Naperville Car Accident Lawyer Serving DuPage and Will County
We represent Naperville drivers, passengers and pedestrians hurt in crashes on Route 59, Ogden Avenue and the I-88 ramps, and we build the claim around what the injury will actually cost you over time rather than the damage an adjuster can photograph in the first week.
The first offer usually arrives before your treatment does. Call (312) 492-7700
or email
info@lsblaw.net
for a free case evaluation before you answer anything in writing.
Where Naperville Crashes Actually Happen
Most of the crashes we see in this town happen on the same handful of roads, at the same times of day, in the same few patterns.
- The Route 59 retail corridor, where left-turn and rear-end collisions cluster around shopping center entrances and closely spaced signals.
- Ogden Avenue, US-34, carrying east-west traffic and constant cross-town turning movements through the middle of town.
- The I-88 Reagan Memorial Tollway ramps and the I-355 interchange, where the speed difference between merging and through traffic produces the most serious injuries.
- Diehl Road and the office-park traffic that fills and empties it twice a day.
- Naper Boulevard, Washington Street and 75th Street, the surface arterials most Naperville commutes actually run on.
- The Route 59 and downtown Naperville Metra stations on the BNSF line, where station traffic, pickup lanes and pedestrians converge at rush hour.
More than 15,000 traffic crashes were reported in DuPage County in 2021, including 3,534 that injured someone, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation.
A seriously injured Naperville driver is usually taken to Edward Hospital on South Washington Street, and the record created there in the first two days often decides what the claim is worth two years later.
Does Your Naperville Case Go to Wheaton or Joliet?
Naperville sits in two counties, and the line matters. A crash on the DuPage County side is filed in the Circuit Court of DuPage County, the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit, at the courthouse in Wheaton. A crash on the Will County side is filed in the Circuit Court of Will County, the Twelfth Judicial Circuit, in Joliet.
South Naperville extends into Will County, so two collisions a few blocks apart can be heard by two different courts, in front of two different jury pools, on two different schedules. We appear in both.
The Two Illinois Statutes That Decide Most of These Claims
Illinois gives you two years from the date of the crash to file suit under 735 ILCS 5/13-202. Once that date passes, the claim is over regardless of how clear the other driver's fault was.
Under 735 ILCS 5/2-1116 you can recover as long as you were not more than 50% at fault, and your award is reduced by the percentage of blame assigned to you. That percentage is exactly what an adjuster is working toward on the call asking you to describe the crash in your own words. The question about whether you glanced at your phone, or looked left, or had time to brake, is a question about how much your claim is worth.
The call is friendly and well prepared, and it is not on your side. Talk to us before you give a recorded statement. Call (312) 492-7700
or email
info@lsblaw.net.
What If the Driver Who Hit You Had No Insurance?
Illinois requires liability coverage, and plenty of the drivers on Route 59 carry the state minimum or carry nothing at all. When the at-fault driver is uninsured, underinsured, or never stopped, the claim moves to the uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage on your own policy.
That changes who you are dealing with, not how hard the claim is. Your own carrier becomes the opposing party, and it evaluates the file the way any other insurer would. Our page on
uninsured, underinsured and hit-and-run claims explains how that claim proceeds and what the coverage limits mean for your recovery.
What the First Offer Is Pricing, and What It Leaves Out
An early settlement offer is priced on the paperwork that exists the day it is written. If your treatment is not finished, most of your claim is not in the file yet.
- Future medical care, including the surgery, injections or physical therapy a doctor has recommended but not yet performed.
- The lien or subrogation claim your health insurer will assert against whatever you recover.
- Lost income for the weeks you have already missed and the weeks still ahead of you.
- Reduced earning capacity, when the injury permanently changes the work you can do.
- Pain and physical limitation, the part of the injury that never shows up on a bill.
We recovered $2.2 million for a client who needed a lumbar fusion. That figure came from documenting what the injury cost over time. It was not the number written on the first offer.
