Illinois Personal Injury Laws: Deadlines to Sue, Fault Rules and Damage Caps

A lawsuit for injury to the person (and for false imprisonment or malicious prosecution) must be filed within 2 years after the cause of action accrued. Claims for damages from first degree murder or a Class X felony, where the perpetrator is convicted, are excluded from this limit.

A lawsuit for injury to real or personal property, or to recover personal property or damages for its detention or conversion, must be filed within 5 years after the cause of action accrued.

A claim against a licensed physician, dentist, registered nurse or hospital arising out of patient care must be filed within 2 years after the claimant knew or reasonably should have known of (or received written notice of) the injury or death, and never more than 4 years after the act or omission. If the patient was under 18 when the claim accrued, the limit is 8 years after the act or omission, but no later than the patient's 22nd birthday.

A wrongful death lawsuit must be filed within 2 years after the death. If the death resulted from violent intentional conduct, the deadline is 5 years; if the defendant is charged with certain homicide offenses, the suit may be filed within one year after the criminal case ends. A person entitled to benefits who was under 18 has until 2 years after turning 18.

The action must be brought by and in the name of the deceased person's personal representative, for the exclusive benefit of the surviving spouse and next of kin. Damages may include grief, sorrow and mental suffering. The court divides the recovery among the spouse and next of kin according to each person's percentage of dependency on the deceased.

Modified comparative fault (51% bar). In negligence and strict product liability cases for bodily injury, death or property damage, a plaintiff whose fault is more than 50% of the cause recovers nothing. A plaintiff whose fault is 50% or less recovers damages reduced by his or her share of fault. No fault may be attributed to a plaintiff suing over childhood sexual abuse.

Punitive damages are not allowed in medical, hospital or other healing-art malpractice cases, or in legal malpractice cases. In negligence and product liability cases where they are permitted, they may not be requested in the original complaint; the plaintiff must ask the court for permission to add them after a hearing showing a reasonable likelihood of proving them at trial. Punitive damages may be awarded in wrongful death cases filed after a 2023 amendment, except in malpractice cases and cases against the State, local governments or their employees acting officially.

Local governments: a lawsuit against a local public entity or its employee must generally be filed within one year from the injury or the date the claim accrued (patient-care claims follow a 2-year/4-year rule). State: tort claims against the State go to the Illinois Court of Claims. Before suing for personal injury, the claimant must file a notice with the Attorney General and the Clerk of the Court of Claims within 1 year of the injury (for a death, within 1 year of the death or the representative's appointment), unless the claim itself is filed within that year. Tort awards against the State are capped at $2,000,000 per claimant, except for cases involving State vehicles driven by State employees.

Strict liability. If a dog or other animal, without provocation, attacks, attempts to attack or injures a person who is behaving peaceably in a place where he or she may lawfully be, the owner is liable for the full amount of the injury.

Vehicles must be covered by liability insurance of at least $25,000 for injury or death of one person, $50,000 for injury or death of two or more people in one crash, and $20,000 for property damage (25/50/20).

If no officer is at the scene, a driver must give notice by the fastest available means (to local police inside a city, otherwise the county sheriff or nearest Illinois State Police headquarters) when a crash causes injury or death, causes property damage to anyone (including the driver) over $1,500 (over $500 if any vehicle involved is uninsured), or involves a school bus as described in the law. If the driver cannot, another capable occupant must give notice.

The former requirement that drivers file their own written crash report with the Illinois Department of Transportation (625 ILCS 5/11-406) was repealed effective August 20, 2021. The investigating officer now forwards a written crash report to the state Administrator on approved forms within 10 days after the investigation.

A driver in a crash must stop at or return to the scene and stay until giving name, address, registration number and the vehicle owner's name, showing a driver license on request, and giving reasonable help to anyone injured, including arranging transport for medical care. A driver may move off the highway to the nearest safe spot in a damage-only crash. For an unattended vehicle or property, the driver must find the owner or leave a written note and notify police. Leaving a crash with personal injury or death is a Class 4 felony; failing to then report within half an hour is a Class 2 felony (Class 1 if someone died), and the Secretary of State revokes the license. Leaving a crash that damaged an attended vehicle, or failing to give information or aid, is a Class A misdemeanor; if vehicle damage exceeded $1,000, the license is suspended.

