Basic Elements of an Illinois Personal Injury Claim

Under Illinois law, a person who has suffered personal injuries due to another’s negligence may be able to recover damages. In addition to the injury itself, however, the plaintiff generally must prove several additional things.

Duty of Care

First, plaintiff must show that the defendant owed him a duty of care. In Illinois, the basic standard of care is that of a hypothetical “ordinarily careful person" or "reasonably prudent" person of average intelligence, knowledge, judgment and skill. If the court finds that an “ordinarily careful” or “reasonably prudent” person would have acted (or refrained from acting) in order to prevent a foreseeable harm to the plaintiff, the defendant had a duty to act in a similar manner.

Breach of Duty
Once the plaintiff establishes the element of duty of care, he must prove that the defendant failed to carry out that duty. The most common standard is that of the “reasonable man” (or the gender-neutral “reasonable person”. The Illinois courts have explained that a breach of duty occurs when there is a failure to do something which a person guided by ordinary considerations and knowledge would be expected to do, or refrain from doing. Factors to be considered include the foreseeability of injury, the seriousness of the possible harm and the financial or practical burden the defendant would have incurred by taking precautions.

Causation
The third element of a negligence claim is a direct (or “proximate”) “cause and effect” relationship between the defendant’s negligence and the plaintiff’s injury. Illinois courts use two tests. The first is the so-called “but for” test, under which the defendant's negligent conduct is the cause in fact of the plaintiff's injury if it injury would not have occurred “but for” the defendant's negligence.

When personal injuries result from a chain of independent events the “but for” case may be too strict, and may allow a negligent person to escape liability because it cannot be said that the injury would not have occurred without his misconduct. In such cases, some Illinois courts have instead adopted a “substantial factor” test. Under this test, the defendant's conduct is considered a cause of the plaintiff's injury if it was a substantial factor (or, in some cases, a "material element”) in causing the injury.

The skilled Chicago personal injury attorneys at Nilson, Stookal, Gleason & Caputo, Ltd. have experience handling all types of personal injury matters in Illinois. Our Attorneys are Richard P. Nilson, Marc B. Stookal, Steven M. Gleason.