Uninsured Motorist Accident Lawyer Chicago

Uninsured Motorist Accident Lawyer in Chicago

I’m Scott D. DeSalvo. I’ve been going head-to-head with insurance companies since 1998. Over 3,000 cases. And I’ve personally taken more than 30 of them all the way to a jury.

You pay your premiums faithfully. Year after year. The invoice lands in your inbox, and you write the check without thinking twice. You’re doing the responsible thing. You’re protecting yourself. And then one afternoon, somebody blows through a stop sign or runs a red light and smashes into you. Your car is destroyed. You’re hurt. And when the dust starts to clear, you discover something that makes your blood boil: the person who hit you has no insurance. Nothing. Not a scrap of coverage. Or maybe they scrounged together the absolute state minimum—$25,000—which doesn’t even cover the ambulance ride and the hospital bill.

Here’s what most people think at this point, I’m out of luck.

That’s dead wrong.

Illinois law exists specifically for this situation. It’s called uninsured motorist coverage. UM, for short. And there’s a sister product called underinsured motorist coverage—UIM. The statute is 215 ILCS 5/143a. It’s been the law for decades. And it requires your own insurance company to protect you when the other driver carries nothing or not enough.

The problem isn’t that the law doesn’t exist. The problem is what happens when you actually try to invoke it.

Your insurance company—the one you’ve been throwing money at for ten, fifteen, maybe twenty years—stops acting like your ally. They stop being your friend. They suddenly turn into an adversary. Because now your claim is their claim. The money that comes out is their money. And they hate that. They’ll do almost anything to avoid it.

When the Other Driver Carries No Insurance

The wording of 215 ILCS 5/143a is actually straightforward. It says your insurance company must have your back in precisely this situation. You got T-boned by someone with zero coverage. Your uninsured motorist policy kicks in. Your carrier becomes responsible for covering your medical bills, your lost wages, your pain and suffering. Up to the limit you selected when you bought the policy.

Most Chicago drivers have this protection already and don’t even realize it. If they signed the policy documents without explicitly opting out in writing, they’ve got it. Not an email. Not a phone call where someone said they didn’t want it. An actual written form declining coverage. Almost nobody has done that.

But here’s the trap, knowing you have the coverage and actually getting your insurance company to pay it are two completely different things.

They’ll delay. They’ll second-guess your medical treatment. They’ll argue about the extent of your injuries. They’ll hire their own doctors to contradict your actual doctors. They’ll hire lawyers. Lots of them. All of it designed to accomplish one goal: convince you to take less money than you’re actually owed so they can close the file and move on.

Your Own Policy May Be the One That Pays

This is where it gets interesting. When you file a UM claim, you’re not suing the uninsured driver. I mean, you can, but they’ve got nothing to collect from anyway. The real claim goes straight against your own policy.

Say you have $100,000 in UM coverage. The uninsured driver who hit you caused $85,000 in injuries. Your own insurance company is legally obligated to pay it. That’s how the statute works.

Now layer in underinsured motorist coverage. Same concept, different trigger. The at-fault driver has insurance, but their limits are too low. Maybe $25,000 in liability. Your injuries total $75,000. Your UIM coverage fills the $50,000 gap. Again, your own carrier is on the hook.

The word “own” is critical here. Your policy. Your money. Your coverage. You’ve been paying premiums for this exact scenario.

And yet when you actually need it, your insurer behaves as if you’re asking for charity.

How Your Own Insurance Company Turns Against You

This is the dirty secret nobody talks about. UM and UIM claims get fought harder than almost any other claim type. Harder than third-party claims. Harder than property damage. Harder than anything.

Why? Because the calculus is completely different.

When you’re going after the uninsured driver’s assets, there’s nothing there. They’ve got nothing. So it doesn’t matter. But when you’re going after your own insurance company’s UM coverage, it’s coming straight out of the fund that pays all their other claims. They know the money is gone if they pay you. So they’re fighting with everything they’ve got.

Here are the standard moves they make:

The early lowball offer. Three weeks after the accident, before you’ve even finished seeing doctors, they call with a number. It sounds decent on the surface. But your treatment isn’t complete. You don’t know yet if you’ll need surgery, or months of physical therapy. They’re counting on you jumping at it before you understand the full scope of what happened to you.

The medical second-guessing. They hire a doctor—someone who has never examined you, has never even spoken to you—to write a report saying your injuries aren’t as serious as your treating physicians claim. Your treatment was excessive. You recovered faster than your records show. Your symptoms are inconsistent with the objective findings. All of it is designed to create doubt about whether you actually need what your doctors say you need.

The wage loss challenge. You missed four months of work. You can prove it. But they’ll argue you could have returned sooner. You dragged your feet. Your employer would have brought you back if you’d pushed harder. Never mind that your doctor said no. Never mind that you were in pain. They’re going to shave dollars off that number any way they can.

