Key Takeaways
- Two years is the default, not the answer. That is your window to sue a rideshare driver, another driver, or a rideshare insurer (735 ILCS 5/13-202).
- If a government body is involved, you may have only one year (745 ILCS 10/8-101).
- CTA, Pace, and Metra each carry their own one-year deadline. A passenger hit by a transit bus is already on half the usual clock.
- A passenger under 18 gets longer. Their 2 years runs from their 18th birthday (735 ILCS 5/13-211).
- Which insurance applies depends on the app, not the impact. Coverage jumps from $50,000 to $1,000,000 when the driver accepts a ride request (625 ILCS 57/10).
- Partial fault does not end your claim. You are barred only if found more than 50% responsible. At exactly 50%, you still recover.
- The filing deadline is not your real deadline. App data and video are routinely gone long before month 24.
The short answer
In most Illinois rideshare accident claims you have two years from the date of the crash to file suit. But if a unit of government is one of the parties at fault that drops to one year, and if the injured passenger is a minor it runs longer. Two years is where the analysis starts, not where it ends, and treating it as universal is how good claims die.
This matters more in Chicagoland than almost anywhere else. An Uber or Lyft ride through Elmwood Park, Oak Park, River Forest, or Norridge shares the road with CTA buses, Pace buses, Village vehicles, and county trucks. When one is involved the deadline is halved, and nothing about the crash announces it.
The default rule: two years from the crash
Illinois sets the general personal injury deadline at 735 ILCS 5/13-202, which requires that actions for damages for an injury to the person “be commenced within 2 years next after the cause of action accrued.” For a rideshare passenger, the cause of action almost always accrues on the day of the collision, because the injury and its cause are obvious immediately.
That period applies to the ordinary defendants in a rideshare case: the rideshare driver, the other driver, a vehicle owner, and the insurers behind them. If every party at fault is a private one, two years is genuinely your window. Our car accident practice handles most of these cases on exactly that timeline.
The exception that ends claims a year early
The Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act cuts the period in half. Under 745 ILCS 10/8-101(a), no civil action may be brought against a local public entity or its employees “unless it is commenced within one year from the date that the injury was received or the cause of action accrued.”
“Local public entity” is defined broadly at 745 ILCS 10/1-206 to include counties, townships, municipalities, park districts, school districts, and “all other local governmental bodies.” The Village of Elmwood Park sits squarely inside it, as does Cook County and every neighboring village.
Filing deadlines by defendant, measured from the crash date. Sources: 735 ILCS 5/13-202, 745 ILCS 10/8-101, 70 ILCS 3605/41, 70 ILCS 3615/5.03, 735 ILCS 5/13-211.
The transit agencies have their own one-year statutes
The CTA and the suburban transit boards are not covered by the Tort Immunity Act’s general provision. They have separate statutes, which land on the same one-year answer through a different route:
- CTA. Under 70 ILCS 3605/41, no civil action for personal injury may be commenced against the Authority “unless it is commenced within one year from the date the cause of action accrued.”
- Pace and Metra. Under 70 ILCS 3615/5.03, the same one-year limit applies to the Authority and its Service Boards. Pace is the Suburban Bus Division and Metra is the Commuter Rail Division.
A rideshare passenger struck by a CTA bus at Harlem and North Avenue, or by a Pace bus, has twelve months. Read one of the many pages online stating a flat two-year rule, and you will believe you have twice the time you do.
How a government defendant shows up in a rideshare case
Riders rarely think of themselves as having a claim against a public body, and it is often not obvious at the scene. It usually arrives one of four ways:
- A CTA or Pace bus is one of the vehicles in the collision.
- A Village, county, or school district vehicle is involved, including police and public works vehicles.
- A defective roadway, missing sign, or malfunctioning signal maintained by a public body is partly to blame.
- The vehicle strikes a pedestrian and a Village crossing or sidewalk condition is part of the picture. Our pedestrian accident lawyers see this often.
