Illinois Tort Laws

In Illinois, just like in other states, dispute resolution systems have been established under tort law to address harmful behavior. Torts are civil wrongs — excluding contract breaches — for which the wronged party may obtain damages or another form of remedy. In 2022, Illinois records showed that the average damage awards obtained by victims per county ranged from $7,277.18 to $30,000.

Many people confuse these terms, but tort law is a broader concept than personal injury law. In fact, the latter is a category that falls under the former. This means there are wrongful acts, like libel, that do not necessarily cause personal injury but are still considered torts.

Additionally, the plaintiff in a tort case is not always a lone individual. For instance, in one product liability case against a L’Oreal hair relaxing product, over 7,000 cases were consolidated into a single mass tort action.

In line with the information above, this article aims to teach the general public about the basics of tort and mass tort law, including the statute of limitations and the fundamental process one will go through when forced to sue. It is aimed at plaintiffs who need to group together to fight back against a wrongdoer and obtain compensation.

Basic Tort Categories in Illinois

Negligent Torts

Negligent torts under Illinois law are those committed whenever a defendant, also called a tortfeasor, fails to exercise the level of care that a reasonable person would do so, resulting in injury or harm to another. There are four elements to negligence:

• A duty of care owed by the defendant to the plaintiff.

• A breach of duty due to a failure to act in the proper manner or a failure to meet an expected standard of care.

• A causal link between the two preceding premises.

• Damages or injuries suffered by the plaintiff.

Common kinds of negligent torts include medical malpractice, where a doctor unintentionally hurts a patient, or slips and falls, where the owner of a premises fails to clean up a slick surface.

Intentional Torts

Intentional torts are committed whenever a tortfeasor performs an intended action that causes harm to the plaintiff. What is intended here isn't necessarily the harm per se, but the action that led to the former. 

For example, a defendant may intentionally pull a chair out of another without intending to cause harm, but if a person who tries to sit falls on the floor instead, the tort is still intentional and not negligent. Additionally, falsely accusing a person of adultery or fornication is another example of an intentional tort.

Strict Liability Torts

Strict liability torts are those for which the intent or mental state of the defendant is irrelevant for purposes of establishing liability. As long as an action is committed and harm is caused, liability attaches. 

This is usually reserved for highly dangerous cases like product liability matters where the release of a defective product may cause broad-reaching damage to society in general; hence, the simple act of releasing the defective product establishes a duty to pay compensation. The same is true for dog bites because the applicable statute does not care about the intent or lack thereof to cause injury to others.

Other Tort Categories in Illinois

Under Illinois tort law, an economic or business tort refers to harmful activities that arise from business transactions and that will likely result in pure economic loss. Examples include negligent misrepresentation and fraud while negotiating a contract. Tortious interference in contracts is also an economic tort, as when a third party intervenes in the contractual talks of two others to persuade either of the two to sign a different agreement.

A nuisance is defined in the state’s common law as something that annoys or causes damage to another, contrary to the law. It comes in two kinds: public and private nuisances. 

• Public nuisances interfere with rights common to the general public. In short, they are annoyances to society at large and not just to select private individuals. Public nuisances are remedied through abatement, and examples include depositing animal corpses and offal in public areas or obstructing rivers. 

• Private nuisances are limited in scope to acts that obstruct the enjoyment of the plaintiff’s land, like noise pollution that affects only one property.

Tort vs. Crime in Illinois

While there is an overlap between torts and crimes in Illinois law, as in the case of assaults and drunk driving, there are numerous key differences that distinguish the two:

Tort cases also require a preponderance of evidence for the plaintiff to secure compensation. This means they only have to prove that their claim is likelier than not. In criminal cases, the defendant can only be found guilty if there is proof beyond a reasonable doubt or reasonable moral certainty that they committed a wrongdoing.

Mass Torts in Illinois

Illinois mass tort suits allow multiple plaintiffs who have sustained similar injuries to file collected yet individual lawsuits against a common defendant. Mass tort actions are appropriate for cases where multiple people are harmed at once but filing a class action lawsuit is hard or disadvantageous.

Cases involving defective products and those in which large groups of workers suffer harm due to asbestos exposure are examples of scenarios where a mass tort action may be appropriate. Toxic torts are common grounds for mass tort cases, as the release of poisonous chemicals into waterways often hurts more than a single person.

Additionally, a good reason to go for a mass tort action is that the defendant is either one or a few corporate defendants that are too big or numerous to attack using disparate approaches. Despite the individual nature of their cases, plaintiffs can pool together their resources to hire a single law firm. Moreover, their collaboration can cut down on litigation costs by using the same or similar evidence and expert witnesses.

Mass Torts vs. Class Actions

Under Illinois and federal laws, class actions and mass tort cases are very similar in that both involve multiple individuals taking action against the same defendant or defendants. But there are sizable differences between the two once one examines them further.

For starters, in a class action lawsuit, there is technically only a single case and a single plaintiff. The plaintiff is the representative of the numerous individuals who were hurt by the actions of the defendants. These individuals, however, give up direct control over their cases in favor of the class representative. They must also have suffered essentially the same harm. For instance, if the members of the class are exposed to a toxin at the same time, they must have incurred the same effects.

In a mass tort action, the individuals are not suing through a representative, though they may all have the same lawyer. Their cases remain separate, and the plaintiffs are not treated as a collective. The level and type of injuries they suffer may vary, contrary to what is required in a class action suit. Several individuals exposed to the same toxin at different times may experience different effects, making their cases unqualified for a class action suit but suitable for a mass tort action.

