When you visit someone else’s property, including a commercial establishment such as a bar or nightclub, the property owner has a legal duty to protect your safety. If you are injured in one of these locations, you may be able to hold the property owner liable through a premises liability lawsuit. Inadequate or negligent security is one common reason that injuries may occur at a bar or nightclub. By showing that the owner of an establishment did not take the proper measures to ensure that patrons were safe from harm, you may be able to recover compensation for your injuries and damages.

Injuries Caused by Negligent Security

In many cases, injuries at bars or nightclubs are intentionally inflicted by someone else rather than being accidental. When disagreements or arguments arise between patrons, bar fights may break out, and one person could seriously injure another, or an innocent bystander may be caught in the middle. To prevent these types of injuries, an establishment should have the proper security staff who are trained in how to prevent or break up fights, remove people who are aggressive towards others, and ensure that bystanders are not injured because of overcrowding or the presence of objects that could be used as weapons.

The patrons of a bar or restaurant may also be exposed to the risk of injury while outside of an establishment. Assaults or robberies may occur if the proper security is not provided. Inadequate security may include a lack of security cameras to monitor a building’s exterior or security guards to patrol the area, as well as insufficient lighting in parking areas.

When a person is injured because of someone else’s actions or negligence, they can be affected in multiple ways. Some of the damages that a person may experience can be easy to understand and place a monetary value on. For example, a car accident may result in medical bills and the need for vehicle repairs, and a person’s injuries may cause them to be unable to earn income while they are recovering. By detailing their expenses and the economic impact of their injury, a victim can pursue compensation for these financial losses. However, an injury may also result in emotional trauma, and a victim may also receive compensation for pain and suffering. During a personal injury case, it is important to work with an attorney to ensure that a victim will be fully compensated for all the damages they have suffered.

Personal Injury Cases and Emotional Distress

The forms of compensation that may be available to personal injury victims are usually grouped into the categories of economic damages and non-economic damages. Economic damages include quantifiable financial losses resulting from an injury. Non-economic damages usually include pain and suffering, and it can sometimes be more difficult to determine the monetary value of these types of damages.

Emotional trauma is usually included in the consideration of the pain and suffering an injury victim has experienced. The effects of emotional distress may include:

For anyone who has suffered a personal injury, coping with the effects that it will have on their life can be incredibly difficult. This is especially true if the injury results in disability that affects a victim’s ability to work and earn an income. While it may be possible to recover compensation through a personal injury lawsuit, many people also rely on public benefits such as Social Security income (SSI) or Social Security disability income (SSDI). However, some recent changes to the rules followed by the Social Security Administration (SSA) may affect a person’s ability to receive Social Security disability benefits.

Updated regulations which went into effect in March of 2017 have changed some of the processes followed by the SSA in Social Security disability appeals hearings. These changes include:

Opinions of Treating Physicians

In a Social Security disability appeals hearing, an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) is no longer required to give more weight to the opinion of the doctor who originally treated the claimant. Instead, an ALJ will consider the following factors:

It is hard to lose a loved one, even if they die from natural causes after having lived a long and meaningful life. When someone’s time is cut short, however, the pain, loss, and grieving is magnified – especially when death has been caused by another’s negligence or intentionally bad conduct. Besides the immense grief and realization that nothing can bring a loved one back, many individuals and families must deal with the stark reality of the loss of support, both financial and emotional, provided by the work, income, and participation in family responsibilities of the lost loved one. When grief is coupled with tenuous financial straits, survivors of the wrongful death of a family member can seek compensation from the person or entity responsible. 

Defining Wrongful Death in Illinois

In general, a wrongful death occurs whenever an individual is killed because of someone’s intentionally wrongful or negligent conduct. More specifically, in the precise legal language of Illinois state law, “whenever the death of a person shall be caused by wrongful act, neglect or default, and the act, neglect or default is such as would, if death had not ensued, have entitled the party injured to maintain an action and recover damages,” the individual or entity (e.g. business or other institution) that caused the death may be held liable in a wrongful death suit in civil court.

Eligible Survivors of a Wrongful Death Victim

Only certain close relatives are eligible to seek compensation under the state’s wrongful death statute. These relatives include:

Illinois law allows personal injury victims to seek compensation from the individuals or institutions responsible for harms and losses suffered. Sometimes, the computation of this compensation, termed “damages” by the law, is relatively straightforward. When an arm is broken in a car accident caused by another driver’s negligence, there are the costs of having the car repaired and the bone re-aligned and set in a cast, as well as pain and suffering, and any lost income due to missed work during any necessary rehabilitation. 

Such consequential damages are designed to make things right – to allow an injury victim to be in (theoretically) as good of a position as they would have been had the negligence and subsequent accident never occurred. However, other personal injury scenarios – especially more severe injuries with long-term consequences – are not so easily translated into a clear and fair award of legal damages.  

When Money Alone Cannot Restore a Victim to a Pre-Accident Position

Sometimes, tragically, the consequences of an accident are so dire that no award of financial damages can truly restore a personal injury accident victim to the position in life he or she occupied prior to the harm they suffered due to someone else’s negligence. Severe injuries, such as those involving permanent paralysis or brain damage, must be viewed with a long lens to truly grasp the long-term consequences.