Workers' Compensation

Honest answer: we cannot tell you, and neither can any website. Injury Support Illinois is not a law firm, we do not evaluate the merits of claims, and nothing here is legal advice. Whether you have a claim is a legal question, and only a licensed attorney who has looked at your specific facts can answer it.

What we can tell you is that the reasons people talk themselves out of calling are usually wrong:

• "It was partly my fault." Illinois uses modified comparative negligence. If your share of the fault is not more than 50%, you can still recover, with damages reduced by your percentage (735 ILCS 5/2-1116).
• "I did not go to the hospital right away." Common, and not automatically fatal to a claim.
• "I already talked to their insurance." Also common. Talk to someone on your side before you do it again.
• "My injuries are not that bad." Some injuries take weeks to declare themselves. Get checked.
• "There is no police report." Not required for a claim to exist.
• "I am worried about my immigration status." Ask us. Illinois personal injury law does not condition your right to bring a claim on immigration status, and this question comes up more often than you would think. Any specifics belong with an attorney.

Fifteen minutes on the phone costs you nothing and answers this properly.

The general answer is two years, and the general answer is exactly what gets people in trouble.

In Illinois, a personal injury lawsuit generally must be filed within two years of the date of the injury (735 ILCS 5/13-202). Wrongful death is generally two years from the date of death (740 ILCS 180/2).

The exceptions are shorter, and they are common:

• A city, county, park district, school district, or other local public entity — generally one year (745 ILCS 10/8-101). A pothole, a city vehicle, a public sidewalk, a public building.
• The CTA — generally one year (70 ILCS 3605/41).
• A bar or liquor licensee under the Dram Shop Act — one year (235 ILCS 5/6-21).
• Workers' compensation — notice to your employer within 45 days, and filing with the Commission within 3 years of the accident or 2 years of the last compensation payment, whichever is later (820 ILCS 305/6).
• Injured children — the clock generally does not start until their 18th birthday, giving them until roughly age 20 (735 ILCS 5/13-211).

There are also situations where the deadline runs from when an injury was or should have been discovered rather than when it occurred, and situations involving statutes of repose that cut off claims regardless. Those are genuinely complicated and belong with an attorney.

This is general information, not legal advice, and the deadline that applies to you depends on facts we do not know. If there is any chance you are close to one, call today. A missed deadline is the one mistake in this whole process that cannot be undone.

Nothing. Not the case review, not the callback, not the connection to an attorney, not the help getting to a medical appointment. Injury Support Illinois does not bill injured people, does not charge a consultation fee, and does not take a percentage of anyone's recovery.

The attorneys we connect people with work on contingency, which means their fee comes out of a recovery at the end of the case rather than from your pocket at the start. If there is no recovery, there is no attorney fee. Those terms are set out in the written agreement you would sign with that attorney — read it, ask questions about it, and do not sign anything you do not understand.

So who pays for all this? Attorneys in our network pay us a fee to receive connections. That is our entire business model and we would rather you hear it from us on the first page than wonder about it later.

Two different clocks, and people usually mean the first one.

Getting help: about an hour. Our goal is a real conversation with a real person within an hour of hearing from you, at any time of day or night. If you ask to be connected, that usually happens the same day.

Resolving a claim: months to years, honestly. A straightforward claim with clear liability, modest injuries, and completed treatment can resolve in a few months. A serious-injury case with disputed fault, multiple insurers, or a lawsuit on file commonly runs one to two years, sometimes longer. Workers' compensation claims run on their own timeline entirely.

The single biggest factor is your medical treatment. A claim should not be valued until the medical picture is reasonably clear, because settling early means settling before anyone knows what your care actually costs.

Anyone who tells you a date from a website is guessing. What we can promise is that you will not be left wondering what is happening — you will have a person to call.

It means the attorney's fee is contingent on getting you a recovery. No recovery, no attorney fee. It does not mean everything about a case is free forever, and the difference is worth knowing before you sign anything.

How it typically works: the attorney takes an agreed percentage of the amount recovered. If nothing is recovered, they take nothing.

Case costs are a separate line item, and this is the part people miss. Filing fees, medical record charges, deposition transcripts, expert witnesses, and investigators are costs, not fees. Contingency agreements differ on what happens to those if the case does not succeed — some firms absorb them, others may seek reimbursement. Ask that question directly, get the answer in writing, and read the agreement before you sign it.

One more question worth putting to any attorney you speak with: what comes out of a recovery before I see it? Depending on the situation, others may have a right to be repaid from it, and that affects the number that actually reaches you. We are not the right party to answer that — ask the attorney to walk you through the arithmetic before you sign anything.

And to be clear about our side of it: Injury Support Illinois never charges you anything, win or lose. We are paid by the attorneys in our network, not by injured people.