Injuries sustained in Chicagoland accidents involving the government are treated differently under Illinois law.
How big is Chicago? Statistical analysts consider the Chicago metro area to span three different states (Illinois; Indiana; Wisconsin) with cities including not only the City of Chicago itself, but the municipalities of Naperville; Elgin; Gary; Evanston; and Des Plaines.
In fact, Chicago is the fourth largest metropolitan area in the North American continent, surpassed only by Mexico City; New York City; and Los Angeles. It is known as a “global metropolis” and “major world city” alongside places like Paris and Singapore. For more, read “Is Chicago a major metropolitan area?” written by Eileen Stewart and published by NCESC on February 27, 2024.
With all these people living and working in our huge urban landscape, there are all sorts of ways that accidents happen where victims are injured or killed. People are hurt every day here in Chicagoland.
Among the most common types of incidents with serious bodily injuries are roadway accidents (truck crashes; car crashes; motorcycle accidents; pedestrian accidents) and incidents on-the-job where workers are hurt in recognized dangerous workplaces including our construction sites; warehouse facilities; food processing plants; ports; and manufacturing factories.
Laws Protecting Victims Hurt in Chicago Accidents
Chicago’s complexity of people and places is governed by all sorts of laws, precedent, rules, and regulations designed to keep everyone safe from harm. There are state statutes; federal laws; state and federal court case precedents; county rules; agency regulations; and municipal codes enacted to help those hurt in accidents here in the Chicago area. All these legalities are designed to help accident victims and their families.
However, accident victims and their loved ones need to be aware that when someone gets hurt here in the Chicago Metro Area, things can get complicated pretty quickly from a legal perspective.
There will be some instances where federal law preempts everything else and controls the rights and remedies provided to the accident victim and their loved ones. For instance, a railroad worker hurt in a slip and fall while working on a train in a Chicago railyard will have federal statutory protections. See, Work Injuries and On-the-Job Accidents in Indiana and Illinois With Federal Law Protections: FELA, Jones Act, LHWCA, DBA.
One of the key factors in determining what law applies to the injury victim’s claim for justice is the determination of whether it involved the government in some way.
This is because any injury that happens on privately-owned property, or involved one or more private parties, will be treated much differently than an accident where the government may found liable.
While two victims may suffer almost identical bodily injuries in similar accidents, the damages available to them under the law and the procedures they must follow to file and pursue their injury claims will be very different if the government caused the injuries for one of them.
The Concept of Sovereign Immunity in Accidents Involving Government Property
Illinois protects taxpayer dollars and government budgets by limiting the financial exposure of government entities within the state under the doctrine of sovereign immunity. This is a longstanding legal principle found in both federal jurisprudence and the laws of the sister states that essentially provides that government cannot be sued without giving its consent. See, Baude, William. “Sovereign Immunity and the Constitutional Text.” Va. L. Rev. 103 (2017), University of Chicago Law School, citing Hans v. Louisiana, 134 U.S. 1, 10 S. Ct. 504, 33 L. Ed. 842 (1890).
Luckily for accident victims in the Chicago Metro Area, both the state government and the City itself, as well as several other governments within the Chicagoland area, have allowed personal injury lawsuits to be filed against them with the caveat that the proper claims procedure has been followed by the accident victim and that the claim has been made before passage of the filing deadline.
This is because the Illinois Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act (745 ILSC 10/) does not exempt the certain government entities in the Chicago area from being sued in a personal injury lawsuit.
For Chicago accident victims, this means they can seek redress for injuries sustained in an accident involving government property. It is vital that they know their investigations must be done quickly, before their claims are time-barred.
There are occasions where the injured person or their loved ones will need to investigate to confirm if the Chicago area accident injuries were sustained on government property or involve things owned and operated by a government entity. Government claims include Chicago accidents involving:
- Buses
- Ferries
- Government buildings
- Government parking garages
- Public playgrounds
- Public streets
- Sidewalks
- Subways
- Taxi cabs
- Trains.
City of Chicago Claims
For instance, for those hurt on property owned by the City of Chicago, there are specific steps to be followed in the reporting of injury claims to the City. As explained on the City’s website, injury claims may be submitted online, by mail, fax, or in person to the city claims office. The deadline for filing is referenced to the Statute of Limitations found in 745 ILCS 10/8-101.