The deposition marathon. They sit you down for hours with their lawyer and ask detailed questions designed to find inconsistencies. Something you say about your pain doesn’t line up with something you said at a doctor’s appointment six months ago? That’s ammunition. Every word gets recorded. Every contradiction gets highlighted. They’re building a case against you—with their own insured.

The restrictive settlement language. They offer money, but it comes with chains. You sign away your right to future treatment. You agree never to pursue the uninsured driver. You waive arbitration rights. They’re locking in the lowest number they can and making sure you can never come back for more.

That’s the game. And most people are playing without understanding the rules.

Three Decades of Beating Insurance Companies at Their Own Game

When I was nine years old, my father was catastrophically hurt on the job. He was a Teamster truck driver. The case dragged on seventeen years. At the end of it, his own lawyer sued him for legal fees. That experience shaped everything I became.

I armed myself. Gerry Spence Trial Lawyers College. Keenan Trial Institute. More than half a million dollars in advanced litigation training. Thirty-plus jury trials under my belt. Over a hundred arbitrations. I didn’t just decide to become a lawyer. I decided to become a lawyer who knows how to fight insurance companies. Specifically.

I understand these cases inside and out. I know the mechanics of UM and UIM law in Illinois cold. I know what insurance adjusters are thinking when they look at your file. I know what moves they’ll make and when they’ll make them. I know what it takes to push them off their position.

When I call an insurance company and tell them I’m ready to go to arbitration on a UM or UIM claim, they know I’m not bluffing. They know I’ve tried cases. They know I’ve won cases. They know I’ll invest the time and resources to build your case the right way. That knowledge changes the conversation. It changes what they’re willing to put on the table.

Over the past 28 years, I’ve represented more than 3,000 clients. I’ve sat across tables from the same adjusters, the same defense lawyers, the same insurance company gatekeepers. They know who I am. And they know what I’m capable of doing.

That reputation is worth money. Your money.

What You’re Owed After an Uninsured Motorist Crash

Illinois law spells out exactly what damages are available in a UM or UIM case. There are no secrets here. These are the buckets:

Economic damages. Medical bills, and I mean all of them. ER, hospital, surgeon, physical therapy, imaging, prescriptions, medical devices, ongoing treatment. If your injuries require care down the line, we calculate the present value of what that’s going to cost. An economist and a life care planner can map that out in detail.

Lost wages. Income you didn’t earn because you couldn’t work. If the injury permanently changed your earning capacity—meaning you’ll never make what you would have made without the injury—we recover for that too. A vocational expert calculates what you would have earned over your remaining career minus what you’ll likely earn now.

Pain and suffering. The physical pain itself, the emotional impact, the activities you can’t do anymore, the anxiety and depression that followed the accident, the strain on your marriage. You lost the ability to play with your kids because of back pain? That has a dollar value. You have nightmares? So does your loss of peace of mind.

Scarring and permanent disfigurement. Visible scars carry both cosmetic and emotional consequences. You recover for both.

Loss of enjoyment of life. The hobbies you can’t pursue anymore, the activities that brought you joy before the accident. All of that is compensable.

One important thing: Illinois law does not allow punitive damages in UM and UIM cases. But it does allow attorney’s fees and costs if the insurance company acts unreasonably. And “unreasonably” has specific legal meaning—refusing a claim without justification, delaying unnecessarily, drastically underpaying a claim, or forcing arbitration on something that should have settled. Insurance companies know this, and it’s one more reason they think twice before pushing too hard.

The value of your case depends on the severity of your injuries. Minor soft tissue injury? Maybe $15,000 to $50,000. A broken bone with ongoing complications? $75,000 to $250,000. A permanent spinal injury that affects your ability to work? Potentially much higher. The details matter.

Here’s What to Do Right Now

312-500-4500. Call right now. We answer twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, three hundred sixty-five days a year. This is a real person. Not an answering service. Not a recording. A real lawyer's office.

Here’s what happens when you call.

We talk. I listen to your story. I ask questions about the accident, your injuries, your treatment, your medical history, your work situation, your life. I look at whatever documents you have—police reports, medical records, insurance paperwork. The initial consultation is free. I don’t charge you to understand your case.

I request your complete medical records from every provider. These form the backbone of your claim. Without thorough documentation, the case doesn’t have weight.

I put together a demand package. Not a form letter. A detailed presentation. Your injuries, your damages, your lost wages, your medical costs, comparable arbitration results from Illinois, the law that supports your recovery. The whole point is forcing your insurance company to take you seriously from day one.

