Does My CTA Injury Case Have A DEADLINE?

All Kinds of Injury Cases Have Deadlines and Your CTA Injury Case Does, Too!

If you miss a deadline, your case could be over before you know it. 

The most common kind of deadline we talk about is what lawyers call a "Statute of Limitations".  That's a fancy term for actual laws which limit how long you have to have your case settled or to file a law suit.

So if you MISS a "Statute of Limitations" on a CTA injury case, then you may be out of luck.  You might not be able to collect any money for your medical bills and injuries or even file a law suit after the deadline to go to Court.

There is a specific law for deadlines on CTA accident cases...

In some kinds of cases, there is a specific law which says how long you have to sue for that kind of case.  Examples include medical malpractice cases or cases against the City.

Well, the CTA is considered a part of the City of Chicago, so that deadline applies to injuries on or caused by the CTA.  

You Have One Year From The Date You Were Injured To File A Law Suit Against the CTA.

But to know your deadline or deadlines if other people were also involved in causing you to get hurt, look at the Defendants -- the people and/or companies that hurt you.

When there isn't a specific law, then you look to the general law on deadlines.

The main injury deadline law says that you have 2 years from the date of your injury to file a law suit, and if you do not, then your case is over.

But there are some excpetions based on who you say hurt you.

The deadline is 2 years from the date of your injury for almost everyone.  

The exception is if you are claiming that a City is responsible for your injuries. 

 If you are making a claim for injuries against a City or City worker (or the CTA as we talked about above), then you have ONE YEAR to file a law suit.  

This could be a claim that the City did something that caused you to fall, or hit you with a bus, or any other way they might be responsible or partially responsible for causing your injuries.

That's the most important deadline.

What is the 'other' CTA injury case deadline that most lawyers never tell you?

There is another deadline, perhaps almost important as the first.

It is the time limit for actually getting a lawyer who is willing to take your case. A lot of people do not know this, but there are many times after a CTA accident where the injured person has a 'decision point' about what to do.

THIS IS ESPECIALLY TRUE IN A CTA INJURY CASE BECAUSE YOU HAVE ONLY ONE YEAR TO FILE A LAW SUIT.

These 'decisions points' include questions like:

• Who should I see for my injuries?
• Should I give a recorded statement?
• Should I sign their papers?
• Should I delay going to the doctor?
• Should I take an early and low settlement or wait?
• And a thousand others...

Remember that the involved insurance or claims companies (including the CTA) want to move you towards decisions which make your case unproveable.  So if you make some decisions which later hurt your case, it becomes challenging.  Some problems can be mitigated or fixed.  Some cannot.

So the 'second deadline' comes down to:  can you find a great injury lawyer willing to take your CTA crash case a long time after the accident happened?

That's because good lawyers know that the closer to the deadline, on average, the more problems the case has, and the less time the lawyer has to investigate the CTA injury case.

If you have too many problems with your case, or if you call a lawyer too close to a deadline, it might be hard to get a high quality and qualified lawyer to take the case.