Robinson, IL Personal Injury Lawyers

Hurt at the Refinery, on Main Street, or on a Crawford County Road? We Fight for the Injured.

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Robinson and Crawford County Personal Injury Lawyers Who Fight for the Injured

A serious injury can change everything in a matter of seconds. One careless driver on Main Street, one ignored hazard at work, one preventable mistake, and suddenly you are dealing with hospital bills, lost paychecks, and an injury that may never fully heal. In a town built around the refinery, the plant, and the trades, missing work is not a small thing. The insurance company on the other side does this every day, and its goal is to pay you as little as possible. You deserve someone in your corner who does this every day too.

The attorneys at Olson & Reeves handle injury and wrongful death cases for people in Robinson and across Crawford County. Robinson is a working town, the kind of place where a hurt back or a burn injury can put a family in a real bind, and we treat every client that way. We take injury cases on a contingency fee, which means you owe no attorney’s fee unless we recover money for you. The call and the case review are free. If we can help, we will tell you. If we cannot, we will point you to someone who can.

Crawford County does not have an interstate running through it. The injuries we see here come from a different mix: the stoplight-dense IL Route 33 (Main Street) corridor, the IL Route 1 and IL Route 33 junction, hazmat tanker and freight traffic tied to the Marathon refinery, deer and fog on the rural two-lane roads, and industrial work at the area’s plants and oilfield sites. When the case is serious, our clients are often transferred out of Crawford Memorial Hospital to a trauma center in Terre Haute or Evansville, Indiana, or to St. Louis. We understand how those local realities shape an injury claim, and we use them to build a stronger case. Injury suits from Crawford County are filed at the Crawford County Courthouse in Robinson, in the Second Judicial Circuit, and we know how cases move through it.

This page explains the types of cases we handle for Robinson clients, the Illinois rules that govern every injury claim, how compensation works, what to expect from start to finish, and the mistakes that cost injured people money. Read the sections that follow, and call us when you are ready to talk.

Types of Personal Injury Cases We Handle in Crawford County

Personal injury law covers far more than car crashes. If another person, business, or government body caused your injury through carelessness, you may have a claim. Below are the main types of cases we handle for Robinson and Crawford County clients. Select a linked practice area for an in-depth look, then read the sections that follow for the law that applies to every injury case in Illinois.

Practice Area	Practice Area
Car Accidents	Truck & Hazmat Accidents
Workers’ Compensation	Wrongful Death
Medical Malpractice	Nursing Home Abuse & Neglect
Premises Liability / Slip & Falls	Traumatic Brain Injuries
Dram Shop / Bar Injuries	Industrial & Refinery Injuries
Motorcycle Accidents	Dog Bites
Pedestrian & Bicycle Accidents	Catastrophic & Burn Injuries

Industrial and Refinery Injuries

Robinson is an industrial town, and industrial injuries are a big part of what we see. The Marathon refinery, the Hershey plant, the area’s oilfield and tank-battery sites, and the construction trades all carry real risk: fires and explosions, process-unit incidents, falls, confined-space injuries, crush injuries, and chemical and benzene exposure that can cause serious long-term harm.

If you were hurt on the job, your claim against your own employer usually runs through the Illinois workers’ compensation system, which pays your medical bills and part of your lost wages no matter who was at fault. But workers’ compensation is often not the whole story. When someone other than your employer caused your injury, a contractor on site, a company that made or maintained defective equipment, or a property owner who ignored a hazard, you may also have a separate third-party injury claim that can recover the full range of damages, including pain and suffering. This matters a great deal during refinery turnarounds, when many different contractors and out-of-state trades work side by side and responsibility can be shared. We look at both sides of the case, the comp claim and any third-party claim, so nothing is left on the table. To learn more, see our Southern Illinois workers’ compensation attorneys page.

Car Accidents on Main Street and Crawford County Roads

Car crashes are the most common injury case we handle. Illinois is an at-fault state, which means the driver who caused the wreck, and that driver’s insurance company, is responsible for the harm done. In Robinson, the IL 33 (Main Street) stoplight corridor produces rear-end and turning collisions as traffic stacks up at the lights, and the IL 1 and IL 33 junction is a regular conflict point. Out on the rural two-lane stretches of IL 1 and IL 33, the crashes tend to be more severe: head-on wrecks, run-off-road rollovers, and collisions with farm or oilfield equipment.

