Sustaining an injury can have a devastating impact on your life, leading to significant medical bills, lost wages, physical disability, and emotional distress. When someone else’s actions caused those injuries, you may be able to hold them financially accountable by filing a personal injury lawsuit against them.
If you were injured in an incident caused by someone else in Missouri or Illinois, contact the O’Fallon, Illinois, office of David M. Duree and Associates, P.C., for a free consultation with a personal injury lawyer. Attorney David Duree has over 40 years of experience and maintains a small law office to provide a client-focused environment. Our law firm fosters strong relationships with clients and offers direct access to our attorneys.
During your initial consultation, one of our lawyers will review your case, help you explore your legal options, walk you through the personal injury claim process, and explain how our law firm fights for our clients’ rights.
Why Choose David M. Duree and Associates, P.C.?
When you’re facing the aftermath of an injury accident, you need to know that the attorney you’ve chosen to represent you is equipped to handle your case and pursue the outcome you deserve. Here’s what you’ll get when you trust David M. Duree and Associates, P.C., with your case:
- An attorney with more than four decades of experience representing injured residents of Illinois and Missouri in complex cases
- One-on-one attention from skilled personal injury attorney David M. Duree and his assistant – you’ll have direct access to your lawyer throughout your case
- An attorney with substantial courtroom experience at the state and federal levels
Personal Injury Cases We Handle in Missouri and Illinois
Our law firm in O’Fallon, Illinois, handles a wide range of personal injury cases in both Missouri and Illinois. Some of the most common types of cases our lawyers represent clients in are:
- Premises liability cases, including those arising from slips and falls and defective property conditions
- Motor vehicle accidents, such as car, truck, motorcycle, and bus accidents
- Medical malpractice, including birth injuries and surgical errors, committed by doctors, nurses, and other healthcare providers
- Defective product cases caused by products with design, manufacturing, or warning label defects
- Nursing home abuse and neglect committed by individual staff members or the nursing facility as a whole
- Brain and spinal cord injuries resulting from catastrophic accidents
- Dog bites and other domestic animal attacks where the owner is liable
- Pedestrian and cycling accidents caused by aggressive or distracted motorists
- Workplace accidents where third parties, such as machinery manufacturers, are at fault
- Wrongful death claims brought by surviving family members after a fatal accident
What Compensation Can I Recover?
The compensation our lawyers can help you recover through a personal injury case falls into two main categories. There are economic damages and non-economic damages.
Economic damages are the compensation you seek for the tangible impact your injuries have had or will have on your life. These impacts, also known as losses, include past and future medical expenses, lost wages, and loss of earning capacity.
Non-economic damages are compensation for your intangible losses, including pain and suffering, emotional distress, permanent disability, and loss of enjoyment of life. It’s essential that you work with an experienced and knowledgeable attorney who can accurately assess your non-economic damages to maximize your compensation.
How Much Does It Cost to Hire a Personal Injury Lawyer?
Most personal injury lawyers, including David M. Duree and Associates, P.C., handle cases on contingency. This means you don’t pay upfront fees to initiate your case or while it’s in progress. Instead, the lawyer’s fee is a percentage of any compensation they recover for you through a settlement or court award. If you don’t receive compensation, you don’t owe attorney fees. This arrangement allows you to pursue a claim without taking on additional financial strain during an already difficult time. It also means your lawyer’s payment is tied to the outcome of your case.
During your initial consultation, we’ll explain the percentage fee, how we handle incidental expenses during your case, and what you can expect from the process before you sign a fee agreement. We’ll make sure you understand the terms so you can move forward with confidence.
Is There a Deadline to File a Personal Injury Claim?
Both Illinois and Missouri set strict deadlines for filing personal injury lawsuits. In Illinois, the deadline is typically two years from the date of the injury, while Missouri gives you five years from the injury date to file.
If you don’t file your lawsuit within the applicable time limit, the court will likely dismiss your case and you’ll lose your right to recover compensation. Because the courts strictly enforce these deadlines, it’s important to speak with a personal injury lawyer as soon as possible after an accident to protect your financial future.
What to Do After an Injury Accident
The steps you take after an injury accident can affect both your physical recovery and your potential legal claim. If you are able, call 911 and report the incident. Seek medical attention as soon as possible, even if your injuries seem minor. If it’s safe to do so, collect basic information at the scene, including names, contact details, witness information, and photographs of the area and any visible injuries.
After you leave the scene, your focus should shift to protecting your health and documenting your losses. In the days and weeks that follow, take the following steps:
- Continue all recommended medical treatment and attend follow-up appointments. Gaps in care may affect both your physical healing process and your claim.
- Keep copies of medical records, bills, receipts, and documentation of missed work or reduced hours.
- Avoid giving recorded statements or detailed explanations to the other party’s insurance company before speaking with a lawyer.
- Refrain from posting about the accident or your injuries on social media.
- Keep a written record of your symptoms, pain levels, physical limitations, and how the injury affects your daily activities.
Taking these steps can help create a clear record of what happened and how the injury has impacted your life. Speaking with an Illinois or Missouri personal injury lawyer early in the process can help you understand your options and avoid mistakes that may reduce the value of your claim.
How Our Personal Injury Attorneys in Missouri and Illinois Can Help
Our personal injury lawyers in Missouri and Illinois can assist you with your case from start to finish. Following your initial consultation, we’ll conduct a thorough investigation into the incident that caused your injury. Through this investigation, our law firm will identify the at-fault parties and collect evidence to connect their actions to the harm you experienced.
We’ll then calculate the value of your losses and file your personal injury lawsuit against the at-fault party before entering settlement negotiations with their insurer. If the insurance provider refuses to make a fair settlement offer, we’ll proceed to take your case to trial to seek the compensation you need.
Contact Our Personal Injury Attorneys Serving Missouri and Illinois
If your injuries resulted from another person’s actions, contact David M. Duree and Associates, P.C., for a free consultation with a knowledgeable member of our legal team. Our office in O’Fallon, Illinois, has extensive experience taking on the big insurance companies and fighting for our Illinois and Missouri clients’ rights to compensation for their injuries.