The Expiration Date Cannot Be Calculated Until the Correct Chicago Claim Clock Is Identified
Answering the wrong preliminary question can cost the claim: the first task is not counting days, but classifying the claim, defendant, accrual event, forum, and special rules. Illinois law generally provides two years for many actions seeking damages for personal injury, yet that period is not universal. An attorney for injury claim review should determine every potentially controlling notice, administrative, contractual, repose, filing, and service date before an accident lawsuit is planned.
Use the Ordinary Injury Period Only for the Claims It Covers
The general two-year reference in 735 ILCS 5/13-202 is a starting point for many personal-injury actions. Accrual, discovery, tolling, repose, professional negligence, products, abuse, minors or disabilities, and other claim-specific provisions can alter the analysis. Ongoing talks with a carrier do not inherently suspend a filing period.
Wrongful-death matters generally use a two-year period after death under the statute and are brought by the personal representative for statutory beneficiaries, with criminal-death provisions and other conditions requiring exact review. The viability of the underlying claim, public defendants, survival issues, and appointment timing also matter.
Fork the Calendar for Employment and Public-Entity Matters
Illinois workers' compensation generally calls for notice within 45 days and generally measures filing under a three-year or later-payment framework stated in section 6, while occupational disease, repetitive trauma, employer knowledge, payment type, third parties, and exceptions require separate treatment. Report an injury promptly rather than waiting for a deadline calculation.
Many local public-entity injury claims generally face a one-year rule, while claims against the State proceed through the Court of Claims under different procedures. Entity identity, immunity, forum, claim type, notice, and limitation must be verified; the local rule should not be applied to every public defendant.
Build a Clock Sheet From Source Documents
List event, discovery, treatment, death, appointment, notice, denial, payment, minority or disability, and filing dates. For each possible claim, record defendant, governing source, required recipient, document, forum, filing method, service step, deadline theory, and unresolved fact. Attach the record supporting each date.
Take the sheet, correspondence, policy provisions, public-entity information, employment records, medical chronology, and prior filings to counsel immediately. Distinguishing preservation, notice, an administrative claim, a civil filing, and service prevents one completed step from being mistaken for every required act. At S&S Law, we help Chicago clients with filing deadlines.