Illinois does not divide lawful visitors into invitees and licensees: the Premises Liability Act abolished that common-law distinction, and the duty owed to people lawfully on the property is reasonable care under the circumstances. The official pattern instruction tells juries that an owner or occupier must exercise ordinary care to see that the property is reasonably safe for those lawfully on it, and the instruction's comment notes the owner must have actual or constructive notice of the dangerous condition and generally has no duty to warn of open and obvious conditions (subject to the 'distraction' and 'deliberate encounter' exceptions). Toward an adult trespasser, the duty is to refrain from willful and wanton conduct, plus a duty to warn of a known deadly condition the trespasser would not discover when the owner knew or should have anticipated the trespasser's presence.

Illinois follows the 'natural accumulation' rule: the official pattern jury instruction commentary states that for accumulations of snow and ice, an owner generally is not liable for resulting injuries, but a limited exception can impose liability if the owner aggravated the condition or acted in a way that turned a natural condition into an unnatural one (for example, ruts in an ice-covered sidewalk where the defendant directed all traffic onto that path).

In Illinois, a city, county or other local public entity must use ordinary care to keep its property, which can include sidewalks, reasonably safe for people it intended and permitted to use it. It is liable for an unsafe condition only if it had actual or constructive notice of the condition in time to fix it or guard against it. It does not have constructive notice if a reasonably adequate inspection system would not have found the condition, or if it ran such a system with due care and did not find it.

A lawsuit for an injury against a local public entity (such as a city or county) or its employees must be filed within one year from the date of the injury or when the cause of action accrued. Claims arising out of patient care have a 2-year limit (and no more than 4 years after the event). A local public entity does not have to pay punitive damages.

Under the Recreational Use of Land and Water Areas Act, a landowner owes no duty to keep land safe, or to warn of dangers, for people who enter it for recreational or conservation purposes. The protection does not apply to willful and wanton failure to guard or warn against a dangerous condition, or when the owner invites (as the Act defines it) or charges people for the recreational use.

The Illinois section on special equipment for motorcycle, motor-driven cycle and moped riders requires the operator and every passenger to be protected by glasses, goggles or a transparent shield. That section does not require a helmet.

Illinois law says the driver of a two-wheeled vehicle may not pass on the right of a vehicle going the same direction unless there is an unobstructed lane of traffic available to make the pass safely.

Where there are no working traffic signals, drivers must stop and yield to a pedestrian crossing in a crosswalk who is on the driver's half of the road or approaching closely from the other half. Drivers may not pass a vehicle stopped at a crosswalk for a pedestrian. Pedestrians crossing outside a marked or unmarked crosswalk must yield to vehicles, may cross only in a marked crosswalk between adjacent signalized intersections, and must not suddenly step into the path of a vehicle too close to stop.

A person riding a bicycle on a highway has the rights and duties of a vehicle driver, except for special bicycle rules. A driver passing a bicycle must change lanes when another lane going the same way is available and practicable, and must leave at least 3 feet. Cyclists going slower than traffic ride as close as practicable and safe to the right edge, with listed exceptions. Cyclists on a sidewalk must yield to pedestrians and give an audible signal before passing them.

When an Uber/Lyft (TNC) driver is logged in but has not accepted a ride, auto liability coverage of at least $50,000 per person and $100,000 per incident for death and injury and $25,000 for property damage is required, with contingent coverage kept by the company if the driver's policy does not cover it. From accepting a ride until the ride is complete, primary liability coverage of $1,000,000 for death, personal injury and property damage is required.

Illinois adopts by reference the main federal motor carrier rules for the carriers its trucking chapter covers, including Part 387 (minimum financial responsibility), Part 391 (driver qualifications), Part 392 (driving rules), Part 393 (equipment), Part 395 (hours of service, with an Illinois exception in Section 18b-106.1) and Part 396 (inspection and maintenance), with listed exceptions for some intrastate carriers.

An injured worker covered by the Workers' Compensation Act generally cannot sue the employer for the injury; workers' comp is the remedy. If someone other than the employer (for example, another contractor or an equipment maker) is legally liable, the worker may sue that party, and the employer is repaid from the recovery for the compensation it paid.