One of the primary reasons why you should hire a Chicago motorcycle accident lawyer is because insurers treat bikers differently.
Not to mention, Illinois fault law can also cut your payout. Because motorcycle crashes can lead to worse injuries than car crashes, a lowball offer undermines the true cost of an accident. A motorcycle accident lawyer can handle the extensive documentation needed for motorcycle claims and protect the money you're owed against biases or unfair treatment.
Were you hurt in a motorcycle crash near Oak Lawn or the Southwest Side of Chicago? Here are seven reasons a Chicago motorcycle accident lawyer can benefit you significantly in what you recover.
1. Insurance Companies Are Biased Against Bikers
Adjusters often assume motorcyclists are reckless, which lowers settlement offers before anyone reviews the facts.
Throughout the many motorcycle accident cases we’ve handled, a consistent pattern emerges: biker bias (the same bias you’ll find even in forums). The insurance company assumes fault. Or blames "biker bias."
Worse, they drag out the claim, hoping the rider gives up.
Motorcyclists make up a share of fatal crashes far bigger than their share of traffic. In 2024, motorcycles were involved in just 1.1% of Illinois crashes. But they made up 13.1% of fatal ones, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation's 2024 Crash Facts report.
The biggest challenge we see riders face is how some insurance adjusters use that gap to justify a lower offer.
How We Can Help
As a motorcycle accident attorney at Wojcik, we’ve seen this playbook too often. They document the crash on their own, and push back on faulty assumptions the facts don't support.
Where we come in is to help you push back to get the claim you appropriately deserve.
2. Motorcycle Injuries Are More Severe and Cost More
Riders have no car frame to absorb impact. That means longer hospital stays, higher bills, and claims that are easy to undervalue.
IDOT recorded 2,556 injured motorcyclists statewide in 2024. Of those, 928 injuries were the most severe kind: fractures, brain injury, or permanent impairment. That same year, 144 riders died in Illinois, making up 12.2% of all Illinois traffic deaths, even though motorcycles are a small slice of vehicles on the road.
Now, here’s what’s frustrating.
Injury crashes rose 7.7% from the year before, even as deaths dropped 14.3%, per the same IDOT report. More riders survive the crashes, but many walk away with injuries serious enough to need real compensation for ongoing care.
How We Can Help
A claim like this needs a Chicago motorcycle accident lawyer who looks ahead. Hospital stays, missed work, and future medical/living costs are easy to undervalue leading to a lowball settlement offer.
Without legal help, that means lost earning power for riders. Where we stand at Wojcik is to provide fairness and a thorough assessment of the accident so that riders can claim what is properly due.
3. Illinois Fault Law Can Easily Cut Your Payout
Illinois uses a modified comparative negligence rule (51% fault bar). Any fault assigned to you cuts your settlement directly.
So at more than 50% fault, you recover nothing.
Under 735 ILCS 5/2-1116, you can only recover damages if you're found less than 50% at fault. Whatever fault does land on you comes straight out of your award. Say an adjuster shifts 20% of the blame onto you for lane position or speed. Your payout shrinks by that same 20%.
How We Can Help
This is why riders without a lawyer often settle for less than their claim is worth. No one is fighting the fault percentage before it gets built into the offer.
A lawyer's job here is critical. We build the evidence that keeps your fault percentage as low as the facts allow. In Illinois, fault percentage significantly determines how much you can claim.
4. An Attorney Chases Down Evidence You Can't Reach From a Hospital Bed
Motorcycle crash evidence disappears fast:
Skid marks fade
Surveillance footage gets erased
Witnesses forget details within days
Traffic camera footage is often erased within a week or two
The debris that shows point of impact gets cleared before you're even out of the ER
The minute an accident occurs, collecting evidence can make or break a case.
How We Can Help
An attorney (or the crash reconstruction expert hired) can request footage before it's deleted. They can photograph the scene and pull the police report right away.
With legal help, all the evidence work happens in the background while you focus on recovering.
5. Why Motorcycle Cases Aren’t Just "Car Accident" Cases in Illinois
Illinois law treats motorcycles differently in ways a normal fender-bender claim never touches. That includes lane-use rules and how insurers argue over helmet choice.
One theme comes up again and again in rider forums. People specifically want a lawyer who "actually handles motorcycles", not a car-accident attorney treating their claim like any other fender-bender.
Why does it matter? Three Illinois rules explain why:
Illinois rule
What it means for your claim
625 ILCS 5/11-703(c)(Lane splitting)
Lane splitting (passing two vehicles side-by-side in one lane) is illegal in Illinois. It's a Class A misdemeanor, or a Class C felony if someone is hurt. Insurers sometimes misuse this law against normal lane position, not just splitting, to argue fault.
735 ILCS 5/2-1116(Comparative fault)
Illinois' comparative fault rule (51% fault bar) applies to every crash claim. But adjusters lean on it harder in motorcycle cases. And take note, the bias against motorcycle riders makes it even more challenging.
735 ILCS 5/13-202(2-year statute of limitations)
You generally have two years from the crash date to sue in Illinois. Motorcycle claims often take longer to fully value, since injuries tend to be worse, which makes it easier to run short on time by accident.