Fault usually turns on the police crash report, witness statements, photographs of the scene and vehicles, and any citations issued for things like failure to yield, following too closely, or improper lane usage. The injuries range from whiplash and soft-tissue strains to herniated discs, concussions, broken bones, internal injuries, and in the most serious wrecks, permanent disability or death. Some of these injuries are not obvious at the scene, which is one reason prompt medical care matters so much. For a deeper look, visit our Southern Illinois car accident attorneys page.

Truck and Hazmat Tanker Accidents

Crawford County carries far more commercial truck traffic than its size would suggest, because the Marathon refinery distributes its products by pipeline, transport truck, and rail. That means gasoline, propane, and petrochemical tankers move through Robinson and out along IL 1 and IL 33 every day, alongside oilfield-service trucks and the plant delivery fleets. A loaded tanker is one of the most dangerous vehicles on the road, and a rollover or spill can cause catastrophic burns, explosions, and chemical exposure on top of crash injuries.

Truck cases are different from ordinary car wrecks. Commercial carriers are governed by federal safety regulations covering driver hours, inspections, and maintenance, and a violation of those rules can establish fault. The company behind the truck usually carries far more insurance than an individual driver, and there may be several responsible parties, the driver, the carrier, a maintenance contractor, or a shipper that loaded the cargo improperly. Evidence like the truck’s electronic logs and data can disappear quickly, so acting fast to preserve it is critical. Our Southern Illinois truck accident lawyers page explains how we build these claims.

Deer Strikes and Rural Road Crashes

The rural roads around Robinson bring hazards that town drivers rarely think about. Whitetail deer are a year-round danger on IL 1, IL 33, and the county roads near the Wabash bottoms and woodlands, with the worst of it during the November rut, and a deer strike at highway speed can cause a serious single-vehicle crash. Section-line township roads and oil-lease access roads have deep ditches, soft shoulders, no lighting, and blind intersections that produce nighttime run-off-road and rollover wrecks.

A single-vehicle crash does not always mean no claim. If you swerved to avoid another driver who left the scene, or if a poorly maintained or unmarked road condition contributed, there may be a path to recovery, including through your own uninsured motorist coverage. Weather plays a role too: heavy morning fog over the farmland and bottoms, and the Wabash River bridge decks that freeze before the road around them. None of those conditions excuses a driver from the duty to slow down and drive safely for the situation. If you were hurt in a rural crash near Robinson, it is worth having a lawyer look at how it happened.

Premises Liability and Slip-and-Fall Injuries

Property owners and businesses have a duty to keep their premises reasonably safe for the people they invite in. When they ignore a hazard, a wet floor, a broken stair, poor lighting, an icy lot, or merchandise stacked unsafely, and someone is hurt, they can be held responsible. In Robinson, the high-traffic retail along the West Main (IL 33) corridor, including the Walmart Supercenter and Rural King, draws shoppers from across far-eastern Illinois and from Indiana, and busy stores and parking lots are where many of these injuries happen.

Falls are not minor. They cause broken hips, head injuries, and back injuries, especially for older adults, and the cost of care adds up fast. Winter brings its own surge of ice-and-snow falls in store lots and on walkways. These cases turn on proving the owner knew or should have known about the hazard and failed to fix it or warn about it, which is why prompt documentation and an incident report matter. Our Southern Illinois slip and fall attorneys page covers premises cases in detail.

Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect

Robinson has several long-term care facilities serving Crawford County’s older population, and families trust them to keep their loved ones safe. When understaffing, poor training, or carelessness leads to neglect, the results can be severe: pressure sores, falls and fractures, dehydration and malnutrition, medication errors, infections, and unexplained injuries. Illinois law gives nursing home residents specific rights, and a facility that fails to provide proper care can be held accountable.

These cases are painful because they involve people who cannot always speak for themselves. Warning signs include sudden weight loss, repeated falls, withdrawal, and injuries no one can explain. We investigate staffing levels, care records, and inspection history to show what went wrong. To learn more, see our Southern Illinois nursing home abuse attorneys page.

Drunk Driving Victim and Dram Shop Claims

Being injured by a drunk driver is uniquely infuriating, because the harm was entirely preventable. Around Robinson, patrons leaving downtown taverns and the country club disperse onto IL 33 and IL 1 into the open county and the surrounding villages, a late-night pattern that produces single-vehicle and head-on crashes outside the city limits. If you were hurt by an impaired driver, you generally have a civil claim against that driver for your injuries, separate from any criminal case the state brings.

