After a crash with a semi-truck, most people are facing hospital bills and missed paychecks long before anyone explains their rights. You can pursue compensation for medical treatment, lost income, and the physical and emotional harm the collision caused. Illinois generally allows two years from the date of injury to file a lawsuit.
Truck claims move differently than car claims. The motor carrier's insurer often has investigators at the scene within hours, and the electronic records that show what the driver was doing can be overwritten.
A Chicago truck accident lawyer at Herbert Rosner Connelly Law Firm can demand that proof be preserved while it still exists. Call our Chicago office to talk through what happened.
Our firm is led by founding partners Daniel Q. Herbert, Adam R. Rosner and Thomas M. Connelly, and our practice is built around injury and workers' compensation claims in Chicago.
Our published case results include a $3,000,000 settlement against a trucking company and freight broker, a $50,000,000 settlement for a railroad worker seriously injured on the job, and an $8,100,000 settlement involving medical negligence at a Chicago hospital.
We deal with the motor carrier, its adjusters and its defense lawyers so you can concentrate on treatment and on your family. Our attorneys handle the investigation, the medical documentation and the negotiation from start to finish.
Our team is reachable 24 hours a day, and we keep clients informed as the case develops rather than leaving them to chase updates.
Chicago sits at the center of the nation's freight network, and the state's own crash data shows what that traffic costs. According to the Illinois Department of Transportation's 2024 Crash Facts report:
The pattern is consistent. When a loaded tractor-trailer strikes a passenger vehicle, the people in the smaller vehicle absorb almost all of the harm.
No honest answer arrives in the first week. Case value turns on a handful of factors that take time to document:
Two features tend to separate truck claims from ordinary car claims. Interstate motor carriers must carry far higher liability coverage than private drivers, and a serious crash often involves several insured parties rather than one.
If you were working when the crash happened, a third-party claim against the carrier can run alongside a workers' compensation claim, which changes how the recovery is structured. Our firm handles both sides of that situation.
These are the documented financial losses, including:
Illinois also allows recovery for pain and suffering, disability, disfigurement, and the loss of a normal life. These losses are real, and they often outlast the medical bills.
Since August 11, 2023, Illinois has permitted punitive damages in wrongful death and survival actions filed on or after that date.
Usually, yes. Illinois follows a modified comparative fault under 735 ILCS 5/2-1116. You are barred from recovery only if your share of the fault is more than 50%.
At 50% or less, you still recover, but the award is reduced by your percentage. If a jury values the case at $600,000 and assigns you 20% of the fault, the recovery becomes $480,000.
That math is exactly why carriers push blame onto the other driver early. Fault percentages are decided by the trier of fact, not by an adjuster on the phone.
Some truck injuries declare themselves at the scene. Others, including brain injuries, disc injuries, and internal damage, are diagnosed weeks later, after an early settlement offer has already been made.
Traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord damage, crush injuries, burns, and orthopedic injuries requiring hardware all tend to be undervalued early, because the long-term cost is not yet visible in the medical records.
We build claims around the full medical arc rather than the first estimate. That means securing treating-physician opinions, documenting work restrictions, and accounting for care you will still need years from now.
If your treatment is ongoing, we would rather wait for a clear prognosis than accept a number that closes the door on future care.
Most Chicago truck crashes trace back to decisions made before the truck ever reached the expressway:
Many of these same failures appear in ordinary car accident claims, but a truck's weight turns a routine error into a catastrophic one.
The driver is rarely the only responsible party. Depending on the facts, liability may reach the motor carrier that set the schedule, the company that loaded or secured the freight, the maintenance contractor, the trailer owner, or a parts manufacturer.
A carrier can also be answerable for the driver's conduct through vicarious liability, and separately for its own negligent hiring, training, or supervision. Leased tractors and trailers add another layer, because the lessee carrier may remain responsible for the equipment it puts on the road.
Identifying every insured party matters because each one carries separate coverage. A claim limited to the driver alone can leave a significant share of the loss unpaid.
Illinois adopts the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations by reference under 625 ILCS 5/18b-105, so federal rules set the standard of care on Illinois roads.
Under 49 CFR 395.3, a property-carrying driver must take 10 consecutive hours off duty before driving again. Driving is then limited to 11 hours inside a 14-hour window, with a 30-minute break required after 8 hours behind the wheel. Electronic logging records can show when those limits were exceeded.
Federal law sets minimum liability coverage for motor carriers at 49 CFR 387.9, with higher limits for certain hazardous cargo.
A negligence claim requires four elements: a duty of care, a breach of that duty, a causal link between the breach and the injury, and actual damages. Proving them in a truck case follows a sequence:
Waiting makes each step harder. Footage is overwritten, logs cycle out, and memories fade.
Two years, in most cases. 735 ILCS 5/13-202 sets a two-year limitations period for personal injury actions, running from the date the claim accrues.
Wrongful death actions also run two years from the date of death under 740 ILCS 180/2. Shorter deadlines apply elsewhere. If a city vehicle, county truck, or transit agency is involved, 745 ILCS 10/8-101 gives you one year.
Because the deadlines differ by defendant, confirm yours early rather than assuming the two-year rule applies.
Understanding the rules is one thing. Getting a motor carrier to produce its logs, and getting an insurer to value a permanent injury honestly, is another.
That is the work our attorneys do. Speak with a Chicago truck accident lawyer at Herbert Rosner Connelly Law Firm by calling us or send us the details through the contact form on this site to request a free case evaluation.
Our Chicago office is at 65 W Jackson Blvd, Box 223, and we take calls around the clock.
