Putting aside what exactly you can recover for and the categories of compensation that you can obtain, you might practically also wonder how much you would receive in an Illinois lawsuit for your bike accident. On this point, what we try to do for our clients is present them with the general landscape of what is possible for each kind of injury that you sustain so that you can come to a broad calculation.
Causes of Accidents
Bicycle Injuries
Victim Resources
If you suffered economic damages in your bike accident, then you should know that plaintiffs typically get sums nearly equal to their out-of-pocket expenses for such things as medical bills, lost wages, and property damage. If you suffered non-economic damage, such as pain and suffering, then you could get as much as double your economic damages in recovery-it all depends on the jury and facts of your case. Another point of emphasis that we try to highlight is what others received through jury awards or settlement amounts for similar injuries because they can be instructive for what is possible for you. Here are some charts that evidence compensation of bike accident plaintiffs in Illinois:
ABOUT THESE NUMBERS
After a first glance, I assume you will scratch your head and questions what the numbers below really add up to. What they are an attempt to explain is what plaintiffs-who were initially victims in similar bike accidents- actually netted from the judicial process. In the following tables, we included what successful claimants extracted from settlement or award in their respective ranges: $0; $1-$50,000; $50,000-$100,000; $100,000-$200,000; $500,000-$1,000,000; $1,000,000-$2,000,000; $2,000,000-$5,000,000; and more than $5,000,000.
WHY DO WE NOT DISTINGUISH BETWEEN AWARDS AND SETTLEMENTS?
In the numbers below, we did not distinguish between jury awards or settlement amounts. Instead, we grouped them together and returned to you the total number of plaintiffs that received certain amounts. Why did we do it this way? Well, to understand that, we first should highlight the difference between the two. Jury awards are the answers juries give to plaintiffs and defendants after both sides have made their case. Settlements are the agreements that both sides reach in order to short-circuit a case according to their own terms. While you could hash out the procedures, advantages, and disadvantages of both, what really matters to most bike accident victims is how much compensation they can obtain and not how it is obtained. We find that is at least their initial focus so that is why we arranged the information below in that fashion.
WHAT DOES THIS INFORMATION REPRESENT?
Whether you are discussing awards from juries or amounts from settlements, your ultimate compensation is essentially correlated to your actual injuries. The definition for the injuries for which you can recover in court for is called damages and they include all the injuries that the defendant wrongfully called. They typically come from the following fields:
- Economic losses
- Non-economic losses
- Punitive injuries
- Wrongful death losses
You can aid your attorney expand the numbers within these fields by finding and preserving evidence of your injuries. Here are some helpful things you can do to advance your case and potential compensation:
- Evidence of medical bills
- Proof of lost income
- Illustrations of a decreased quality of life
- Signs of scarring/disfigurement/disability
WHAT YOU SHOULD TAKE AWAY FROM OUR BIKE ACCIDENT VALUATION
Here are some takeaways from the Illinois bike accident statistics below:
- The biggest winners were in bike and car door collisions where 43% recovered more than $1,000,000
- The biggest losers were in bike and pedestrian matters where 38% recovered nothing at all.
- The largest group of extraordinary recoveries (those of more than $5,000,000) were in bike and pedestrian collisions.
COMBINED ILLINOIS BIKE ACCIDENT RECOVERIES
| Reward Range | % of Plaintiffs |
| $0 | 22 |
| $1-$50,000 | 49 |
| $50,000-$100,000 | 7 |
| $100,000-$200,000 | 5 |
| $200,000-$500,000 | 6 |
| $500,000-$1,000,000 | 2 |
| $1,000,000-$2,000,000 | 4 |
| $2,000,000-$5,000,000 | 3 |
| >$5,000,000 | 2 |
COMBINED NATIONAL BIKE ACCIDENT RECOVERIES
| Reward Range | % of Plaintiffs |
| $0 | 32 |
| $1-$50,000 | 25 |
| $50,000-$100,000 | 6 |
| $100,000-$200,000 | 7 |
| $200,000-$500,000 | 9 |
| $500,000-$1,000,000 | 7 |
| $1,000,000-$2,000,000 | 5 |
| $2,000,000-$5,000,000 | 5 |
| >$5,000,000 | 3 |
COMBINED ILLINOIS BIKE ACCIDENT FROM FAILING TO YIELD
RECOVERIES
| Reward Range | % of Plaintiffs |
| $0 | 20 |
| $1-$50,000 | 60 |
| $50,000-$100,000 | 8 |
| $100,000-$200,000 | 6 |
| $200,000-$500,000 | 3 |
| $500,000-$1,000,000 | 1 |
| $1,000,000-$2,000,000 | 1 |
| $2,000,000-$5,000,000 | 2 |
| >$5,000,000 | 0 |
For more information about bicycle accidents involving drivers’ failure to yield in Illinois, look here.