Under the Illinois Dram Shop Act, the bar, restaurant, or other licensed establishment that served the driver may also be liable, which can provide an important additional source of recovery when the driver’s own insurance is not enough. Be aware that the dram shop claim against the establishment must be filed within just one year, a much shorter deadline than the claim against the driver. To learn more about claims against an over-serving establishment, see our Southern Illinois bar injury attorneys page, or contact us right away if a drunk driver injured you.

Catastrophic Injuries and Wrongful Death

The most serious cases change a family’s life permanently. Catastrophic injuries, severe burns, traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries and paralysis, amputations, and other life-altering harm, often require a lifetime of care and carry enormous future costs. In Crawford County these injuries frequently follow a refinery or industrial incident, a tanker crash, or a high-speed rural wreck, and because Crawford Memorial Hospital is a community hospital rather than a trauma center, the most badly hurt patients are stabilized and transferred to trauma centers in Terre Haute or Evansville, Indiana, or to St. Louis.

When a loved one is killed by another’s negligence, Illinois law allows the family to bring a wrongful death claim for their losses and a survival claim for what the person endured before death. No recovery undoes the loss, but it can provide for a family’s future and hold the responsible party accountable. These cases demand careful investigation and the right experts to prove the full scope of harm. See our Southern Illinois brain injury attorneys and Southern Illinois wrongful death attorneys pages for more.

Where Injuries Happen in Robinson and Crawford County

Robinson is unusual for the firm’s service area because it has no interstate. The nearest are I-70, about half an hour north toward Marshall, and US 50, roughly twenty-five minutes south at Lawrenceville. Most people here have a short commute and work in town, at the refinery, the prison, the hospital, the college, or the Hershey plant, so the dominant crash exposure is not long-haul interstate driving. It is in-town industrial and commercial traffic, hazmat tankers, and the rural routes that connect the county’s towns.

The IL Route 33 corridor through Robinson, which is Main Street, is the busiest local road and the most stoplight-dense. The stop-and-go pattern there produces rear-end and turning collisions, and the corridor also carries refinery truck traffic. The junction of IL Route 1 and IL Route 33 is a key regional conflict point where north-south and east-west traffic meet. Speed limits drop sharply where both highways enter Robinson from the surrounding farmland, and that transition zone is heavily enforced and a frequent crash spot.

Outside town, the rural two-lane stretches of IL 1 and IL 33 and the county and township roads bring different dangers. Deer strikes are common near the Wabash bottoms, especially in the fall. The Wabash River bridge approaches, including the Hutsonville crossing to Indiana, are head-on and run-off-road risk areas, and those bridge decks freeze before the surrounding pavement in winter. Heavy morning fog settles over the river bottoms and open farmland and causes low-visibility rear-end and chain-reaction crashes, made worse where slow farm and oilfield equipment shares the road during planting and harvest.

Injuries are not limited to the roadways. They happen at the refinery and at oilfield and tank-battery sites, at the Hershey plant and other workplaces, in stores and restaurants and parking lots along the Main Street strip, at the area’s lodging and fuel stops, and inside nursing homes and care facilities. The high-traffic Walmart and Rural King lots on the West Main corridor see low-speed backing collisions, pedestrian strikes, and winter slip-and-falls. Wherever your injury happened, the same legal principles apply, and the same careful investigation is needed to establish what went wrong and who is responsible.

The Illinois Personal Injury Legal Framework

Every injury case in Illinois runs on the same set of legal rules, no matter where in the state it happened. Understanding them helps you see how a claim works and why having a lawyer matters. Below is a plain-English guide to the framework that governs a Crawford County personal injury case, from proving fault to the deadlines, the damages, and the special rules that decide what a case is worth.

Proving Negligence

Most injury cases are built on negligence. To recover, the injured person must prove four elements: that the other party owed them a duty of reasonable care, that the party breached that duty, that the breach caused the injury, and that real damages resulted. The standard of proof in a civil case is a “preponderance of the evidence,” which simply means more likely than not. That is a lower bar than the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard from criminal cases, but it still requires solid proof on every element, which is where investigation, records, and expert testimony come in.

Comparative Negligence: The 51% Rule

Illinois uses modified comparative negligence, codified at 735 ILCS 5/2-1116. If you are found to be 50% or less at fault, you can still recover, but your compensation is reduced by your percentage of fault. If you are found more than 50% at fault, you recover nothing. For example, if your damages are 200,000 dollars and you are assigned 25% of the fault, you would recover 150,000 dollars. Because shifting blame onto the injured person is one of the insurance industry’s favorite tactics, fighting an unfair fault percentage is often where a case is won or lost.

