(Newswire.net — May 30, 2022) — A statute of limitations is a law that sets a maximum amount of time, usually in years, after which legal proceedings can’t be initiated. In Illinois, the statute of limitations for personal injuries caused by car accidents is two years. If you are injured in a car accident and do not file suit against the wrongdoer within this time period, your personal injury claim will likely be too old to proceed. You can learn more about your Illinois car accident statute limits here.
Some of the Features of Statutes of Limitation for Car Accidents in Illinois Include:
1. Wrongdoers may be able to extend the statute of limitations
This means that they can file suit after the time limit has expired. It is important to note that the statute will still expire even if the plaintiffs do not file suit. Additionally, the statute lapses on each subsequent anniversary of the accident.
For example, suppose the statute of limitations for your car accident is two years, and you do not file suit within two years of the date a car accident occurred. In that case, it will expire on the second anniversary regardless of whether you file suit or not. Similarly, if you file your claim within two years after an accident, but it takes two more years to get through discovery and trial, then your case can be past the statute of limitations.
2. The clock stops running when the injured party is a minor
If the injured party is a minor, the statute of limitations does not begin until her eighteenth birthday. This means that if an accident occurs when a minor is 12 years old, she will have two years from her eighteenth birthday to file suit for the car accident.
3. The clock also stops running (for your personal injury claim) during periods of disability
If you are disabled due to a car accident, the statute of limitations will not begin until you recover from your injuries. For example, if you break your back in a car accident and the correct treatment causes you to be incapacitated for two years, the statute of limitations will not start running until two years after you have recovered.
4. Your car accident statute of limitations will not run while part of your claim is pending
This means that if you go to court and the case is settled out of court, your two-year statute for personal injury claims will not begin running. For example, let’s say you file suit within two years of being injured, and there is a settlement out of court. The case will be dismissed. If the case resumes one year after the plaintiff returns to the courts, the statute of limitations won’t start running until one year after your return to the courts.
5. Statute of limitations begins the day the car accident occurred
Regardless of how long it takes to settle your claim or determine what caused the accident, statutes in Illinois start running on the day of an accident. For example, if you file suit within two years of an accident, your claim will begin to run on the second anniversary after you were injured.
Evidently, the statute of limitations on Illinois car accident claims is crucial to understanding lawsuits.