What you do in the first hour after a fall often matters more than anything a lawyer can do months later. A quick photo of the wet floor, the broken step, or the un-salted ice; the name of a witness; an incident report you insist the store write up — those small acts preserve the case before the hazard is cleaned up and denied. Most people, shaken and embarrassed, skip all of it, and the proof is gone by the next day.
I'm Scott DeSalvo, and for almost 30 years I've taken on premises cases across DuPage County. If you fell in a Bensenville store, restaurant, parking lot, or apartment building along York Road or Irving Park, here's how these cases really work — and the consultation is free.
By the time you get home from urgent care, the spill is mopped, the ice is salted, and the broken handrail is quietly fixed. That's not necessarily sinister — it's what businesses do — but it means the physical evidence of what hurt you is usually gone within hours. Photos taken at the scene, a written incident report, and the names of anyone who saw it are often the difference between a provable case and your word against the owner's.
If you didn't get those things, don't assume the case is lost — but call quickly, because surveillance video is the next best proof and it gets overwritten fast.
In Illinois, an owner isn't automatically responsible just because you were hurt on their property. You have to show they knew, or reasonably should have known, about the danger and failed to fix it or warn you — what lawyers call "notice." How long the hazard sat there, whether it was a repeat problem, and what the cameras show all go to proving it, and all of it depends on evidence that disappears quickly.
Because of our winters, many Bensenville falls happen on ice, and Illinois has a rule people find surprising. Generally, an owner isn't liable for ice that formed naturally from the weather. But if the owner made it worse — plowing snow into a pile that refroze across a walkway, letting a downspout drain onto a sidewalk, or leaving pavement that traps and freezes water — that unnatural accumulation can support a claim. Whether the ice was natural or man-made can decide the whole case.
A fall can mean a broken hip, a shattered wrist, a torn shoulder, or a head injury with lasting effects — the kind of harm that leads to surgery and time off work. The insurer's strategy is to make it sound trivial and to comb your history for any old ache to blame. Illinois law lets you recover your medical bills past and future, your lost income and reduced earning ability, your physical pain, and the loss of your normal life.
Bottom line: a fall you're tempted to brush off can become the most disruptive injury of your life — get treated, document everything, and don't let an insurer decide it was nothing.
The evidence is slipping away by the day, so don't put this off. Call me, walk me through where and how you fell, and I'll tell you straight whether the notice and fault picture supports a case. If it does, we move fast to lock down the proof. It's free, and you pay nothing unless I win for you.
I'm available any time, day or night. Call 312-500-4500.
Falls are just one kind of injury I handle. For everything else, see my Bensenville Personal Injury Attorney page
If you can, report it to the store or property manager and ask for a written incident report. Photograph what caused the fall and the area around it before anyone cleans up. Get the names of any witnesses, and see a doctor promptly even if you only feel sore. Then call me quickly, so I can preserve the surveillance video before it's gone.
Generally two years from the date of your fall against a private owner. But a fall on public or government property — a village sidewalk, a park district lot, a public building — can carry special notice rules and much shorter deadlines, sometimes about a year. Those government deadlines are easy to miss, so reach out as soon as you can.
It depends on whether the ice was natural or man-made. Illinois usually doesn't hold owners responsible for naturally accumulated ice, but if they created the hazard — refrozen plow piles, a draining downspout, or defective pavement — you may have a strong claim. It's a technical line and the one insurers fight on, so it helps to have someone who can prove an unnatural accumulation.
Not necessarily. Illinois uses modified comparative negligence, so being partly at fault doesn't end your claim unless you were more than half responsible — your recovery is just reduced by your share. Insurers always push to get you past that line, and countering it is a central part of what I do.
Nothing out of pocket. I take these on contingency — my fee comes only from what I recover for you, and if there's no recovery, you owe nothing. I also front the investigation costs, like securing camera footage and expert analysis. You never pay me to get started.
Scott DeSalvo founded DeSalvo Law to help injured people throughout Chicago and surrounding suburbs. Licensed to practice law in Illinois since 1998, IARDC #6244452, Scott has represented over 3,000 clients in personal injury, workers compensation, and accident cases.
No Fee Unless You Win | Free Consultation | 24/7 Availability Call or Text: (312) 500-4500
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Main Office:
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Oak Brook, IL 60523
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