Joint and Several Liability

When more than one party is responsible, Illinois law in 735 ILCS 5/2-1117 decides who pays what. All liable defendants are jointly and severally liable for your medical expenses, meaning any one of them can be made to cover the full amount of those bills. For other damages, a defendant found less than 25% at fault pays only its own proportionate share, while a defendant found 25% or more at fault can be held responsible for all of those damages. This rule protects injured people when one defendant cannot pay or has no insurance, and it matters in cases with several responsible parties, such as a refinery or construction incident.

Deadlines: The Statute of Limitations by Case Type

A statute of limitations is the deadline to file a lawsuit. Miss it, and the court will almost always throw the case out, no matter how strong it is. The deadline depends on the type of claim, and some are much shorter than people expect.

Type of Claim	Deadline to File	Statute
General personal injury (negligence)	2 years from the injury	735 ILCS 5/13-202
Wrongful death	2 years from the death	740 ILCS 180/2
Medical malpractice	2 years from discovery; 4-year outer limit	735 ILCS 5/13-212
Product liability	2 years, with a longer repose period	735 ILCS 5/13-213
Claim against a city, county, or local government	1 year	745 ILCS 10/8-101
Dram shop (bar/tavern liability)	1 year	235 ILCS 5/6-21
Workers’ compensation (IWCC)	3 years from injury, or 2 years from last payment	820 ILCS 305/6

These are general rules, and important exceptions apply, which is exactly why it is risky to count days on your own. The one-year deadlines for claims against a local government and for dram shop claims catch people off guard most often.

The Discovery Rule and Statutes of Repose

Two related doctrines can change a deadline. The “discovery rule” can delay the start of the clock until the date you knew or reasonably should have known that you were injured and that the injury may have been caused by someone’s wrongful conduct. This matters in cases like a misdiagnosis or a slowly developing condition, including some chemical-exposure injuries, where the harm is not apparent right away. A “statute of repose” sets an absolute outer deadline that runs from the date of the negligent act regardless of when the injury is discovered. Medical malpractice has a four-year repose period, and product liability has its own repose period tied to the sale or delivery of the product. Once a repose period expires, even the discovery rule usually cannot revive the claim.

Tolling for Minors and Legal Disability

When the injured person is a minor or is under a legal disability, Illinois law in 735 ILCS 5/13-211 generally pauses the limitations period until the disability is removed, for example until a child turns 18. Statutes of repose can still impose an outer limit even then, and medical malpractice has its own special rule for minors. The protection exists because a child cannot be expected to protect their own legal rights, but it should never be relied on without legal advice.

Wrongful Death Act vs. Survival Act

When someone dies, Illinois recognizes two distinct claims. A claim under the Wrongful Death Act compensates the surviving family for their own losses, such as lost financial support and the loss of the decedent’s society and companionship. A survival claim under the Probate Act, 755 ILCS 5/27-6, lets the estate recover for what the decedent personally endured before death, including conscious pain and suffering and medical bills. The two are usually brought together by the personal representative of the estate.

No Cap on Damages in Illinois

Unlike some states, Illinois does not cap the damages an injury victim can recover. The Illinois Supreme Court has struck down caps on non-economic damages, including in medical malpractice cases, holding that they violate the separation of powers in the Illinois Constitution. That means there is no statutory limit on what a jury can award for pain and suffering or other harms. A court can still reduce a verdict it finds excessive through a process called remittitur, but no across-the-board cap applies to your case.

Prejudgment Interest

Since July 1, 2021, Illinois law in 735 ILCS 5/2-1303 adds prejudgment interest of 6% per year to most personal injury and wrongful death judgments. The interest runs on the damages a plaintiff is awarded, not counting punitive damages, and is designed to discourage insurers from dragging cases out for years. A defendant can limit this exposure by making an early, reasonable settlement offer that meets the requirements of the statute. For injured people, prejudgment interest provides real pressure to push for a fair resolution rather than endless delay.

Punitive Damages

In cases involving especially reckless, willful, or outrageous conduct, Illinois may allow punitive damages, which are meant to punish the wrongdoer and deter similar conduct rather than to compensate the victim. They are not available in every case. Punitive damages are barred in medical malpractice and legal malpractice actions under 735 ILCS 5/2-1115 and against government entities, and they cannot be requested in the original complaint. A plaintiff must ask the court for permission to add the claim under a separate procedure. As of August 2023, Illinois also allows punitive damages in many wrongful death and survival cases.

