In addition to getting the necessary medical care to treat your physical injury, you should take the necessary steps to protect your legal and financial recovery.

The First Step to Getting a Legal Recovery for an IVC Injury Is Understanding Your Legal Rights

Many medical devices, including IVC filters, have risks. You and your doctor weighed those risks before you consented to the medical procedure and decided that the potential health benefits of having an IVC filter implanted in your inferior vena cava vein outweighed the known risks. However, you still suffered a significant injury because the device:

• Moved or shifted within the inferior vena cava.
• Broke apart.
• Moved from the inferior vena cava to the heart or lungs.
• Cut the inferior vena cava.

Other people who have suffered injuries have alleged that IVC filter manufacturers:

• Negligently designed the filters.
• Failed to warn patients, doctors, and the public of the above risks which were known or should have been known to the device manufacturer.

As of June 2018, more than 8,000 lawsuits against IVC filter manufacturers such as C.R. Bard and Cook Medical were pending in multidistrict litigation (MDL).

You may have a claim for the negligent design of your IVC filter or negligent warning about your IVC filter if you suffered an injury.

The Next Step Is to Contact an Illinois IVC Injury Lawyer

It can be intimidating and difficult to seek a recovery from the pharmaceutical company on your own. An experienced medical device injury lawyer can make sure that all of your rights are protected.

Our lawyers know how to investigate your claim and take the necessary steps to protect your recovery. We can tell you more in a free consultation. We invite you to join us in one of our Illinois offices or, if it is easier, we will come to you. Please contact us online, call us at 800.800.5678, text, or email us today to learn more. You can also download a free copy of our report, IVC Filters: What You Need to Know About Them, to start learning about your rights today.

You took Taxotere to treat breast cancer based on your doctor’s recommendation, but without all of the information that you needed to make an educated decision about whether this was the right drug to treat your cancer. While Taxotere has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) since 1996, the drug manufacturer did not warn patients (or doctors) in the United States about the potential risk of permanent baldness (alopecia) until December 2015.

You May Have a Legal Claim If You Suffered Permanent Baldness From Taxotere That You Took Prior to December 2015

Temporary hair loss is an expected side effect of cancer treatment—permanent baldness is not. As you well know, the effects of permanent baldness go well beyond cosmetic concerns. You may suffer significant psychological issues and financial consequences because of your baldness.

It is alleged that Sanofi-Aventis knew about the risk of alopecia before the warning was added to the drug label in the United States in December 2015. Since Sanofi-Aventis, the maker of Taxotere, failed to warn you of the risk that it knew about or should have known about, you may be able to join thousands of other women in multi-district litigation to pursue a recovery for your damages.

How to Pursue a Taxotere Alopecia Case

Sanofi-Aventis is going to aggressively defend itself against the injury claims brought by you and women like you. Accordingly, it is important to work with an experienced drug injury lawyer to make sure that your rights are protected. Your lawyer will make sure that your claim is appropriately filed before the deadline for filing passes, and will zealously advocate for your full and fair recovery.

The first bellwether Taxotere cases will go to trial in 2019 and 2020, according to a Case Management Order from the United States District Court filed in June 2018. Thus, there is still time to contact a lawyer and to take action.

We invite you to begin learning more about your legal options now by downloading a free copy of our report, Taxotere: What You Need to Know About It, and by reaching out to us online, by phone at 800.800.5678, text, or through this website at any time to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation.

It is often an exciting time when the carnival comes to town! Instead of traveling to an Iowa amusement park, you can enjoy rides at a fair, festival, or event close to home. These temporary traveling carnivals are set up relatively quickly and then taken down again to go to the next location. Accidents and injuries are possible, and it is important to know what to do to protect your rights if you’re hurt.

Are Carnival Rides Safe?

Mobile amusement parks are not subject to federal regulation. However, Iowa state regulations require that carnival operators have permits and that equipment be inspected each calendar year. Any death or injury that requires treatment beyond first aid should be reported to the state. Local laws or ordinances may also regulate carnival rides.

