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Getting hit by a driver who speeds off is scary enough. Add hospital bills, a damaged bike, and a driver you can’t even identify, and it’s easy to feel stuck. Our hit and run motorcycle accident lawyers in Chicago know riders get blamed unfairly.
The insurance companies don’t make it easy, especially when there’s no other driver to point to. At Charlie Therman Injury & Accident Lawyers, P.C., we’ve spent over 75 years combined fighting for people just like you, recovering more than $100 million along the way.
Our Chicago motorcycle accident lawyers will deal with the legal matters and the insurance claim so you can focus on healing. We work on contingency, which means you pay nothing unless we win.
Why Hit and Run Accidents are Especially Hard on Riders
There’s a strange bias against motorcyclists that shows up after almost every crash. Someone assumes you must have been speeding, lane splitting, or doing something reckless, even when none of that is true.
When the other driver flees the scene, that bias gets worse, because now there’s no one else to blame and no other side of the story to compare against yours. Insurance adjusters pick up on this too. Without another driver to point to, some will lean on your account of what happened, looking for any inconsistency they can use to pay out less.
It’s an unfair position to be in while you’re also trying to heal from real injuries. You shouldn’t have to defend your own credibility on top of everything else. A Chicago personal injury lawyer can deal with these issues and fight for your interests.
How to Protect Your Claim and Health After a Motorcycle Crash
What you do right after a collision can have lasting impacts on your health and your claim. Call 911 and get medical attention, even if you think you’re fine. Some injuries don’t announce themselves right away. Accidents always result in people having a similar response: “It all happened so fast!”
It can be difficult to remember to record every detail, but if you’re able, use your cell phone to take pictures or video. Take note of anything you remember about the car, like the color, the direction it went, or even a partial plate number. Look around for traffic cameras or nearby businesses with security footage, since that’s often how hit and run drivers get identified.
If anyone stopped to help or witnessed the crash, get their name and number before they leave. If an insurance company calls asking for a recorded statement, you don’t have to give one on the spot. Talk to a Chicago hit and run motorcycle accident lawyer first. What you say in that call can end up being used against you later.
Can You Recover Compensation if the Driver Is Never Found?
If the person who hit you disappears, who actually pays for your medical bills and the time you’ve missed at work? Most Illinois drivers carry something called uninsured motorist coverage, which exists for exactly this situation.
It’s part of your own policy, and it steps in when the at-fault driver can’t be identified or doesn’t have insurance. It won’t feel like much comfort in the moment, but it’s often the path that gets your bills paid.
The catch is that you’re still filing a claim with an insurance company, and insurance companies don’t hand out money without pushing back first. Having someone who knows how these claims work and who can negotiate on your behalf tends to make a real difference in what you actually recover.
Injuries We See Most Often in Motorcycle Hit and Runs
Motorcycles don’t offer much protection, so the injuries from these crashes are rarely minor. Road rash and deep cuts are common when skin meets pavement, and they carry a real risk of infection if not treated properly. Broken bones show up often too, especially in the arms, legs, collarbone, and ribs.
Head injuries are one of the more serious risks, even for riders wearing a helmet. Spinal cord injuries are less common but devastating when they happen, ranging from chronic pain to partial or full paralysis. Torn ligaments and joint damage in the knees, shoulders, or wrists are also frequent, usually from the fall itself rather than the initial impact.
Most types of motorcycle accident injuries require medical intervention. If you don’t have health insurance, that shouldn’t stop you from getting treated. Many providers will treat you now and wait to be paid from your eventual settlement or verdict.
How We Help After a Hit and Run
If you’ve never worked with a lawyer before, it’s normal to wonder what they’d actually do for you. Here’s what our Chicago hit and run motorcycle accident attorneys handle so you don’t have to:
- Investigate the crash: We track down traffic camera footage, canvass the area for witnesses, and work to identify the driver who left the scene.
