Most people who get hit in Cicero think they were in a 'car accident.' Half the time that is wrong. If you got rear-ended on Cermak or T-boned at Laramie, there is a real chance the vehicle that hit you was a delivery truck, a contractor's box truck, a food service van, a landscaping crew truck, or some other commercial vehicle. And if it was, there is a whole separate layer of insurance money sitting on top of the 'car accident' — money that most drivers, and frankly most lawyers, never bother to look for.
I am Scott DeSalvo. Almost 30 years. Illinois license 6244452. I did Gerry Spence Trial Lawyer's College and the Keenan Trial Institute. Fewer than one lawyer in 100,000 has both. I have handled Cicero crash cases for decades. Zero out of pocket. No fee unless we win. Free consultation 24/7/365 — 312-500-4500 — any time, day or night, even Christmas.
Cicero sits right on top of the industrial artery that feeds Chicago's western warehouses. Cermak Road, Ogden Avenue, and Laramie are loaded with commercial vehicles 18 hours a day. That is not a coincidence. Cicero developed as a trucking and manufacturing hub a century ago, and the roads are still shaped by it.
So when a Cicero resident calls me and says 'I was hit by a pickup truck,' my first question is always: whose name was on the side of that truck? Because if there is any kind of business name, logo, vinyl wrap, ladder rack with a company sign, or DOT number visible, that crash just changed categories. Commercial vehicles carry commercial auto policies, which typically start at $1,000,000 in liability coverage — sometimes a lot more. A regular personal auto policy in Illinois is $25,000 minimum. That is a 40-to-1 difference in available money.
Illinois 625 ILCS 5/7-601 and the companion provisions require commercial carriers to maintain minimum insurance levels far above the personal auto minimum. A lawyer who does not know how to read the FMCSA SAFER database, pull a USDOT number, and identify the commercial policy is leaving most of your case on the table.
In a Cicero commercial vehicle crash, you can typically pursue the driver personally, the company that owned the vehicle, the company that employed the driver (sometimes different), the broker or shipper that hired the carrier, and occasionally a vehicle leasing company. Five potential defendants and five potential insurance towers. You pick the ones that have both liability and the money to pay.
Here is a detail that surprises people: if the truck was carrying cargo for a third party under a motor carrier arrangement, that third party may be liable too under a theory called negligent hiring. A shipper that repeatedly hired a carrier with a bad safety record can be dragged into the case. Most Cicero residents never even hear about that option because their lawyer never investigated it.
Here is the scenario. You are heading east on Cermak at the Laramie intersection. The light turns green. You go. A contractor's box truck running late blows the red from Laramie northbound and T-bones your driver's side. Airbags deploy. You end up at MacNeal Hospital with a broken wrist and a concussion. The police come. The truck driver gives a statement. His company's dispatcher shows up at the scene. That case has four possible insurance policies in play — the truck driver's personal auto, the company's commercial auto, the company's umbrella, and possibly an owner-operator contract policy. If your lawyer only files a claim against the driver's personal policy, you are leaving enormous money on the table.
The commercial carriers have a script. Move one: send an investigator to the scene within 24 hours, before you have even hired a lawyer. They photograph the scene, measure skid marks, and take statements from witnesses who might forget details before your lawyer even gets involved. By the time you call me, they have a six-page file on your crash and you have nothing.
Move two: call you directly. The adjuster sounds friendly, wants to 'get your statement for the file,' tells you it will speed up payment. What they are actually doing is getting you to say something that limits their exposure. 'Were you on your phone?' 'Did you have your seatbelt?' 'Were you in a hurry?' They are not neutral fact-finders. They are paid to reduce the settlement.
Move three: challenge the medical treatment. They will read every line of your ER chart and your follow-up visits looking for pre-existing conditions, gaps in treatment, or any suggestion your injuries are not as bad as you say. What most lawyers will not tell you is that a gap of more than two weeks in your medical treatment is a gift to the insurance company. If you are hurting, see a doctor. Every week. Consistently. Until you are better. Otherwise the carrier will argue you healed.
Cook County adjusters know which lawyers will file suit and which ones will settle for peanuts to avoid filing. My name is in their database. When I take your case, the number they offer changes. Not because I am magic — because the database tells them I will try the case if they lowball me. That is what over $100,000 in advanced trial training produces. Not trial-as-a-goal, but settlement-as-the-goal with trial as the backstop.