Then I negotiate. I don’t accept their first offer. I don’t accept their second offer either if it’s unfair. I challenge their medical arguments. I explain why their wage loss calculations are wrong. I make them understand that their position doesn’t hold up and that arbitration will end up costing them more.

If they won’t pay what the case is worth, we go to arbitration. I prepare you for your deposition and your hearing. I coordinate with your medical providers. I bring in experts where needed. I build a case the arbitrator will find credible and compelling.

And here’s the part that changes everything, you pay me nothing unless we win. Not a retainer. Not a consultation fee. Not a dime. You don’t owe me anything for medical records, expert reports, filing fees, arbitration costs. If we don’t recover money, you owe me zero. That puts us on the same team. Your success is my success. I have every financial reason to fight as hard as humanly possible. I don’t rush you into settling because I need cash flow. I push the case as far as it needs to go, because that’s what you deserve.

When we do recover, I take a percentage—typically a third.

Law Office of Scott D. DeSalvo, LLC

1000 Jorie Boulevard, Suite 204, Oak Brook, Illinois 60523

312-500-4500 

Uninsured Motorist Questions I Get Asked Constantly

Q: What’s the actual difference between UM and UIM coverage?

UM applies when the driver who hit you has zero insurance. Completely uninsured. Your UM coverage activates and covers your injuries up to whatever limit you chose. UIM is the underinsured version. The other driver has insurance, but their limits are too low for your injuries. Say they have $25,000 in liability but your damages total $80,000. Your UIM kicks in and covers the gap—up to your UIM limit. Both are required by Illinois law unless you specifically signed a written form declining coverage. The form has to be written. Not verbal. Not implied. Actually written.

Q: Do I definitely have this coverage?

Almost certainly yes. 215 ILCS 5/143a makes UM and UIM mandatory unless you signed a written rejection. Look at your policy’s declarations page or ask your agent. But honestly, most people discover they have it only after they need it. I’ve had clients with $250,000 in coverage who had no idea it existed until their car got totaled by an uninsured driver.

Q: Can I combine coverage from multiple vehicles?

Sometimes. If you own two cars and each has $100,000 in UM coverage, you might be able to stack them for $200,000. But the declarations on both policies have to be correct and the claim has to be filed properly. Insurance companies basically never volunteer this information. This is exactly where having a lawyer makes the difference. You could be leaving hundreds of thousands on the table without knowing it.

Q: What if my health insurance or workers’ comp already paid?

Illinois has anti-subrogation protections specifically for this situation. Your insurance company cannot reduce your UM or UIM settlement based on payments you got from other sources. Other sources meaning your health insurance, workers’ comp, government benefits. The law is explicit. But that doesn’t stop some insurers from trying creative workarounds. You need someone who knows how to push back.

Q: How much is my case really worth?

It depends. Hard to give a number without the details. The severity of your injuries matters. How clear the liability is matters. How much medical treatment you’ve had matters. Whether your injuries are permanent matters. Whether they affect your ability to earn money matters. A soft tissue injury with $10,000 in medical bills is fundamentally different from a broken femur with $60,000 in bills and six months of rehabilitation. A full recovery case is worth less than a permanent injury case. That’s what the initial consultation is for—to dig into the specifics and give you real numbers.

Q: Will I have to go to arbitration?

Most UM and UIM cases settle before arbitration. But that only happens because the insurance company believes you’re genuinely willing to go. I build every case as though we’re heading to arbitration. That preparation is usually what produces a settlement. But if they won’t pay what the case is worth, we arbitrate. I’ve done it well over a hundred times. The insurance company knows that too.

Q: What’s your fee structure?

Contingency only. You don’t pay a dime up front. Not for the initial consultation, not for any filing fees, not for expert reports, not for anything. I get paid only if we recover money. My fee is typically 33% of the settlement or judgment. If the case is particularly complex or goes to arbitration, it can be up to 40%. If we come up empty, you owe me nothing.

Q: How long does a UM or UIM case usually take?

Straightforward cases can resolve in three to six months. Complex ones might take a year or longer. Arbitration adds time because you need proper preparation, document exchange, depositions, then waiting for the hearing to be scheduled. How quickly things move depends on how aggressively your insurance company fights, how serious your injuries are, and how thoroughly your case is prepared. I don’t rush cases just to close them. I move them at the speed the evidence dictates.

Q: What should I do immediately after getting hit by an uninsured driver?

Get medical care immediately. Even if you feel fine. Some injuries don’t show up for hours or days. Make sure a police report is filed. Get the other driver’s information and any witness names. Photograph the damage to your car, the scene, and your injuries if there are visible marks. Do not apologize. Do not admit fault. Do not give a recorded statement to the other driver’s insurance company without talking to a lawyer first. And call me—312-500-4500—as soon as you can. The earlier I’m involved, the stronger your position.

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