Vicarious Liability and Employer Responsibility

Often the person who directly caused an injury was working for someone else at the time. Under a doctrine called respondeat superior, an employer is generally responsible for the negligent acts its employees commit within the scope of their employment. This matters because the employer, such as a trucking company, a delivery service, or a contractor, usually carries far more insurance than an individual employee. Vicarious liability is a major reason it is important to identify not just who caused the harm, but who they were working for.

Negligence Per Se: Violating a Safety Law

When a person breaks a safety law or regulation that was designed to protect people like the injured party, that violation can serve as evidence of negligence. Running a red light, speeding, violating a federal trucking regulation, or breaching a building or workplace safety code are examples. The injured person still must show the violation caused the harm, but proof that the defendant broke a safety rule can significantly strengthen a case and make fault easier to establish.

Compensation You Can Recover

The goal of an injury claim is to make the injured person whole by recovering the losses the injury caused. Illinois recognizes three broad categories of damages.

Type of Damages	What It Covers
Economic	Medical bills, future medical care, lost wages, lost earning capacity, property damage, out-of-pocket costs
Non-Economic	Pain and suffering, disfigurement, loss of a normal life, emotional distress, loss of consortium
Punitive	Awarded only for egregious conduct, to punish the wrongdoer (limited by statute)

Economic damages are the out-of-pocket losses that come with bills and records, including the cost of future care and the income you will lose if the injury limits your ability to work. Non-economic damages cover real harms that do not have a fixed price tag, such as chronic pain, scarring, and the inability to do the things you once enjoyed. Because Illinois places no cap on these damages, the value of a claim depends on the facts of the case, not on an arbitrary legislative limit.

Understanding Your Insurance Coverage

In most injury cases, the money comes from an insurance policy, so understanding the coverage that may apply is important. Several types can come into play, sometimes in the same case.

Liability coverage. The at-fault party’s policy pays for the harm they caused, up to the policy limits. Illinois requires drivers to carry minimum auto liability coverage, but those minimums are often far below what a serious injury costs.
Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. This is part of your own auto policy and applies when the at-fault driver has no insurance or not enough to cover your injuries, or in a hit-and-run. On rural roads where some drivers carry little or no coverage, it is one of the most overlooked sources of recovery.
Medical payments coverage. Often called MedPay, this optional auto coverage can help pay medical bills quickly, regardless of who was at fault.
Homeowner’s and renter’s insurance. These policies typically cover dog bites and many injuries that happen on a person’s property.
Commercial and umbrella policies. Businesses, trucking and refinery-related carriers, and some individuals carry higher-limit commercial or umbrella coverage that can be critical in a serious case.

Finding every applicable policy, and stacking coverage where the law allows, can be the difference between a recovery that falls short and one that actually covers your losses. We investigate all available coverage rather than stopping at the first policy.

How Personal Injury Settlements Are Valued

The most common question we hear is, “What is my case worth?” There is no calculator that produces an answer, because value depends on the specific facts. The biggest factors are the severity and permanence of the injury, the total past and future medical bills, the amount of lost income and lost earning capacity, how clearly the other side is at fault, and the amount of insurance coverage available. A permanent injury that ends a career is worth far more than a sprain that fully heals, and strong, well-documented liability is worth more than a disputed claim.

One factor that surprises people is the role of liens and subrogation. If your health insurer, Medicare, Medicaid, a hospital, or a workers’ compensation carrier paid for treatment related to your injury, they often have a legal right to be reimbursed out of your settlement. A skilled attorney works to reduce these liens through negotiation and by applying the legal rules that govern them, which can put significantly more money in your pocket at the end of the case. We account for every lien and every category of harm, present and future, so that a settlement reflects the full impact of the injury rather than just the bills that have already arrived.

What to Expect: The Personal Injury Claim Timeline

Every case is different, but most personal injury claims move through the same general stages. Knowing the path ahead can ease a lot of the stress.

Investigation and treatment. We gather the police or incident report, records, photos, and witness information and work to preserve evidence, while you focus on getting medical care and reaching maximum medical improvement.
Demand. Once your treatment and damages are clear, we send the insurer a demand package documenting liability and the full extent of your losses.
Negotiation. Many cases settle here. We push back against lowball offers and negotiate for fair value.
Filing suit and discovery. If the insurer will not be fair, we file a lawsuit at the Crawford County Courthouse. Both sides then exchange information through written discovery, document requests, and depositions.
Mediation and settlement. Most cases resolve before trial, often at a mediation where a neutral third party helps the sides reach an agreement.
Trial. If a fair settlement is still not possible, we are prepared to present your case to a jury and let it decide.

What to Do After an Injury

The steps you take early can protect, or sink, your claim. If you are able, do the following.

