Sidewalk and Public Property Falls in Illinois

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.

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.

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.