Is $25,000 Enough After an Illinois Motorcycle Crash?
Key Takeaways Usually not. $25,000 is the statutory floor and rarely covers a serious motorcycle injury. Your own UM coverage probably equals your liability limits, unless you rejected it in writing. Coverage does not add together. UIM pays its limit less what you already recovered. Minimum UIM against a minimum driver pays nothing, because their […]
What to Do After a Car Accident in Illinois
Key Takeaways Stop and stay. Leaving the scene of an injury crash is a criminal matter, not a civil one. Call the police immediately for injury, death, or damage over $1,500. You no longer file your own 10-day report. That requirement was repealed in 2021. Get checked even if you feel fine. A gap in […]
Grand Avenue Car Accidents in Elmwood Park, IL
Key Takeaways Arterial roads change the legal question, because a claim may be about the road as well as the drivers. If a public body is responsible, your deadline may be one year, not two. Identify the responsible authority early. Different bodies maintain different stretches and signals. Report to police immediately where there is injury, […]
Parked Car Accident Claims in Illinois
Key Takeaways Yes, you can sue. Hitting a parked car is ordinary negligence, and the parked car is rarely at fault. Leaving a note is a legal duty, not a courtesy. Failing to comply with 625 ILCS 5/11-404 is a Class A misdemeanor. Five years for the vehicle, two for injury. Different deadlines for the […]
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 […]