Get medical care right away. See a doctor even if you feel alright. Some serious injuries do not show symptoms for hours or days, and a gap in treatment is the first thing an insurer uses against you.
Report the incident. Call the police after a crash, tell the manager about a store fall, or notify your employer in writing about a work injury.
Document everything. Photograph the scene, your injuries, and anything that caused the harm, and collect the names and numbers of any witnesses.
Do not admit fault. Stick to the facts and avoid apologizing or guessing about what happened.
Be careful with the insurance company. You are not required to give the other side a recorded statement, and you should talk to a lawyer before you do.
Keep records. Save bills, receipts, and a simple journal of how the injury affects your daily life.
Call a personal injury lawyer. The sooner counsel is involved, the more can be done to preserve evidence and protect your rights.

Common Mistakes That Can Hurt Your Claim

Good cases are sometimes undermined by avoidable errors. Being aware of them helps you protect your own claim.

Waiting to get medical treatment. A delay lets the insurer argue you were not really hurt or that something else caused your injury.
Giving a recorded statement to the other insurer. Adjusters use these to find inconsistencies and to pin you to words that can be twisted later.
Accepting the first offer. Early offers are usually low and often come before the full extent of an injury is known.
Signing a release or medical authorization too soon. A broad authorization can hand the insurer your entire medical history to mine for a defense.
Posting about the incident on social media. Photos and posts are routinely used out of context to dispute injuries.
Missing the deadline. The statute of limitations is unforgiving, and the shorter government and dram shop deadlines catch people off guard.
Trying to handle a serious claim alone. Insurers know unrepresented people are easier to underpay.

How Insurance Companies Fight Claims

It helps to remember what an insurance company actually is: a business that makes money by collecting premiums and paying out as little as possible. Adjusters are trained, professional, and often friendly, but they work to protect the company, not you. Common tactics include making a fast, low offer before you understand the severity of your injury, requesting a recorded statement they can use against you later, asking you to sign a broad medical authorization, blaming you for the incident to trigger the comparative fault rules, and arguing that your injuries were pre-existing or that any gap in treatment means you were not seriously hurt.

When you have a lawyer, the calculus changes. An insurer knows that an experienced injury attorney understands the value of a claim, will not be rushed into a bad settlement, and is prepared to file suit and try the case. A study by the Insurance Research Council found that injury victims who hired an attorney recovered settlements that were substantially higher on average than those who represented themselves, even after attorney’s fees were taken into account. Representation is not about being difficult. It is about not being taken advantage of at the worst moment of your life.

Why Local Representation Matters in Crawford County

Injury cases are filed and tried in the county where the incident happened or where the parties are located, which for our Robinson clients usually means the Crawford County Courthouse in the Second Judicial Circuit. There is real value in working with a firm that practices in Southern Illinois and knows how cases move through these courts. Familiarity with local procedures helps a case run smoothly.

Just as important, the people who sit on a Crawford County jury are members of this community. They know the refinery, they drive Main Street and IL 1, and they understand what a serious injury means for a working family here. A firm that practices in this region understands how to present a case to them honestly and effectively, and the cases we handle involve the roads, businesses, and workplaces this community uses every day.

Local representation is also practical. We can come to you if your injuries make travel difficult, or set up a free virtual consultation, so getting help does not depend on driving anywhere. When you are recovering from a serious injury, that is one less thing to worry about.

Injury Statistics in Illinois and Nationwide

Serious injuries are far more common than most people realize, and the data shows how often they trace back to preventable conduct. The figures below link directly to the underlying government and research sources.

Unintentional injuries are among the leading causes of death in the United States and the number one cause of death for Americans between the ages of 1 and 44, according to the CDC’s Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS).
The Illinois Department of Transportation recorded more than 300,000 traffic crashes on Illinois roads in 2024, including over 1,000 fatal crashes.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 5,283 fatal work injuries nationwide in 2023, which means a worker died from a workplace injury about every 99 minutes, with transportation incidents the most common fatal event.
Falls are the leading cause of injury and injury-related death among adults age 65 and older, with about 3 million older-adult emergency department visits and roughly 1 million hospitalizations each year, according to the CDC. Falls are also the most common cause of traumatic brain injury.
Per the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, motorcyclists are roughly 27 times more likely to die in a crash, per mile traveled, than people in passenger vehicles.
The National Safety Council reports that tens of millions of people are treated for preventable injuries each year, at a national cost measured in the hundreds of billions of dollars.

