A broken bone is rarely “just” a broken bone. Even a clean closed fracture means weeks in a cast or boot, missed work, physical therapy, and the long-term risk of arthritis at the fracture site. Open fractures, comminuted fractures, and hip fractures in older adults can mean multiple surgeries, hardware that stays in place for life, and permanent loss of function. If you or a family member sustained a fracture in a Chicago car crash, fall, workplace incident, or assault, the lawyers at Phillips Law Offices are ready to investigate, line up the medical proof, and pursue every dollar of compensation the law allows.

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Common causes of fractures in Chicago

• Car, truck, motorcycle, bicycle, and pedestrian crashes on the Kennedy, Dan Ryan, Eisenhower, Stevenson, Edens, Lake Shore Drive, and Chicago’s surface arterials. Pedestrian and cyclist fractures from car strikes are some of the most severe in the city.
• Slips, trips, and falls on poorly maintained property – icy sidewalks, unsalted entryways, broken stairs, torn carpet, unsecured rugs, missing handrails, and code-violating lighting. Hip and wrist fractures dominate this category for older adults.
• Workplace fall-from-height and crush injuries on construction sites in the West Loop, Fulton Market, and downtown high-rise projects. Open tibia and pelvis fractures are common.
• Defective products that cause sudden force loading – failed scaffolds, ladders, exercise equipment, and consumer products under product-liability rules.
• Assaults and battery at bars, parking lots, and rideshare incidents – often involving facial, orbital, and rib fractures.
• Sports collisions involving negligence – coach or league supervisory failures, defective playing surfaces, and unsafe equipment.
• Nursing-home falls caused by under-staffing, missed care plans, and unmonitored fall-risk patients.

Fracture types we see in case files

• Closed (simple) fracture – the bone breaks but the skin is intact. Treatment is usually casting or splinting.
• Open (compound) fracture – the bone breaks through the skin. Requires emergency surgical washout and, almost always, internal fixation. High infection risk.
• Comminuted (multi-fragment) fracture – the bone shatters into three or more pieces. Requires open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) with plates and screws.
• Greenstick fracture in children – the bone bends and cracks on one side without breaking through.
• Stress fracture from repetitive trauma. Common in athletes, military trainees, and overuse injuries.
• Compression fracture of the vertebrae from axial loading – falls from height, MVAs, and osteoporotic insufficiency fractures in older adults.
• Hip fractures in elderly victims – femoral neck and intertrochanteric fractures. Often life-threatening because of post-operative complications, deep vein thrombosis, and rapid functional decline.
• Femur, tibia, and fibula fractures from high-energy MVAs and falls from height. Often require intramedullary rodding.
• Pelvis fractures from auto-pedestrian and high-energy crash impacts – the most severe category, often associated with internal bleeding.
• Wrist (Colles) fractures – the classic FOOSH (fall on outstretched hand) injury. Common in slip-and-fall and bicycle cases.
• Ankle and foot fractures – bimalleolar, trimalleolar, Lisfranc, and calcaneus fractures. Often require ORIF and leave permanent stiffness.
• Rib fractures with pulmonary complications – flail chest, pneumothorax, and pulmonary contusion. Common in seatbelt and side-impact crashes.

Who is liable in a Chicago fracture case

• At-fault drivers in motor-vehicle, motorcycle, bicycle, and pedestrian crashes.
• Property owners and managers in slip, trip, and fall cases under the Premises Liability Act, 740 ILCS 130/2.
• Employers in workplace fractures – through the Workers’ Compensation Act, 820 ILCS 305 – and through separate third-party claims against subcontractors, equipment manufacturers, and site owners.
• Product manufacturers for defective ladders, scaffolds, exercise machines, vehicles, and seat-belt systems under Illinois product-liability law.
• Nursing homes and assisted-living facilities when an under-supervised fall-risk patient sustains a hip or pelvis fracture.
• Government entities in narrow circumstances – subject to the strict notice and one-year limitations rules of the Tort Immunity Act, 745 ILCS 10/8-101.
• Bar, restaurant, and venue owners in dram-shop and over-service cases where intoxication contributed to the assault.

