Lawsuits in Cook County are never easy. But a recent Keating Law Offices' case shows that the legal system can work for someone injured in a bicycle accident. Streetsblog Chicago recently published an article on the successful resolution of a case for one of Keating Law Offices' clients. South Side bicyclist and father Andrew Berg originally filed a lawsuit "pro se" (as his own lawyer) against a motorist who struck him while he was riding in the protected bike lane on 31st Street. After the motorist failed to respond to Andrew's request for information, he filed a case in Cook County's small claims court. At that point, the driver did contact her insurance company who then aggressively moved the case to a bigger court where an arbitration was ordered by the court.
Circuit Court of Cook County Bicycle Crash Litigation
After Streetsblog ran an article on Andrew's legal plight, he contacted Keating Law Offices. We immediately agreed to help Andrew and went right to work on the case. Attorney Mike Keating said, "Handling so many bike crash cases in Chicago we know first hand that the insurance companies have good attorneys who will work aggressively on their case. If we didn't help Andrew, he would have been at a big disadvantage. By our entering the case we immediately leveled the playing field."
Within months the case was resolved. Keating Law Offices attorney Catelyn Viggiano, who handled the case for Andrew Berg, was able to obtain an arbitration award for Andrew and then successfully settle the case for Andrew. Catelyn said, "If there's one thing I've learned in being a lawyer, no matter the case value, the feeling of obtaining justice and getting positive results for clients is always rewarding. I'm so happy we could do just that for this Chicago cyclist." The attorney for the insurance company was understanding and reasonable and helped to get the case resolved after the successful arbitration.
Successful Result for Client
Successful Result for Client
Andrew Berg told Streetsblog about Keating Law Offices that "They said they didn’t want to leave a cyclist behind and were trying to get justice,” he said. “I’m thankful to everyone in the bike community and the attorneys for supporting me.”
The resolution of the case not only compensated Andrew for his medical bills, but also for his pain and suffering he experienced while recovering and the scar he ended up with on his elbow. Most importantly, a Chicago bicyclist was not left behind. Chicago's bicycle community and the bike attorneys at Keating Law Offices were at his side.