Statistics never capture what a serious injury does to a single family. What they do show is that these harms are widespread and, in most cases, caused by someone’s choice to be careless.

Why Choose Olson & Reeves for Your Personal Injury Case?

No Fee Unless We Win. We handle injury cases on a contingency fee, so you owe no attorney’s fee unless we recover compensation for you. The consultation and case review are always free.
We Take On the Insurance Companies. Insurers try to lowball injured people and shift blame onto them. We push back hard and make them justify every position.
We Know Industrial and Crawford County Cases. From refinery and workplace injuries to Main Street crashes and rural-road wrecks, we understand the cases that come out of this community and how to investigate them.
Prepared to Try Your Case. We work to settle claims fairly, but we prepare every case as if it will go to trial, which is exactly what gives an insurer a reason to pay full value.
You Work Directly With Our Firm. From your first call to your final check, you deal directly with our firm and we keep you informed at every step.

Proven Results: Recent Southern Illinois Personal Injury Victories

We don’t just talk a big game. We get results, and we’re ready to get results for you too. Here are some of our recent results for Southern Illinois injury clients:

$755,000 Settlement – Our client was in a car accident in Fayette County, Illinois.
$250,000 Insurance Policy Limit Settlement – Our client was in a car accident in St. Clair County, Illinois. After trying to handle the case by himself for 18 months, he had an offer of $65,000 on the table. After retaining us, we settled the case within 1 month, getting the maximum policy limit of $250,000.
Insurance Policy Limit Settlement – Our client was involved in a motorcycle accident after a distracted driver ran into the back of his motorcycle. Thankfully, our client did not have any long-term injuries. He suffered from road rash and soft tissue injuries. We were able to settle his case for the maximum insurance policy limits available.
Insurance Policy Limit Settlement – Our clients were a husband and wife that were pulled over on the side of the road assisting another vehicle with a flat tire. After getting back into their vehicle, a distracted driver came across into their lane and drove off the road, and caused a head-on collision. After hiring us to handle their car accident case in Wayne County, Illinois, we were able to help them settle both of their cases for the maximum insurance policy limits available.
$100,000 Settlement – Our client was sideswiped in a car crash near Vandalia, Illinois.

Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case is different and must be evaluated on its own facts.

Still Not Sure? Listen To Our Former Clients!

Matthew W. – “This firm is highly recommended!! They are professional, efficient, and polite! The firm keeps you updated step by step and explains the process clearly!! Sydney is just plain awesome!! Love these guys!”
Heather M. – “They are amazing! I contacted them and they responded immediately! Kept me updated through the whole process! I will always recommend them and use them in the future!”
Johnnie T. – “They were honest with us from the start and really gave us every option they could think of. They took their time and really listened to the whole story. I would highly recommend them!”
Chad H. – “Best results that I ever had from an attorney! Highly Recommend!”
Heather M. – “Josh was amazing! He cared about my concerns and made me feel comfortable. I cannot recommend Olson and Reeves enough for anyone needing an attorney.”
Rita S. – “Very friendly, cared about me as a person. Great communication.”

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Serving Robinson and Crawford County

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We represent injured people throughout Robinson and Crawford County, including Oblong, Palestine, Hutsonville, Flat Rock, and the surrounding rural communities, as well as clients across Southern Illinois. Injury suits arising in Crawford County are generally filed at the Crawford County Courthouse in Robinson. Whether your injury happened on Main Street, at a job site, on IL 1 or IL 33, or anywhere else in the county, we can come to you or set up a free virtual consultation.

Call us today at (618) 316-7322

Robinson, IL Personal Injury FAQ

How long do I have to file a personal injury claim in Crawford County?

Most personal injury claims in Illinois must be filed within two years of the injury under 735 ILCS 5/13-202. But the deadline depends on the type of case. Claims against a city, county, or other local government, and dram shop claims against a bar, are limited to just one year, and medical malpractice has its own special rules.

Because some deadlines are much shorter than people expect and missing one usually ends the case, the safest step is to speak with a lawyer soon after the injury rather than waiting. You can review the general deadline at 735 ILCS 5/13-202.

I was hurt at the Marathon refinery in Robinson. Can I sue, or is it only workers' comp?

It may be both. An injury at work usually runs through Illinois workers’ compensation, which pays medical bills and part of your lost wages regardless of fault but does not cover pain and suffering. If someone other than your employer caused the injury, such as another contractor on site or a maker of defective equipment, you may also have a separate third-party claim for the full range of damages.