Despite these requirements, carnival ride accidents may still result in injuries. Some of the reasons for these injuries may include:

• Aging equipment.
• A workforce of temporary workers that do not have the necessary knowledge or experience to set up, use, or take down equipment safely.
• A workforce that has to work long hours and that may be fatigued when setting up, operating, or dismantling carnival equipment.
• Tight time constraints for setting up and taking down rides and carnival equipment.

Currently, the International Association for Amusement Parks and Attractions only collects information about injuries and deaths from permanent amusement parks. Carnivals and mobile amusement rides are not included. However, news reports indicate that injuries do occur. Those injuries may include, but are not limited to:

• Whiplash
• Broken bones
• Brain injuries
• Spinal cord injuries
• Death

While we don’t know exactly how many people are hurt on carnival rides each year, we do know what you should do if you, or your child, is injured on an Iowa carnival ride.

Call an Iowa Personal Injury Lawyer After a Carnival Ride Accident

What started as a fun trip to the carnival can end with your life forever changed by a significant injury or the death of a loved one. This is an injury or death that may have occurred because the carnival owner or operator was negligent—it is an injury or death that should not have happened.

Our experienced personal injury lawyers will investigate the accident and hold the responsible parties accountable so that you can recover damages for your past and future medical expenses, lost income, out-of-pocket costs, physical pain, and emotional suffering. Contact us today to schedule a free consultation and to learn more about your rights.

You probably don’t have as long as you think.

Iowa, like other states, limits the amount of time that you have to file a lawsuit in state court after a truck accident. This limitation is not meant to pressure you, but instead it is meant to provide benefits to both you and to the defendant. By acting within a certain amount of time:

• You have the benefit of getting evidence while is still available and the benefit of making a fair recovery as quickly as possible.
• The defendant has the benefit of knowing that a claim will be pursued by a date certain or not at all.

While these purposes of statutes of limitations generally apply across the states, each state has its own law that establishes how long you have to act.

In Iowa, You Typically Have Two Years to File an Accident Case

This two-year timeline typically starts running on the date of your truck accident. However, there are some exceptions to the general rule. Specifically, the statute of limitations may be extended if:

• You did not know (and could not have reasonably known) of your injuries on the date of the accident. In this case, the statute of limitations will start running on the date that you knew or should have known about your injuries.
• You were under the age of 18 at the time of the accident. The statute of limitations will be two years or until your 19th birthday—whichever gives you more time.
• You were involved in a crash with a government vehicle. This may shorten the amount of time that you have to take action after a truck wreck.

If you file a lawsuit after the statute of limitations has expired, then you can expect the defendant to file a motion requesting that your case be dismissed and you can expect the court to grant that motion. You will not be able to recover any financial damages in court and the insurance companies will be unwilling to settle your claim with you knowing that you have no legal remedy.

Accordingly, it is important to take action before the statute of limitation prohibits you from doing so. For more information about how to do that and about how an Iowa truck accident case works, you need to speak with an experienced lawyer as soon as possible. Contact us online or call us directly at 800.800.5678 today for a free case evaluation.

You have the right to file a truck accident lawsuit in the state of Iowa if you have standing to sue. Iowa, like other states, only permits a person to file a lawsuit if that person was the one who was actually injured in a truck crash or if that person has a certain legal relationship to a person who was hurt in the crash.

Specifically, you may have standing to sue after an Iowa truck wreck if:

• You suffered a physical injury in the accident. If you were hurt in a truck accident that was primarily someone else’s fault, if you are over the age of 18, and if you are of sound mind, then you may have standing to bring a lawsuit in an Iowa court.
• You are the parent or guardian of a minor child who was hurt in the accident. In this case, your child does not have the legal right to file a lawsuit. You have the right to do it on behalf of your child. Any damages that are recovered in a settlement or in court would be for the benefit of your child.
• You are the legal guardian of someone over the age of 18. If you have been appointed by a court as the legal guardian of someone over the age of 18, then you likely have the right to make legal decisions for that person. This includes deciding whether or not to file a lawsuit on that person’s behalf. If you do file a lawsuit, then any damages that are recovered would be for the benefit of the person who was injured.
• You are the personal representative of the estate of someone who died in the truck crash. In the event of a wrongful death, you may have standing to bring a lawsuit on behalf of the estate.