The City of Chicago accepts injury claims that involve (quoting from the website):
- Motor vehicle accidents involving personal injury or property damage, such as motor vehicle damage from road conditions.
- Property damage/personal injury – general liability claims involving property damage (nonmotor vehicle accidents only), such as house or fence damage.
- Bodily injury/personal injury – general liability claims involving bodily injury/personal injury, such as from a fall on public property.
- Bicycle/personal injury – general liability claims involving bodily injury/personal injury or property damage on public property.
Of note, work accidents are not included here: the city claims unit does not handle Workers’ Compensation claims. Nor does it handle claims for injuries involving: Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), Chicago Park District, Chicago Board of Education, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, Chicago Public Building Commission, Cook County and State of Illinois (IDOT).
Chicago Public Transportation Claims
Separate from the City of Chicago is another government entity, the Chicago Transport Authority (CTA). It is among several Chicagoland government agencies that may have legal liability for bodily harm with CTA’s responsibility dealing with an accident involving Chicago public transportation including:
- Buses
- Ferries
- Subways
- Taxis
- Trains.
In these instances, the accident victim has a right to sue the CTA for personal injuries sustained in the public transportation accident. However, just like the City of Chicago, injury claims must first be submitted to the CTA prior to any lawsuit being filed.
Higher Burden for Accident Victims in Chicago Government Injury Claims
Another difference when injury claims involve Chicagoland governmental entities is that the Tort Immunity Act limits the victim to seeking civil claims with sufficient evidence that the government (or its agent or employee) acted with willful and wanton conduct (745 ILSC 10/1-210), define by the statute as:
… a course of action which shows an actual or deliberate intention to cause harm or which, if not intentional, shows an utter indifference to or conscious disregard for the safety of others or their property. This definition shall apply in any case where a “willful and wanton” exception is incorporated into any immunity under this Act.
This is a higher standard of proof of misconduct that the defendant must show in a personal injury negligence case against a non-governmental defendant.
Other Limitations for Chicago Area Accident Victims Involving Government Claims
For those who have been hurt on government property or in accidents involving government employees, there are other limitations to face that are not faced by those pursuing injury claims that do not involve the government as the factor in what caused the accident.
One Year Deadline
One of these limitations involves the time frame the accident victim must act. Despite the burden of recovering from injuries sustained in the incident, the Chicago government claim accident victim must take action and file legal claims for damages within one year of the event. That is the deadline, and if it is missed then the victim’s claim will be barred by law no matter how meritorious.
Damage Cap
Another limitation in Chicago injury claims involving accidents and the government are the statutory damage caps. While the immunity shield is lifted in many of these cases, Chicagoland accident victims seeking redress against a state governmental entity not involving a state motor vehicle may be limited in damages pursuant to state law.
Claims Against the Government for Chicago Accident Victim
Accident victims in the Chicago metro area may find themselves facing claims against a governmental entity because they were hurt in things like pedestrian accidents involving a government-owned motor vehicle; train crashes; slip and falls while working on government property; assaults in government buildings (such as muggings in government hallways or rapes in poorly lit government parking garages); etc.
These people, and their loved ones, are faced with a particularly stressful situation where they have to deal with the hardships of recovering from the bodily injuries while also moving forward with legal claims for justice that are very stringent and complicated.
For anyone hurt in an accident in the Chicago metro area, it is wise to independently investigate the possibility of government liability as soon as possible in order to protect legal rights and remedies.
For those in the Chicago metropolitan area as defined by statistical analysis, there may also be the need to investigate possible governmental claim parameters under the laws of municipal jurisdictions outside of Chicago (such as Gary or Naperville) as well as that of other states (Indiana; Wisconsin) should they apply.
For more on Chicago accident claims, read other articles in our Chicago accident / injury series, including:
- Chicago OSHA Violations and Work Accidents in Chicagoland
- Traffic Fatalities in Chicagoland: High Risk of Deadly Chicago Car Crash
- Hurt in Chicago: The Real Danger of Accident Injuries in Chicagoland and Cook County
- Chicago Pedestrian Accidents: How Dangerous Are Chicago Streets?
The Chicago metro area is filled with millions of people and covers a three-state area. The risk of being hurt in a serious accident is high, especially for those working in our most dangerous industries and driving and walking on some of our notoriously hazardous roadways. Please be careful out there!
