Around 9 out of 10 calls to your Palatine motorcycle accident lawyer are folks looking for free advice – and 
that’s fine with us. We’re more than happy to help riders with their accident questions. There are many other places to get good information and I’m listing a few of those below for quick access.
Motorcycle Accident Resources
First and foremost, we have a YouTube channel where countless accident-related questions are already answered. Here are the most common questions we get asked and the videos that answer those questions:
- What happens if I’m at fault for an accident?
- What to do when an insurance company denies your claim
- Do insurance policy limits matter?
- My vehicle is totaled and I owe more than it’s worth
In addition, there are some websites that are commonly used and might be helpful to you. First of all, if you are looking up the law on a riding topic, you probably want to go to the Illinois Vehicle Code.
We don’t practice in areas like driver’s license reinstatement. For that, you will want to go to the Illinois DMV. And finally, for questions about filing an accident report after an accident and other things like that you can go to the Illinois Department of Transportation.
There is 1 other link that a Palatine motorcycle accident attorney would be remiss if we didn’t provide and that is to City Limits Harley which is located on Rand Road in Palatine. Barry actually spoke to the HOG chapter there a long while back about the importance of having adequate amounts of uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage.
How to obtain police records
Palatine is in Cook County so if you are involved in a motorcycle accident, you can go to the Chicago Police Department website and order your police report within a couple of weeks of an accident taking place.
A lot of people are unable to get the contact information of the guy who hit them because they’ve been injured. If that’s the case, you will likely not have the contact information of that guy and will have to wait to file a claim with the defendant’s insurance company until the police report is ready.
That’s frustrating for a lot of people. That’s why I often recommend people file a claim with their own insurance company. They can usually get their property damage at least taken care of a lot quicker than waiting for the other guy’s insurance to act. Yes, you will have to pay your deductible but you may get that back.
If the police did not come to the accident scene for whatever reason, the accident was too minor or it was on private property – or whatever reason they can come up with to get out of writing a report, we strongly recommend that you go to the local police department station as soon as you are able and fill out a report. That will get your side of the story on the record because as we’ve discussed on this site, stories change and the person who was so friendly at the time of the accident changes their story when they file their claim.
Will video footage help my case?
It’s pretty popular these days for motorcyclists to wear GoPro’s on their helmets in order to document what really happened if a motorcycle accident occurred. The truth of the matter is the system is pretty biased against bikers in the sense that oftentimes a cop or a witness will automatically think that a biker was speeding when an accident occurred.
We both know that is often not the case and there are just as many people cruising around enjoying themselves as there are kids on crotch rockets lane splitting.
One way you can assure an accurate story of the accident is told is by wearing a camera. But this cuts both ways. We had a case a long while back where a rider was wearing a GoPro and it showed his speedometer right before the accident and he was going 100 mph. Now in that case, because he was in a pure comparative negligence state we were still able to recover on his behalf. But I’m skeptical whether we could have recovered if the accident occurred in Illinois.
Will my case go to trial?
A lot of people will ask this Palatine motorcycle lawyer if their case will go to trial and how long that will take. Chances are the case is not going to trial. It’s just reality. For you to finish your medical treatment, negotiate with the insurance company, file a lawsuit, and actually getting to trial will take years and is a long shot to occur at all.
The vast majority of cases settle and for a very good reason – litigation is expensive. Also, once you get to trial there is no guarantee you’re going to win.
Finally, the most impactful reason that most cases don’t get to trial revolves around the amount of insurance involved in a case. We talk on this site at length about why how much insurance exists is important. We won’t go into that in detail right now except to point out that if you have a $100,000 injury and there is only a $25,000 policy, chances are you’re going to be limited in your recovery to the $25,000. So why file a lawsuit.
Conversely, if you suffer significant injuries and there is a large insurance policy, it is very likely your case will go to litigation. The higher the stakes the more State Farm or any insurance company is going to fight.
A Little Information About Palatine
We mentioned above that we’ve actually been to the Palatine Harley Dealership and spoken to the HOG Chapter. Palatine is very close to our office in Glenview, Illinois which sits on Palatine/Willow Road. So one of the advantages of having a local attorney is that if needed we’ll come to Palatine to visit with you in person – not just an over-the-phone consultation.
Also, we’re not a national chain of motorcycle accident lawyers, we’re a local law firm here to serve you. So whether you were hit while riding on Rand Road and driving to Fremd to pick your kid up or cruising through Palatine to get to the racetrack, we are here to serve you.
If you would like to speak with us at the Chicago Legal Group, call us at 1-847-305-4105.