Gerry Spence Trial Lawyer's College. Keenan Trial Institute. Thirty jury trials and more than 100 arbitrations. I have been licensed since 1998. 3,000+ clients. That is the number that matters to the insurance company, and that is why your offer goes up.
"Scott is absolutely fantastic. He will always go the extra mile for his clients. They always take the time to return phone calls at all hours and I highly recommend him to all my friends."
-Melissa Brooks
"Great people and Scott's a great lawyer. They helped me make the wisest decision for my case, and that's important in serious legal matters. I trust him completely. He is the one to call."
-Tony Skvarenina
"Beyond satisfied with the services I received from this law firm. Definitely recommend! They got me fully paid and all the doctor bills, too. If you want the best, this is the law firm for your injury case!"
-Cynthia Rodriguez
"Scott represented me and I was really pleased with everything, my car accident paid a lot and quick. If you want a good Lawyer who is responsive, and straight with you, I highly recommend him."
-Greg Garcia
Your medical bills — ER, hospital, surgery, PT, follow-up visits. Lost wages from every day you were off work, including partial days if you had to leave early for treatment. Future medical care if you need ongoing treatment. Loss of future earning capacity if your injuries permanently affect what you can do. Pain and suffering, loss of a normal life, disfigurement. If you were driving a car for work, there may be additional wage-loss analysis.
Property damage to your vehicle is handled separately, usually through your own collision coverage with subrogation, or directly against the at-fault carrier. I help clients on that too, and I do NOT take a fee on property damage recoveries because that is not where my fee should come from.
A Cicero crash involving a commercial vehicle is NOT a 'regular' car accident. It is a case that can be worth five to fifty times what a standard auto claim pays, if it is investigated correctly.
Pick up the phone. 312-500-4500. I answer it myself after hours. You tell me what happened. I ask questions. I tell you straight whether you have a case and what we need to do next. If you are injured and in a hospital, I can come to you. If you speak Spanish, we have bilingual intake. If you do not have immigration status, that does NOT affect your right to recover under Illinois law — insurance money does not care about citizenship.
Free consultation. 24/7/365. No fee unless we win. Zero out of pocket. Call.
Look at the photos from the scene. If there is any business name, logo, phone number, ladder rack with signage, DOT number, or USDOT stencil on the cab or trailer, it is commercial. A pickup truck with a landscaping company name is commercial. A box truck with no name is still probably commercial if it has a USDOT number. I investigate this on every Cicero crash because commercial coverage can be 40 times higher than a personal auto policy, and the insurance money is where your recovery actually comes from.
MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn is the closest full-service trauma-capable ER for most Cicero crashes. Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood handles higher-level trauma. Some Cicero residents end up at Rush or Stroger in Chicago depending on severity and EMS protocol. Each hospital has its own billing system and its own lien rules, and managing the hospital lien at settlement is part of what a personal injury lawyer does for you. Done wrong, the hospital can eat most of your recovery. Done right, we keep that money in your pocket.
Yes. Illinois law does not bar undocumented residents from filing personal injury claims. You do not need a Social Security number to sue an at-fault driver or an insurance company. You do not need a driver's license — your license status affects liability analysis, not your right to recover for injuries somebody else caused. I handle these cases regularly. Your immigration status stays confidential and is NOT shared with any federal agency by my office. What matters is that you were hurt and somebody else is responsible.
Police reports are a starting point, not a final word. Officers arrive after the crash, often without direct witnesses, and they write down what they see and what the drivers tell them. If the report blames you and you believe that is wrong, we can file an Illinois Traffic Crash Report amendment, gather independent witness statements, and reconstruct the crash using photographs, video, and physical evidence. Some of my biggest recoveries have come from cases where the initial police report was flatly wrong.
The same day if possible, the next day at the latest. Evidence disappears fast. Witnesses leave town, forget details, or change their stories. Camera footage from businesses along Cermak and Ogden is overwritten in 7 to 30 days. The other driver's insurance is already working their investigation while you are still in the hospital. The two-year statute of limitations is the legal deadline, but the practical deadline is much shorter because every day you wait is evidence you lose. Call 312-500-4500. Free consultation, day or night.
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.
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