As our cost of living continues to increase, and our cities become overpopulated, more people will continue to rely on our public transportation, including the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA). Because the CTA commutes a mass number of people each day, the result of a CTA train or bus crash can be enormous.

Severe personal injury, including traumatic brain injury and wrongful death, can be caused by train and bus accidents with other vehicles or pedestrians. Train “L” derailments can cause devastating injuries. Those injured as a result of CTA negligence deserve to be compensated for the injuries that the CTA caused.

Filing negligence claims against the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) arising out of personal injuries sustained in serious public transportation accidents can be a difficult proposition, and those injured should seek a top Chicago lawyer in CTA injury cases. However, this month Illinois injury lawsuits against the CTA became a little less daunting.

On June 1, Illinois Governor Patrick Quinn repealed Section 41 of the Illinois Metropolitan Transit Authority Act (70 ILCS 3605/41), which had imposed a special 6-month notice requirement in lawsuits against the CTA.

Section 41 required the injured person, or his or her attorney, to provide “the name of the person to whom the cause of action has accrued, the name and residence of the person injured, the date and about the hour of the accident, the place or location where the accident occurred and the name and address of the attending physician, if any.” The notice must have been given to the CTA within 6 months of the injury, and had to sent to both the Secretary of the Transit Board and the Office of the General Counsel of the CTA.

Any error in the filing was grounds for dismissal, and the person “forever barred from further suing,” which caused many legitimate negligence claims against the CTA to be thrown out.

The repeal of Section 41 eliminates the 6-month notice requirement, and increases the likelihood of those filing legitimate negligence claims to have their day in court, and be able to collect appropriate damages.
Still, the repeal of Section 41 only applies to “causes of action that accrue on or after” June 1, 2009.

The repeal of this detrimental notice requirement was long overdo. However, the shortened one-year statute of limitations remains in lawsuits against the CTA (as opposed to a 2-year statute of limitations in typical personal injury lawsuits).

Because of this shortened time frame to file a negligence lawsuit against the CTA, and because of the special requirements in these types of cases, having a Chicago attorney experienced in CTA train and bus accident cases will help you recover the maximum compensation you are entitled under Illinois law.