The government does not need to be your only defendant for this to bite. If a public entity is one of several parties at fault, the claim against it runs on the one-year rule even while the claim against the private driver still has two years.
When the deadline is longer than two years
The exceptions do not all run against the injured person. Two run in their favor, and both are set out in 735 ILCS 5/13-211.
Minors. If the injured person was under 18 when the cause of action accrued, they “may bring the action within 2 years after the person attains the age of 18 years.” A 15-year-old passenger injured in an Uber has until age 20, not until age 17. This is measured from the birthday, not from the crash, which is why it does not appear on the chart above.
Legal disability. The same section tolls the period until the disability is removed. This matters in serious crashes, because a passenger with a severe brain injury may be under a legal disability precisely because of the collision.
Neither exception is a reason to wait. Both are reasons to confirm which deadline applies.
If someone died in the crash
A wrongful death action must be commenced within 2 years after the date of death (740 ILCS 180/2(d)), and is brought by the personal representative of the estate rather than by family members individually. The clock runs from the death, not always the crash.
The one-year rule applies here too, so if a transit agency or municipality is among those responsible, the family has twelve months. On who may bring the claim, see our wrongful death practice page.
Which insurance layer applies depends on the app
Rideshare coverage is set by the Transportation Network Providers Act, 625 ILCS 57/10, and the amount available turns entirely on what the driver’s app was doing at the moment of impact. It is the most valuable fact to establish early, and it lives in data the companies control.
| App status at the time of the crash | Required liability coverage | UM / UIM |
|---|---|---|
| App off, driving personally | The driver’s personal auto policy only | Per that policy |
| Period 1. App on, waiting for a request | $50,000 per person, $100,000 per incident, $25,000 property damage | Not required |
| Period 2. Request accepted, driving to pick you up | $1,000,000, primary | Not required |
| Period 3. You are in the vehicle | $1,000,000, primary | $50,000 |
Statutory minimums under 625 ILCS 57/10(b) and (c). Policies may provide more.
Two points are commonly misstated. First, Periods 2 and 3 carry the same $1,000,000 requirement. Coverage does not step up again when you open the door; the statute treats the span from accepting the request to completing the ride as one period. What switches on when you get in is $50,000 of uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, which is why uninsured motorist coverage matters if the at-fault driver has none.
Second, that coverage is primary and does not depend on a personal auto policy denying the claim first (625 ILCS 57/10(c)(4)). If an adjuster says to exhaust the driver’s personal policy first, that is not what the statute says, and our guide to navigating the $1M requirement works through the layers.
Why the filing deadline is not your real deadline
Even with a full two years, the evidence that decides a rideshare case has a much shorter life. The trip record, the driver’s app status, GPS and telematics data, and the footage showing the impact all sit with companies that have no obligation to preserve them for you.
By the time a passenger decides at month 20 that the offer is too low, that proof is often gone, and a strong claim can look weak because nobody asked for the data while it existed. The practical deadline is measured in days. What to preserve is set out in our note on the evidence rideshare crash victims need.
Partial fault does not end your claim
Illinois uses modified comparative negligence under 735 ILCS 5/2-1116. A plaintiff is barred from recovering only if the trier of fact finds their contributory fault is more than 50% of the proximate cause. Fault of exactly 50% is not a bar. Below that threshold, damages are reduced in proportion to the plaintiff’s share of fault.
The practical effect: found 20% responsible on $100,000 of damages, you recover $80,000. At 50%, you still recover, at half. At 51%, nothing. Insurers push hard here because one percentage point is the difference between a reduced recovery and none, which is why the rule is worth understanding in rideshare claims specifically. For passengers, meaningful fault is unusual: someone in the back of an Uber has no control over the vehicle.
Najczęściej zadawane pytania
How long after a rideshare accident can you sue in Illinois?
