal injury attorney. Our last modified date shows when this page was last reviewed.
- Last Modified:
- August 23, 2024
People injured due to someone else’s negligence can face mounting medical bills, lost wages, and emotional distress. They deserve excellent legal representation to defend their right to compensation. The Edwardsville personal injury lawyers at Brown & Crouppen have a long history of fighting for the rights of injury victims. When insurance companies try to unfairly deny our client’s claims, we do not back down. Contact us today to schedule your free consultation.
How Can Brown & Crouppen Help?
The legal team at Brown & Crouppen ensures that every client receives the respectful and compassionate representation they deserve. We help them through the insurance claims process and fight for the full and fair compensation they deserve after being injured at little to no fault of their own. Let us put our skills and experience to work for you.
1. Supporting Victims and Their Families
Helping our clients means more than attending meetings and filing paperwork. Your Brown & Crouppen injury lawyer will provide ongoing, individualized legal services, keep you informed as your case unfolds, and explain how the settlement process works.
We understand that you need an attorney who will answer your questions honestly. Our legal counsel is based on the specific circumstances of your case and decades of combined experience, helping you make good decisions for you and your family.
2. Gathering Evidence
Securing a fair settlement or verdict depends heavily on the quality of your evidence. Your Edwardsville personal injury attorney at Brown & Crouppen will help you secure key evidence, such as:
- Medical records
- Expert opinions
- Witness statements about the accident and the impact of your injuries
- Earnings statements and employer testimony regarding your ability to work
- Photos and videos of the accident scene and your injuries
Don’t hesitate to contact Brown & Crouppen for help. Witness statements are best when the details are fresh in people’s minds. Photos and videos must also be secured before the original conditions at the scene change. For example, if you were hurt on an unsafe property, you must collect evidence before the owner removes the hazard that caused your injuries.
3. Calculating Damages
Though accepting the first settlement offer from an insurance company may be tempting, doing so is not always in your best interest. Insurers try to save money by diminishing or denying the value of your claim, and you may not know the full extent of your injuries and how they will impact your life until well after the accident.
For example, if you hurt your back in a car accident, $30,000 from the other driver’s insurance company might cover your immediate expenses and missed work. However, if you find out months later that you still cannot work and need surgery, it will be too late to ask for more if you’ve already accepted an early settlement.
A Brown & Crouppen injury lawyer can help you fully understand your losses, including past and future medical expenses, lost wages, lowered future earning capacity, property damage, pain, and suffering. We can also help you secure compensation for other expenses you may incur, such as rehabilitation costs and travel to see medical specialists.
4. Proving Liability
You generally cannot collect damages in an Illinois personal injury lawsuit unless your attorney shows that the other party was negligent and primarily at fault for your injuries. The accomplished injury attorneys at Brown & Crouppen can handle even the most complex personal injury scenarios.
In most cases, plaintiffs need to prove the four elements of negligence by a preponderance of the evidence. They are as follows:
- The at-fault party owed you a duty of care.
- They breached that duty.
- You suffered an injury or loss.
- Your injury or loss was caused by their breach.
Once we establish that the other party was negligent, we will turn our attention to their percentage of fault for your injuries. Illinois follows a modified comparative negligence standard in personal injury cases. This means that you can only collect damages if you are 50 percent or less at fault for your accident.
For example, suppose you are involved in an accident in which you sustained $100,000 in damages. Now, suppose the other driver was primarily at fault because they were speeding, but your share of responsibility is 30 percent because you forgot to signal before changing lanes. In this scenario, your compensable damages would be reduced to $70,000.
It is not unusual for insurance companies to blame plaintiffs for accidents. That is because they would love to pay you nothing by showing that you were more than 50 percent responsible. To achieve this, they will scour the evidence in your case in search of any reason they can find to pin more than half of the blame on you.
Reach out to a personal injury attorney at Brown & Crouppen as soon as possible after being injured. Consulting with one of our personal injury lawyers sooner rather than later will allow us to gather evidence before it disappears or is tampered with.
5. Negotiating Settlements
Remember, even your insurer does not have your best interests at heart. A common tactic used by insurance companies on both sides of the aisle is offering to settle for less than your damages are worth before you have spoken to an attorney. If possible, they will deny your claim altogether.
Let our attorneys protect your right to compensation for injuries sustained in an accident you did not cause. Once we’ve collected the evidence available in your case, we will send a demand letter to the at-fault party and their insurer.
The demand letter will include a detailed account of your accident, documentation of your injuries and property damage, and the amount of money needed to fully compensate you. It will also lay out our argument explaining their liability and why you are legally entitled to compensation.
We work hard to secure fair settlements for our clients without taking their cases to court. This helps preserve the proceeds they receive as compensation by avoiding the expenses associated with a trial. However, if the at-fault party fails to negotiate fairly, we have what it takes to argue your case before a judge and jury.
With over 40 years under our belts providing high-quality legal services to our community, we know how insurance companies approach personal injury cases. You can count on Brown & Crouppen to provide the individualized legal representation you deserve.
Why Choose Brown & Crouppen?
Personal injury cases can be complex, and knowing when to hire a personal injury lawyer is essential. If you were injured in an accident, you need a personal injury law firm with experience investigating claims, determining liability, and negotiating with insurance companies. The award-winning attorneys at Brown & Crouppen are here for you when you need us.
- Professional Excellence – Martindale-Hubbell, a respected legal rating service, has given several of our lawyers an AV Preeminent rating for professional excellence, the highest rating available. Our attorneys have also been recognized by Super Lawyers, The National Trial Lawyers, and the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis.
- Outstanding Leadership – Founding partner Terry Crouppen has also received the Missouri Lawyers Media Icon Award for his outstanding work. He fights tenaciously for our firm’s clients and has assembled a legal team with the knowledge, expertise, work ethic, and commitment needed to win.
- Local Recognition – Our firm has also been recognized by St. Louis Post-Dispatch readers as the best law firm in St. Louis in 2022. Jennifer Mocabee, a member of our team, was also chosen as Best Attorney.
Get started with a free consultation with one of our skilled Personal Injury Lawyers today.
Notable Brown & Crouppen Settlements
We have helped hundreds of clients secure favorable verdicts and settlements in personal injury cases. Some notable results we have achieved include:
- $250,000 for a client who suffered spinal injuries when a tractor-trailer recklessly forced her into another lane.
- $250,000 for a client who needed long-term medical care following a car accident.
- $100,000 for a client who received a $7,300 settlement from the insurance company after a rear-end collision.
- $100,000 for a client injured in a fall caused by a faulty railing in a rental house.
$250,000
For a client suffered spinal injuries when a tractor-trailer recklessly forced her into another lane.
$250,000
For a client who needed long-term medical care following a car accident.
$100,000
For a client who received a $7,300 settlement from the insurance company after a rear-end collision.
$100,000
For a client injured in a fall caused by a faulty railing in a rental house.
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Have you suffered an injury?
Call Brown & Crouppen at (618) 268-1577 for a FREE consultation
- Last Modified:
- August 23, 2024
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