If you file a lawsuit and you don’t have legal standing to sue, then your case likely will be dismissed and you will not recover damages.

Accordingly, it is important to know your rights before you file a case. You can speak with our experienced truck accident lawyers today to learn more about standing and about how Iowa truck accident cases work. Contact us online or call us directly at 800.800.5678. We would be pleased to provide you with a free, no-obligation consultation about your rights.

Truck accidents are rarely the fault of only one party. Even if you were partly to blame for the crash that resulted in your injuries, you may still be able to file a lawsuit and recover damages. However, before you decide whether or not to file a case, it is important to know what to expect.

Iowa Contributory Negligence Law Applies to Truck Accident Cases

Iowa law allows you to file a personal injury lawsuit after a truck accident case as long as you were not more at fault than the defendant for causing the crash. For example, if you were drinking and driving, you failed to stop at a light, and you collided with a truck, then you may be primarily responsible for the crash even if the trucker bears a small percentage of the liability for speeding. In this scenario where you are more than 50% responsible for causing the accident, you should not file a lawsuit because you will not be able to recover damages in a court of law.

However, if the situation was reversed and the trucker was primarily responsible for the crash, then you should file a lawsuit even if you bear a small percentage of the liability for your injuries. According to Iowa law, you can make a legal recovery but that recovery will be reduced by the percentage of fault attributable to you.

Expect Your Percentage of Fault to Be a Significant Issue in Your Case

As you can tell from the example provided above, the issue of who is more at fault is going to be hotly contested in any truck accident lawsuit. You will need strong evidence and compelling arguments to convince the insurance company or court of the percentage of fault that is truly attributable to you and of the damages that you deserve. Our experienced truck crash lawyers can help you do that. Simply contact us online or call us directly at 800.800.5678 today for a free, no-obligation consultation and we will review your claim with you and discuss the pros and cons of moving forward with a lawsuit.

Each state, including Illinois, has laws known as the statutes of limitations. These laws limit the amount of time that an injured party has to file a lawsuit.

It may seem that the laws are unfair and that you shouldn’t be up against a deadline when you are suffering from a painful injury. However, the law is meant to protect both you and the defendant by providing a time by which the case must be filed. It provides the defendant with some certainty about how long he may be financially vulnerable to a lawsuit and, more importantly, it provides you better access to high-quality evidence. Additionally, the sooner that you file a case the sooner you may be able to make a legal recovery to help with your physical and emotional recoveries.

How Long Do You Have To File A Truck Accident Claim?

If you were hurt in a truck crash, then you have suffered a personal injury and the Illinois Statute of Limitations for personal injuries applies to your case. In most cases, this means that you have two years to file a lawsuit. The two years runs from the time that the injury is discovered or the time that the injury should reasonably have been discovered. Most of the time, the two-year statute of limitations will begin on the day of the truck crash.

In limited circumstances the statute of limitations may be extended. This may happen, for example, if you were under the age of 18 or mentally incompetent at the time of the crash and your parent or legal guardian did not file a case on your behalf.

What Happens If You Miss the Deadline To File Your Truck Accident Claim?

If you file a lawsuit after the statute of limitations expires, then you should expect that the defendant will file a motion to dismiss with the court. The court will grant that motion and your case will be dismissed without you recovering any financial damages.

Don’t let this happen to you. Instead, learn how an Illinois truck accident case works and what you can do to protect your rights today by speaking with our experienced truck accident injury lawyers as soon as possible. Contact us online or call us directly at 800.800.5678 for a free consultation.

You may have seen a truck accident happen and been traumatized, or you may love someone who was badly hurt or killed in an Illinois truck wreck. Either of these situations can be devastating and can have a significant impact on your life. However, they do not always give you the right to bring a lawsuit against the person who caused the crash.

Instead, in order to file a truck accident case in the state of Illinois, you must have legal standing. If you do not have legal standing, then the party that you name as the defendant will make a motion to dismiss your case—and the court will grant that motion.

