Chicago Personal Injury Law Blog

Last week, there was a head-on collision outside of Galesburg that left one driver dead and the other driver seriously injured. The driver who was killed in the accident apparently crossed over the center line and hit the other car head-on. The other driver had to be cut of his vehicle and life-flighted to Peoria.

Since the deceased driver was the one who crossed the center line, this would seem to be the kind of case where the insurance company would simply pay what was due to the driver who had to be cut out of his car.

Unfortunately, that is sometimes not the case. Illinois has a statute called the Dead Man's Act which bars someone with interests adverse to a dead person's estate from testifying as to events that took place in the presence of the dead person. This means that the driver who was cut out of his car will not be able to testify as to what happened, and due to Illinois' restrictive laws regarding the use of accident reconstruction testimony, that may not be available either.

In short, restrictive laws governing the admission of evidence in this kind of case may make a very simple case very difficult indeed. Cases like this often require the help of an experienced Illinois personal injury lawyer to reach a just resolution.

Labels: Car crashes, legal information