Generally 2 years from the date of the crash, under 735 ILCS 5/13-202. That period applies to claims against the rideshare driver, another driver, and the rideshare insurer. It drops to 1 year if you are suing a local public entity such as a village or county (745 ILCS 10/8-101), the CTA (70 ILCS 3605/41), or Pace or Metra (70 ILCS 3615/5.03). It runs longer if the injured passenger was under 18.
What are the exceptions to the two-year deadline in Illinois?
The three that matter most in rideshare cases are the one-year deadline for claims against government bodies, the rule that a minor’s 2 years does not start until their 18th birthday, and the tolling of the period for a person under a legal disability. Wrongful death claims run 2 years from the date of death rather than from the crash. Which one applies depends on the facts, so it is worth confirming rather than assuming.
Can I sue if my Uber crashes?
Yes. As a passenger you are almost never at fault, and you can pursue whoever caused the crash: your rideshare driver, the other driver, or both. Which insurance responds depends on the driver’s app status at the moment of impact. If the driver had accepted your ride request, Illinois requires $1,000,000 in primary liability coverage under 625 ILCS 57/10.
Can you sue a city or a bus company in Illinois?
Yes, but on a much shorter clock. Claims against a local public entity must be filed within 1 year of the injury under 745 ILCS 10/8-101, and the CTA, Pace, and Metra each carry their own one-year statutes. Some immunities also limit which claims can be brought against a public body at all. Because the window is half the usual length, these are the cases where waiting to see how you heal is most costly.
Does the deadline change if I did not feel injured right away?
Usually not. In a collision the injury and its cause are obvious, so the claim accrues on the date of the crash even if symptoms surface days later. Delayed treatment does not extend your deadline, and it gives the insurer an argument that something else caused your injury. Getting examined promptly protects both your health and the claim.
Can I still recover if I was partly at fault?
Yes, unless you are found more than 50% responsible. Under 735 ILCS 5/2-1116 a plaintiff is barred only when their contributory fault exceeds 50% of the proximate cause. At exactly 50% you still recover. Below that, your damages are reduced by your percentage of fault, so a 20% share of fault reduces a $100,000 recovery to $80,000.
How much does it cost to hire a rideshare accident lawyer?
Nothing upfront. The consultation is free, there is $0 to start, and you owe no attorney’s fee unless we win your case. That structure means the timing question costs you nothing to resolve: finding out whether your deadline is one year or two is a conversation, not an expense.
Talk to an Elmwood Park rideshare accident lawyer
Nothing at the scene tells you which rule applies to you. A crash involving a Pace bus looks like any other crash, and the difference only surfaces twelve months later, when it is no longer fixable.
The same applies on foot. A pedestrian struck by a rideshare vehicle often has a claim against a public body as well as the driver, which is where the one year rule does the most damage.
Lawyer Furqan will identify every party at fault, tell you which deadline governs each, and preserve the app and vehicle data before it ages out. Our rideshare accident page sets out how these claims are built, and we take cases across the western suburbs, including Elmwood Park, Oak Park, River Forest and Cook County.
Finding out which deadline is yours takes one call. Call 847-800-8978 or contact us online. The consultation is free, there is nothing upfront, and you owe no attorney’s fee unless we recover for you.
Sources and authorities cited
- Code of Civil Procedure: 735 ILCS 5/13-202 (personal injury, 2 years) · 735 ILCS 5/13-211 (minors and legal disability) · 735 ILCS 5/2-1116 (modified comparative negligence)
- Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act: 745 ILCS 10/8-101 (1 year) · 745 ILCS 10/1-206 (definition of local public entity)
- Chicago Transit Authority Act: 70 ILCS 3605/41 · Northern Illinois Transit Authority Act: 70 ILCS 3615/5.03 (Pace and Metra)
- Transportation Network Providers Act: 625 ILCS 57/10 (rideshare insurance requirements)
- Wrongful Death Act: 740 ILCS 180/2
This article is general legal information about Illinois law, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Deadlines depend on the facts of each case, and more than one deadline can apply to a single crash. Confirm yours with a lawyer before relying on any figure here.
