IL
Back & spine settlements
in Illinois.
In Illinois the medical bills in a back injury case count at their full billed value, not the discounted amount an insurer or Medicare paid. The Supreme Court settled that in a case about a spinal fusion after a red light crash.
Facts that decide a back & spine claim in Illinois
| Medical bills | A plaintiff may recover the reasonable value of medical care, proven by the billed amount, even if Medicare, Medicaid or an insurer paid less.Wills v. Foster (Ill. 2008) |
|---|---|
| Preexisting conditions | An aggravation of an existing back condition is compensable when the crash proximately caused the need for treatment such as fusion surgery.Wills v. Foster (Ill. 2008) |
| Deadline to sue | Two years: injury actions “shall be commenced within 2 years next after the cause of action accrued.”735 ILCS 5/13-202, as quoted in Mickiewicz v. Generations at Regency (Ill. App. 2020) |
| Fault rule | You are barred only if your contributory fault is more than 50% of the proximate cause of the injury; otherwise the award is reduced by your share.735 ILCS 5/2-1116, as explained in Gratzle v. Sears, Roebuck (Ill. App. 1993) |
| Seat belt use | Not wearing a seat belt is not evidence of negligence and cannot reduce any recovery.625 ILCS 5/12-603.1(c), in the MyClaimWorth seat belt chart |