This comes up often during refinery turnarounds, when many contractors work side by side and responsibility is shared. Chemical and benzene exposure cases can also involve third parties. We review both the comp claim and any third-party claim so nothing is missed. Our workers’ compensation page explains how the two fit together.

Where will my Robinson injury lawsuit be filed?

An injury lawsuit arising in Crawford County is generally filed at the Crawford County Courthouse in Robinson, which sits in Illinois’s Second Judicial Circuit. Cases can also sometimes be filed where a defendant resides or does business, so the right venue depends on the facts.

We handle the filing and the court procedures for you. Most injury cases settle before trial, but if yours does not, this is the courthouse where it would be heard. You can find it here on the map.

What if I was hit by a hazmat tanker or commercial truck near the refinery?

A crash with a commercial truck or tanker is handled differently from an ordinary car wreck. Commercial carriers must follow federal safety rules on driver hours, inspections, and maintenance, and a violation can help prove fault. The company usually carries far more insurance than an individual driver, and several parties may share responsibility.

Because Robinson sees heavy refinery-related tanker and freight traffic, these cases come up here more than in most rural counties. Key evidence like the truck’s electronic logs and onboard data can be overwritten quickly, so it is important to involve a lawyer fast. See our truck accident page for details.

I hit a deer on IL Route 1 or IL Route 33. Do I have any claim?

Often the answer involves your own insurance. A straight deer strike is usually a single-vehicle crash covered by the collision portion of your auto policy, not a claim against another driver. But if you were forced off the road by another vehicle that fled, or a road hazard contributed, there may be a path to recovery, including through uninsured motorist coverage.

Deer crashes are common on the rural routes around Robinson, especially in the fall. If you were seriously hurt, it is worth having a lawyer look at exactly how the crash happened and what coverage applies, because the details often matter more than they first appear.

My injury was serious and I was transferred to a hospital in Terre Haute or Evansville. Does that affect my claim?

It can actually strengthen the damages side of your claim. Crawford Memorial Hospital is a community hospital, not a trauma center, so the most serious injuries are stabilized and transferred to trauma centers in Indiana or St. Louis. That transfer reflects how severe the injury was, and the out-of-state medical bills and travel are part of your recoverable damages.

We routinely deal with out-of-state providers and the records and liens that come with them. Being treated across the state line does not weaken an Illinois injury claim, and we make sure every cost of your care is accounted for in the demand.

Can I still recover money if I was partly at fault?

Yes, as long as you were 50% or less at fault. Illinois uses a modified comparative negligence rule (735 ILCS 5/2-1116). Your compensation is reduced by your percentage of fault, but if you are found more than 50% at fault, you cannot recover anything.

For example, if your damages are $100,000 and you are 20% at fault, you would recover $80,000. Insurance companies push hard to inflate your share of the blame, which is one of the most important things a lawyer fights over.

Is there a cap on pain and suffering or other damages in Illinois?

No. Illinois does not cap the damages an injury victim can recover. The Illinois Supreme Court struck down caps on non-economic damages, including in medical malpractice cases, as unconstitutional. There is no statutory limit on what a jury can award for pain and suffering.

A court can still reduce a verdict it finds excessive, but no across-the-board cap applies. The value of a claim depends on the facts of the case, not an arbitrary legislative limit.

How much is my Crawford County injury case worth?

There is no fixed formula. The value of an Illinois injury case depends on the severity and permanence of your injuries, your medical bills and lost wages, how clear the other side’s fault is, and the available insurance coverage. Serious and permanent injuries lead to substantially larger claims.

No honest lawyer can promise a number before reviewing your case. What we can do is account for every category of harm, present and future, so the demand reflects the full impact on your life and work.

The crash happened on a poorly maintained county or township road. Can I sue the county?

Possibly, but the deadline is short. You can pursue a claim against a local government for a dangerous road or sidewalk it failed to maintain, but under the Tort Immunity Act (745 ILCS 10/8-101) you generally have only one year to sue a county, city, township, or other local public entity, not the usual two.

Public bodies also have certain legal immunities that private defendants do not. Because the window is so short and the rules are complex, it is important to act quickly if a government entity may be responsible. You can review the deadline at 745 ILCS 10/8-101.

Contact a Robinson Personal Injury Attorney for a Free Case Evaluation

If you or someone you love was hurt by another’s negligence in Robinson or Crawford County, do not wait while deadlines run and evidence disappears. Call Olson & Reeves for a 100% free case evaluation at (618) 316-7322. You pay nothing unless we win your case. We represent injured people throughout Crawford County and Southern Illinois, and we can come to you or set up a free virtual consultation.