- Handle your insurance claim from start to finish: We file the paperwork, communicate with adjusters, and push back when they undervalue your claim.
- Calculate the true cost of your injury: We look beyond your current medical bills to account for future treatment, lost income, and how the injury affects your daily life.
- Negotiate on your behalf: Our founding partner has worked on the insurance side of the industry, giving our team real insight into how adjusters think and negotiate.
- Keep you informed every step of the way: You can upload documents and check in on your case through our app, so you’re never left wondering what’s happening.
- Go to bat for you if a fair settlement isn’t offered: We prepare every case as if it may need to go further, because that’s often what gets insurance companies to take a claim seriously.
Let Us Put Our Experience to Work For You
Our founding partner spent time working on the insurance side of this industry before switching to represent injured people, so our team has a genuine feel for how adjusters evaluate claims and where they tend to lowball.
We know what it takes to build a strong motorcycle accident case. We use that to push for a number that actually reflects what you’ve been through, not just your medical bills but also lost income and how the injury has changed your daily life. And through our app, you can upload documents and check on your case without playing phone tag.
What Compensation Can Our Chicago Hit and Run Motorcycle Accident Attorneys Help You Recover?
Every hit and run case is different, and the amount you can recover depends on the severity of your injuries, how they’ve affected your life, and the circumstances of the crash itself. That said, most riders in these situations are able to pursue compensation across a few key categories.
Medical Expenses
The most immediate cost after a crash is almost always medical care. This includes the emergency room visit right after the accident, along with any surgeries needed to repair broken bones, internal injuries, or other trauma from the impact.
Ongoing treatment for injuries that take months or even years to fully heal is simply part of the process. If doctors expect you to need future treatment to complete the healing process, those anticipated costs can factor into your claim as well.
Lost Wages
Most people have very legitimate worries about time away from work and the accompanying loss of paychecks. Compensation can cover the wages you missed while you were unable to work, whether that was a few weeks or several months.
For some riders, the injury has a longer-term effect on their ability to earn a living. If you’re unable to return to the same job, or you can only work reduced hours going forward, that reduced earning capacity can also be factored into what you’re owed.
Pain and Suffering
The pain you went through and the emotional toll of going through the injury and the subsequent healing process are compensable. In other words, you can pursue monetary damages for your pain and the suffering you went through.
Pain and suffering compensation is meant to account for that side of your experience: the sleepless nights, the anxiety about riding again, or the simple fact that your day-to-day life looks different than it did before the crash.
Property Damage
Beyond your physical recovery, there’s the practical matter of your motorcycle and gear. If your bike was damaged or totaled in the crash, you may be able to recover the cost of repairs or a fair replacement value.
You may also wish to pursue compensation for the other things damaged in the crash, like your helmet, jacket, or riding boots. Even smaller items that were damaged in the crash can typically be included as part of your claim.
How Much Time Do You Have to File?
In Illinois, you generally have two years from the date of the crash to file a personal injury claim. Two years might sound like a long time, but evidence doesn’t wait around. Camera footage gets overwritten, memories fade, and witnesses move on with their lives.
The earlier you talk to a hit and run motorcycle accident attorney in Chicago about your case, the earlier we can start locking down evidence, particularly in a hit and run, where finding the driver often depends on acting before that window closes.
Talk to a Chicago Hit and Run Motorcycle Accident Lawyer
You didn’t cause this crash, and you shouldn’t have to fight alone just to be treated fairly afterward. At Charlie Therman Injury & Accident Lawyers, P.C., we treat clients like people we actually know, not case numbers, because that’s how we’d want our own family handled after something like this.
Our founding partner’s background on the insurance side gives us a real advantage at the negotiating table, and our app keeps you in the loop without the runaround. We work on contingency, so there’s nothing owed upfront and nothing owed at all unless we win.
If a driver hit you and drove off, don’t wait to get answers. Choose Charlie, and let our Chicago hit and run motorcycle accident attorneys get started on your case.
