Multi-Vehicle Crash Claims in Illinois
Key Takeaways Yes, you can still recover in a pile-up, and usually from more than one driver. Medical expenses work differently. Every liable defendant is responsible for all of them. For everything else, 25% is the line. Below it, a defendant pays only its own share. The uncollectable defendant is the real risk, not the […]
Illinois Car Accident Statute of Limitations
Key Takeaways Two years for injury, from the date the cause of action accrued. One year if a public body is involved, and that catches people out more often than any other rule. Five years for damage to your vehicle, so a property claim can outlive an injury claim. A child’s clock generally starts at […]
What to Do After a Truck Crash in Illinois
Key Takeaways Call the police. That discharges the notice duty in 625 ILCS 5/11-407 and produces the report everything else builds on. Photograph the truck’s identifying marks, the USDOT number, company name and trailer number. Without them the carrier is hard to trace. The carrier’s investigators may arrive within hours. Yours will not, unless someone […]
How Fault Is Decided in an Illinois Car Accident
Key Takeaways A police report is not a finding of fault. An officer’s opinion is not binding on anyone, and a citation does not settle the civil case. A traffic ticket is evidence, not proof. In Illinois a statutory violation is prima facie evidence of negligence, which the other side may rebut. Proximate cause is […]
What Causes Most Truck Accidents in Illinois?
Key Takeaways Most truck crashes trace back to a rule, not to bad luck. Each common cause maps to a federal regulation that Illinois has adopted as state law. Fatigue rules bind the company too. A carrier may not require or permit a driver to drive whose alertness is impaired, or likely to become impaired. […]
Railroad Crossing Rules in an Illinois Truck Case
Key Takeaways Crossings carry duties ordinary roads do not, so a crash there gives you rules to test that a highway collision would not. The stopping zone is precise: within 50 feet of the nearest rail, and not closer than 15 feet. Some vehicles must stop at every crossing, including buses carrying passengers and placarded […]
What the Illinois $1,500 Crash Rule Actually Requires
Key Takeaways Illinois drivers no longer file their own crash report. That requirement was repealed on 20 August 2021. The $1,500 figure still matters, but for a different duty: notifying police immediately, under 625 ILCS 5/11-407. It drops to $500 where a vehicle that should carry liability insurance does not. The 10-day deadline is the […]
How Long Do You Have to File an Illinois Fall Claim?
Key Takeaways Two years is the default, from the date of the fall, under 735 ILCS 5/13-202. One year if you fell on public property. A village, county, school district, park district or transit agency triggers 745 ILCS 10/8-101(a), and this is the deadline people miss. Who owns the ground is a legal question, not […]