Standing to Sue in Illinois Following A Truck Accident

Illinois law allows people to file personal injury lawsuits after truck wrecks when:

• They are adults who have been hurt in the crash.
• They are the parent or guardian of minor children (under the age of 18). Children do not have legal standing to bring their own lawsuits. If your child was hurt, then you may be able to file a case on behalf of your child. The damages in this type of case would be for your child’s benefit.
• They are the legal guardian of someone who was hurt in a truck crash. If you have legal guardianship of an adult, then you may have the right to bring a personal injury lawsuit on that person’s behalf and for that person’s benefit.
• They are the administrator of the estate of someone who died in a truck wreck. In this case, they may have the right to bring a wrongful death claim for the benefit of the estate and its beneficiaries.

If you believe that you have standing to bring a case, then it is important to take action immediately by talking to an experienced truck accident lawyer. An attorney can explain how Illinois truck accident cases work and what steps you need to take to move forward with a lawsuit and a potential recovery. Contact us online or call us directly at 800.800.5678 to schedule your free consultation.

When a serious crash occurs, there is often more than one cause. Maybe one driver was speeding while the other driver was distracted. Perhaps, one driver was tired while the other driver under the influence of prescription medications. In these cases, more than one party may be at fault for the truck crash.

The percentage of fault that is attributed to each party must be negotiated during settlement talks or decided by the court, and the exact percentage is very important. It may determine the amount of money that you can recover in a legal case—or whether you can recover any money at all.

Illinois Contributory Negligence Law In Your Truck Accident

According to the Illinois Compiled Statutes (735 ILCS 5/2-1116 (c)):

• You cannot recover damages in a truck accident case if you are found to be 50% or more of the proximate cause of your injuries. In other words, if your actions or inactions made you primarily responsible for the accident, then you cannot recover damages from someone else.
• If you were partly at fault for the accident, but the percentage of your fault is found to be less than 50%, then you may recover damages for the injuries that you have suffered. However, your recovery will be reduced by the percentage of fault attributed to you. For example, if you are found to be 25% responsible for the crash and the trucker is found to be 75% responsible for the crash, then you may recover damages—but your total recovery will be reduced by 25%.

For these reasons, determining the exact cause of your crash and the percentage of fault attributed to each party is very important.

Don’t Negotiate Liability on Your Own For A Truck Accident

An experienced truck accident lawyer can investigate what happened to you and make compelling arguments to the insurance company or to the court to ensure that a fair determination of fault is made. For more information about how a lawyer can help you protect your right to a fair recovery and how Illinois truck accident cases work, please contact us online or call us directly at 800.800.5678 to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation.

A respiratory injury may not be the first type of injury that you think of when you think about truck accidents, but by now you know all too well that a respiratory injury can result from a truck wreck and that it can be very serious.

How Your Breathing May Be Affected by a Truck Crash

Generally, there are two different ways in which you can suffer breathing problems after a truck wreck. You may have breathing or respiratory injuries if:

• You suffer a lung collapse in the collision. Trauma to the chest can result in a lung collapse, which is also known as pneumothorax. When this happens the lung cannot inflate as it normally does when you breathe. The pressure in your chest can interfere with the blood flow to your heart. In addition to difficulty breathing, you may experience a drop in blood pressure and your organs may be compromised. If you experience pain when breathing, rapid breathing, difficulty speaking, or any other symptoms of a chest or lung trauma, then it is important to get prompt medical attention. Medical treatment, including hospitalization, may be needed to release the pressure in your chest, to allow you to breathe, and to allow blood to flow to your heart. Your recovery may take a long time, depending on the extent of the trauma to the lung.
• You breathe in hazardous cargo because of the collision. In addition to whatever trauma you suffer because of the collision, any chemicals, poisons, or infectious cargo on a truck could cause you to suffer respiratory complications. The complications may interfere with your ability to breathe and may be medical emergencies.

If you have suffered any breathing problems as a result of a truck wreck then it is important to contact an experienced lawyer as soon as possible. A full investigation needs to be done to determine which parties were at fault for the truck accident injuries that you suffered. Please contact us online or call us directly at 800.800.5678 today for a free consultation today so that you can begin protecting your rights and your potential recovery of medical expenses, lost income, pain, suffering, and other damages now.