The Mass Tort Process

Mass torts under Illinois law follow five distinct stages. But before going through these steps, seeking a lawyer with relevant experience is important to make the case’s success more likely.

1. The first phase involves the lawyer reviewing the plaintiff’s records. They will analyze the pieces of evidence and documents of the claimant to see if there are grounds to pursue a case. They will also evaluate if there are possible causal links between the injuries sustained by the claimant and the defendant’s actions.

2. The attorney may determine that the claimant’s suit has similarities to those of other litigants. If this is the case, they may conduct further examinations to pinpoint the exact commonalities in the cases and proceed with a mass tort approach.

3. The filing of federal lawsuits will follow. This usually involves the concept of multidistrict litigation, where cases from multiple judicial districts are consolidated in a single federal court instead of multiple ones to simplify the proceedings.

4. After come the bellwether trials, which involve picking a handful of cases to determine two things: how winnable the mass tort action is and the amount of damages the claimants should expect. The most serious and similar cases are usually chosen to give the parties involved a good idea as to how the trials of the other suits will proceed.

5. The fifth phase involves the settlement or trials. Trials can take several years, depending on the complexity or simplicity of the cases. Meanwhile, settlements are typically faster, though this may still vary depending on the details surrounding the mass tort action.

Illinois Tort Liability Insurance Requirements

To operate in Illinois, some businesses must have tort liability insurance coverage in order to operate. Trucking companies are a prime example of this, and there are requirements at the federal level.

Federal law requires commercial truck coverage ranging from $300,000 to $5 million, depending on factors such as:

• The weight of the truck.

• Whether or not the cargo is hazardous.

• Whether or not the cargo includes unprocessed agricultural commodities.

These requisites are put in place to ensure that whenever a truck is in an accident, any parties harmed will be compensated. 

These accidents may include mass torts since, given the size and weight of a truck and its cargo, multiple cars and victims may be involved. In these instances, tort liability insurance can protect the interests of victims and businesses alike; companies can have a financial cushion in case of lawsuits, while the general public can get some assurance of compensation in the event of mishaps.

The Statute of Limitations for Tort Cases in Illinois

The general statute of limitations for a tort case in Illinois is two years. Plaintiffs have two years to file a case or join an existing mass tort action from the date the untoward incident happened. The statute of limitations may also begin on the date of the harm’s discovery, as in the case of asbestos exposure leading to mesothelioma later in life.

Note that some types of cases have their own particular statutes of repose, or hard deadline, regardless of when the harm sustained is discovered. For example, a victim who wants to file a product liability case can only do so within 12 years from the date they obtained the product in question. This may be significant in certain mass tort cases, as product liability matters often take the form of a mass tort action instead of a singular suit. For medical malpractice suits, the statute of repose is four years.

How Much Can Someone Sue in a Tort Case in Illinois?

Plaintiffs in tort cases may obtain economic, non-economic, and punitive damages.

• Economic damages refer to tangible losses, such as medical expenses and lost earnings.

• Non-economic damages refer to intangible losses like disability, the loss of consortium, and emotional distress.

• Punitive damages are awarded when a defendant acts with an evil motive or an outrageous and reckless indifference to the safety of others. There has to be very gross negligence or a deliberate misdeed, like in the case of deliberate assault.

Economic and non-economic damages are collectively known as actual or compensatory damages.

Tort reform in other states has sought ways to put caps on these damages out of fear that excessive awards would acknowledge frivolous suits. There were fears that plaintiffs in both regular and mass tort cases would turn the courts into profit centers instead of seeking actual justice. 

Illinois saw attempts in 2005 to place a limit on the non-economic damages awarded in tort cases, though these were limited to medical malpractice suits. However, this was later withdrawn in 2010, when it was found to be unconstitutional after judicial review. As such, there are no damage caps that remain at the state level.

The federal landscape is different, however; the Federal Tort Claims Act sets certain limits on tort claims versus the government:

• There can be no punitive damages.

• Attorneys’ fees cannot be included in damage awards.

Other Legal Remedies in Tort Cases in Illinois

There are two other remedies when pursuing a mass tort case: injunction and restitution. 

• Injunctions compel a defendant to stop a course of action or to perform an action to maintain the status quo. These come in three kinds: temporary restraining orders, preliminary injunctions, and permanent injunctions. Temporary restraining orders do not strictly require that notice be given to the adverse party, but as a result, they can only last for 10 days at most. Lawyers can use these 10 days to fulfill the requirements for a preliminary injunction, which lasts until the case ends. If a party prevails in court, the preliminary injunction can become permanent. 

• Restitution is associated with unjust enrichment, and the plaintiff receives compensation that is weighed based on how much the defendant gained instead of how much the plaintiff lost.

Resources for Tort Victims in Illinois

Illinois Legal Aid Online

Illinois Legal Aid Online offers free legal services 24 hours a day in English, Polish, and Spanish. It has a form library accessible to the public that caters to an average of 3 million individuals annually. The office’s expanded repertoire includes criminal defense and family law.

First Defense Legal Aid

First Defense Legal Aid has 24-hour services for the residents of Chicago and the rest of Illinois who have been wrongfully and tortiously held by the police. Its focus is on torts with a constitutional law component, and it seeks to combat wrongful arrests, searches, and detentions. The office is located at:

First Defense Legal Aid
601 S California Ave., Chicago, IL 60612
1-800-529-7374

Illinois Free Legal Answers

Illinois Free Legal Answers is an online legal clinic supported by the American Bar Association. Through the website, individuals with legal problems can submit a query to be answered by a volunteer lawyer via email.