COMBINED NATIONAL BIKE ACCIDENT FROM FAILING TO YIELD
RECOVERIES
| Reward Range | % of Plaintiffs |
| $0 | 28 |
| $1-$50,000 | 28 |
| $50,000-$100,000 | 10 |
| $100,000-$200,000 | 8 |
| $200,000-$500,000 | 7 |
| $500,000-$1,000,000 | 6 |
| $1,000,000-$2,000,000 | 5 |
| $2,000,000-$5,000,000 | 5 |
| >$5,000,000 | 4 |
COMBINED ILLINOIS BIKE ACCIDENT FROM SIDESWIPE RECOVERIES
| Reward Range | % of Plaintiffs |
| $0 | 26 |
| $1-$50,000 | 40 |
| $50,000-$100,000 | 6 |
| $100,000-$200,000 | 9 |
| $200,000-$500,000 | 6 |
| $500,000-$1,000,000 | 9 |
| $1,000,000-$2,000,000 | 0 |
| $2,000,000-$5,000,000 | 6 |
| >$5,000,000 | 0 |
For more information about Illinois bicycle accident cases involving driver side swipe collisions, look here.
COMBINED NATIONAL BIKE ACCIDENT FROM SIDESWIPE RECOVERIES
| Reward Range | % of Plaintiffs |
| $0 | 30 |
| $1-$50,000 | 30 |
| $50,000-$100,000 | 4 |
| $100,000-$200,000 | 9 |
| $200,000-$500,000 | 13 |
| $500,000-$1,000,000 | 9 |
| $1,000,000-$2,000,000 | 0 |
| $2,000,000-$5,000,000 | 0 |
| >$5,000,000 | 0 |
COMBINED ILLINOIS BIKE ACCIDENT FROM CAR DOOR RECOVERIES
| Reward Range | % of Plaintiffs |
| $0 | 14 |
| $1-$50,000 | 29 |
| $50,000-$100,000 | 0 |
| $100,000-$200,000 | 0 |
| $200,000-$500,000 | 0 |
| $500,000-$1,000,000 | 14 |
| $1,000,000-$2,000,000 | 29 |
| $2,000,000-$5,000,000 | 14 |
| >$5,000,000 | 0 |
For information about bicycle accident cases involving cars opening their doors, look here.
COMBINED NATIONAL BIKE ACCIDENT FROM CAR DOOR RECOVERIES
| Reward Range | % of Plaintiffs |
| $0 | 35 |
| $1-$50,000 | 16 |
| $50,000-$100,000 | 7 |
| $100,000-$200,000 | 10 |
| $200,000-$500,000 | 6 |
| $500,000-$1,000,000 | 4 |
| $1,000,000-$2,000,000 | 3 |
| $2,000,000-$5,000,000 | 10 |
| >$5,000,000 | 9 |
COMBINED ILLINOIS BIKE ACCIDENT FROM TURNING VEHICLES RECOVERIES
| Reward Range | % of Plaintiffs |
| $0 | 24 |
| $1-$50,000 | 58 |
| $50,000-$100,000 | 6 |
| $100,000-$200,000 | 5 |
| $200,000-$500,000 | 3 |
| $500,000-$1,000,000 | 1 |
| $1,000,000-$2,000,000 | 2 |
| $2,000,000-$5,000,000 | 2 |
| >$5,000,000 | 0 |
For discussion of Illinois bike accident cases involving turning vehicles, look here.
COMBINED NATIONAL BIKE ACCIDENT FROM TURNING VEHICLES RECOVERIES
| Reward Range | % of Plaintiffs |
| $0 | 32 |
| $1-$50,000 | 24 |
| $50,000-$100,000 | 7 |
| $100,000-$200,000 | 7 |
| $200,000-$500,000 | 10 |
| $500,000-$1,000,000 | 7 |
| $1,000,000-$2,000,000 | 4 |
| $2,000,000-$5,000,000 | 6 |
| >$5,000,000 | 4 |
COMBINED ILLINOIS BIKE ACCIDENT WITH PEDESTRIAN RECOVERIES
| Reward Range | % of Plaintiffs |
| $0 | 38 |
| $1-$50,000 | 32 |
| $50,000-$100,000 | 3 |
| $100,000-$200,000 | 4 |
| $200,000-$500,000 | 15 |
| $500,000-$1,000,000 | 0 |
| $1,000,000-$2,000,000 | 1 |
| $2,000,000-$5,000,000 | 4 |
| >$5,000,000 | 3 |
COMBINED NATIONAL BIKE ACCIDENT WITH PEDESTRIAN RECOVERIES
| Reward Range | % of Plaintiffs |
| $0 | 29 |
| $1-$50,000 | 30 |
| $50,000-$100,000 | 9 |
| $100,000-$200,000 | 6 |
| $200,000-$500,000 | 8 |
| $500,000-$1,000,000 | 3 |
| $1,000,000-$2,000,000 | 4 |
| $2,000,000-$5,000,000 | 8 |
| >$5,000,000 | 4 |
For more information on questions related to Bicycle Accidents please visit the following pages:
- Do I Need A Lawyer For My Illinois Bike Accident Case?
- How Long Do I Have To Pursue An Illinois Bike Accident Case?
- Nature Of Illinois Bike Accidents
- Illinois Bike Accident Recovery
- What If My Accident Occurred Out Of State?
- What To Do When A Family Member Dies In A Bicycle Accident In Illinois?
- What You Need To Know About Brain Injuries In Illinois?
- Am I required to wear a helmet?
- What if the other party denies my claim?
- What if the other party leaves the scene?