How We Can Help
A lawyer who knows these rules upfront builds the right strategy the first time. For more, see our guide on what to do after a motorcycle accident in Chicagoland.
6. Contingency Fees Mean Hiring a Motorcycle Accident Lawyer Costs You Nothing Upfront
At Wojick, we work on contingency. You pay nothing upfront. The attorney only gets paid as a share of what they recover for you.
Cost is one of the top reasons injured riders hesitate to call a lawyer at all, which is understandable when medical bills start piling up.
How We Can Help
A contingency fee setup lines up your lawyer's incentive with yours.
They only get paid if you do, and only in proportion to what they win. Before you sign with anyone, ask what percentage they take. Ask whether costs like filing fees and expert witnesses come out of your share or theirs.
7. Your Own Insurance May Be the Only Source of Recovery
Many at-fault drivers on Illinois roads carry only the state minimum liability coverage, or none at all.
For a motorcyclist with serious injuries, this might mean the driver who hit you simply doesn't carry enough insurance to cover what you're owed.
Illinois law addresses this directly. Under 215 ILCS 5/143a, insurers doing business in Illinois must offer uninsured and underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage at the same bodily injury limits required under the state's minimum liability law, unless a policyholder rejects it in writing.
That means many riders already carry this coverage without realizing it, or opted out at some point without understanding what they gave up.
How We Can Help
We check your own policy for UM/UIM coverage before we build a demand against the at-fault driver's insurer.
When the at-fault driver is uninsured, underinsured, or leaves the scene, that coverage makes a huge difference between recovering a claim and nothing at all.
8. Not Wearing a Helmet Doesn't Automatically Sink Your Claim
Riders sometimes assume a crash without a helmet means the insurance company automatically wins on fault. That's not how Illinois law works.
Illinois is one of only three states, along with Iowa and New Hampshire, with no law requiring adult riders to wear a helmet. Even so, insurance adjusters routinely raise the helmet question anyway, hoping to shift blame or shrink a settlement over a choice that was completely legal.
How We Can Help
We push back when an insurer tries to use a legal choice against you. Not wearing a helmet doesn't establish fault for how the crash happened in the first place, and we make sure that distinction doesn't get lost in the claim.
9. More Than One Party Can Be Liable (And Missing One Costs You)
A motorcycle crash isn't always a simple two-driver dispute.
Poor road maintenance, a defective part, a negligent employer whose driver was on the clock, or a bar that over-served a visibly drunk driver can all add liable parties to a claim.
Which means liability isn’t only limited to the rider and other driver.
Identifying every potentially responsible party matters because Illinois' fault-sharing rules like the modified comparative negligence rule mean what you can claim depends on how fault gets divided. Missing a liable party doesn't just also mean you lose compensation. It can also let a bigger share of fault land on you by default.
How We Can Help
We investigate every angle of how the crash happened, from pulling employment records and maintenance logs down to other evidence most riders wouldn't know to ask for, let alone have time to chase down while recovering.
10. Medical Liens Can Eat Into Your Settlement If No One Negotiates Them
Hospitals and healthcare providers who treat you after a crash can place a lien on your eventual settlement to recover their costs directly, before you ever see the money.
Under the Illinois Health Care Services Lien Act (770 ILCS 23/), a hospital or provider can attach a lien to your settlement once it has served written notice. By law, the combined total of all liens can't exceed 40% of your recovery, and no single provider can claim more than a third.
But that cap doesn't mean the amount charged is fixed. Lien amounts are frequently negotiable, and unrepresented riders aren’t aware of it unless they’ve consulted a lawyer.
How We Can Help
We negotiate directly with lienholders before your settlement is finalized, so more of your recovery ends up in your pocket instead of being absorbed by unresolved medical bills.
11. What You Do in the First 72 Hours Can Shape the Entire Claim
The choices made in the first few days after a crash such as what you say to an adjuster, whether you post about the accident, or how quickly you see a doctor often matter more than most realize.
Here’s a good example we see happen a lot.
An early recorded statement to an insurance adjuster, given before you know the full extent of your injuries, can be used later to argue you weren't hurt as badly as you claimed.
A delay in seeking treatment can be used the same way, which is often framed as proof the injury wasn't serious.
How We Can Help
We step in early to manage communication with insurers, so nothing you say in the first hours or days gets twisted into a reason to pay you less. A Chicago motorcycle accident lawyer who gets involved early protects more of that window, not less.
Quick Guide On How to Properly Vet Motorcycle Accident Lawyers
Before you commit, ask a few direct questions:
Has this firm handled motorcycle claims specifically, or mostly car accidents?
Can they point to relevant results in motorcycle injury cases? (Past results never guarantee your outcome, but a track record of relevant work is still worth asking about.)
Do you talk to the attorney directly, or mainly a case manager?
Are contingency terms explained in writing, before you sign anything?
William S. Wojcik, Ltd. has represented injured clients across Chicago's Southwest Side and south suburbs for over 38 years. A firm's honesty about what it can and can't promise is itself a useful filter.
Talk to a Chicago Motorcycle Accident Lawyer at Wojcik Today
Were you hurt in a motorcycle crash in Chicago or the south suburbs? Contact William S. Wojcik Ltd. or call (708) 424-2121 today to talk about what happened and gain a clearer understanding of where you stand.