What to Do in the First Week After a Naperville Crash
Step 1: Get the crash report
Request the report from the Naperville Police Department, or from the responding agency if the crash happened on the tollway or in unincorporated DuPage or Will County. Read it. A wrong diagram or a misplaced statement is far easier to address in week one than in month ten.
Step 2: See a doctor, and keep going back
Gaps in treatment are the first thing an insurer points to. If Edward Hospital discharged you with a referral, keep the appointment and every one after it.
Step 3: Photograph and keep everything
The vehicles, the intersection, the skid marks, your visible injuries, the damaged car seat, every bill, every mileage log, every day of work you missed.
Step 4: Send the adjuster to us
You are not required to give the other driver's insurer a recorded statement, and there is no advantage in doing it before you have advice. Give them our number.
Our Record in Illinois Crash Cases
- $2.2 million recovered for a client who required a lumbar fusion.
- $3 million recovered for a woman struck by a garbage truck.
- $2 million verdict in a collision between an SUV and a truck.
Leonard S. Becker founded this firm in 1993 and has spent more than thirty years in Chicago-area courtrooms. Every case is prepared as though it will be tried, which is the only reason an insurer has to take a settlement number seriously. Our general treatment of Illinois auto accident claims sits on our Chicago car accident page.
We take Naperville cases on a contingency fee. There is no fee unless we recover compensation for you, the fee comes out of the recovery rather than your pocket, and the case evaluation is free. Our page on
how our fees work sets out the arrangement in full.
Hurt in a Crash While You Were on the Job?
A crash that happens while you are driving for work can produce a
workers' compensation claim and a claim against the at-fault driver at the same time, and the two interact. Handled in the wrong order, the compensation carrier's lien can absorb most of what you recover from the driver.
We Appear in DuPage and Will County, and We Travel to You
Our office is at 311 N. Aberdeen, Suite 200D in Chicago, about ten blocks west of the Loop. You do not have to come to it. We appear in Wheaton and in Joliet, and when an injury keeps you from traveling we meet you at your home or in your hospital room in Naperville, Aurora, Lisle or Bolingbrook.
The rest of the Chicagoland communities and counties we serve are listed on our
locations page, from Cook and DuPage through Lake, Will, Kane, McHenry and Kankakee.
Questions Naperville Drivers Ask Us First
How long do I have to sue after a car accident in DuPage County?
Two years from the date of the crash, under 735 ILCS 5/13-202. A wrongful death claim runs two years from the date of death, and a claim against a city, county or other local public body runs on a much shorter clock. Waiting also costs you evidence, because intersection camera footage and vehicle data recorders are often gone within months.
What court hears a Naperville car accident case?
It depends which side of the county line the crash happened on. A DuPage County crash is filed in the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit at the courthouse in Wheaton, and a Will County crash is filed in the Twelfth Judicial Circuit in Joliet. We appear in both, so the answer does not change who handles your claim.
Can I still recover if I was partly at fault for the crash?
Yes, as long as your share of the fault is not more than 50%. Illinois uses modified comparative negligence under 735 ILCS 5/2-1116, and a recovery is reduced by the percentage of blame assigned to you rather than eliminated. This is why an insurer's early questions circle back to what you were doing in the seconds before impact.
What happens if the driver who hit me in Naperville had no insurance?
The claim shifts to the uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage on your own auto policy, which is coverage you already paid for. Your insurer then stands in the place of the at-fault driver and evaluates the claim on the same terms any other carrier would. Hit-and-run crashes are handled under the same coverage when the driver is never identified.
Do I need a lawyer for a car accident in Naperville?
If the crash involved anything beyond minor vehicle damage, treatment that is still ongoing, a disputed account of fault, or an uninsured driver, then yes. Those are the situations where the difference between a first offer and a full recovery is large. The evaluation is free, so finding out what your claim involves does not commit you to anything.
Get the Claim Started While the Evidence Is Fresh
Two years is the filing deadline, not the working window. Camera footage, vehicle data, witness memory and the medical record all set within the first weeks, and the adjuster is already working on the version of events that costs the least.
Call (312) 492-7700, email info@lsblaw.net, or send us the details of your crash and we will tell you what your claim involves and what your deadlines are.