The Illinois law that drives a fracture case

• Statute of limitations – personal injury: two years from the date of injury under 735 ILCS 5/13-202.
• Wrongful death: two years under 740 ILCS 180/2. Critical in elderly hip-fracture deaths.
• Modified comparative fault (50% bar): 735 ILCS 5/2-1116.
• Premises Liability Act: 740 ILCS 130/2.
• Tort Immunity Act: 745 ILCS 10/8-101 – one-year statute and formal notice for cases against local-government defendants.
• Workers’ Compensation Act: 820 ILCS 305. Covers on-the-job fractures, including the permanency award and TTD benefits.
• Mandatory auto insurance: 215 ILCS 5/143a.
• Duty to report and remain at the scene: 625 ILCS 5/11-401 and 5/11-403.

What to do in the first 72 hours after a fracture

1. Get to a Level I trauma center. Northwestern Memorial, Stroger, Rush, University of Chicago Medicine, and Loyola are the major adult trauma centers. Lurie Children’s handles pediatric trauma. Diagnostic imaging (X-ray, CT, sometimes MRI) is what locks in the fracture pattern and the surgical plan.
2. Make sure a police or incident report is generated. Crashes need a Chicago Police, Illinois State Police, or municipal-PD report. Workplace fractures need an OSHA-300 entry and an incident report. Slip-and-fall fractures need an incident report from the property manager.
3. Photograph the scene. Hazards disappear – ice melts, spills get cleaned, broken stair treads get replaced overnight. Photos and video taken in the first 24 hours can be the difference between a strong case and a defensible one.
4. Save the footwear and clothing. Falls cases often turn on the surface and the shoes. Do not throw out what you were wearing.
5. Do not give a recorded statement to the at-fault insurer. Adjusters call within 24 to 48 hours specifically because they know you are still in shock and on pain medication. You are not required to talk to them.
6. Call a bone-fracture lawyer right away. Surveillance footage, building maintenance logs, and corporate inspection records can be overwritten or replaced on rolling cycles. A spoliation letter has to go out fast.

How Phillips Law Offices investigates a Chicago fracture case

1. Day 1 – Spoliation and evidence-preservation letters. We put the defendant, the property owner, the property manager, and any insurer on written notice to preserve surveillance, maintenance logs, work orders, weather records, and incident reports.
2. Scene reconstruction. We retain accident reconstruction engineers, biomechanics experts, and, in fall cases, slip-resistance experts (CoF testing on the actual surface).
3. Medical workup. We coordinate with treating orthopedic surgeons and, where the injuries warrant it, life-care planners and vocational economists to project future surgeries, hardware-removal procedures, and wage losses.
4. Insurance and corporate discovery. We identify every layer of coverage – auto, homeowner, commercial general liability, umbrella, excess, and Workers’ Comp – so the full coverage is on the table.
5. Resolution. Most cases resolve through pre-suit negotiation or mediation. When the carrier will not pay fair value, we file suit and try the case.

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What our Illinois clients have said

Client testimonials reflect individual experiences and are not a guarantee of any particular result. Every case is unique and is evaluated on its own facts.

Frequently asked questions

How much is a fracture case worth in Illinois?

Case value depends on the type and severity of the fracture, whether surgery was required, the recovery timeline, lost income, permanent impairment, and the available insurance coverage. A simple closed wrist fracture that heals in a cast resolves very differently than an open femur fracture requiring ORIF and rehabilitation. Past results are not a guarantee; every case is evaluated on its own facts.

What if surgery (ORIF) was needed?

Open reduction and internal fixation, often using plates, rods, or screws, significantly raises case value because it documents a serious fracture, a longer recovery, surgical scarring, and the risk of future hardware-removal procedures. Surgical fractures also tend to leave measurable permanent impairment, which supports loss-of-normal-life damages under Illinois law.

Does Workers’ Comp cover my work fracture?

Yes. If you fractured a bone on the job in Illinois, the Workers’ Compensation Act (820 ILCS 305) provides medical care, temporary total disability benefits, and a permanency award. Workers’ Comp is the exclusive remedy against your employer, but a separate third-party personal-injury claim can still be filed against a non-employer defendant who caused the injury – a subcontractor, a property owner, or a product manufacturer.

What if I have permanent disability from the fracture?

Permanent impairment is one of the largest categories of damages in Illinois. A treating orthopedic surgeon assigns an impairment rating, and a vocational economist projects the lifetime impact on your ability to work. Hip, pelvis, spine, and complex extremity fractures often leave permanent restrictions that drive significant recoveries.

What if the fracture happened in a fall on someone’s property?

Slip, trip, and fall fractures are premises-liability claims under 740 ILCS 130/2. We look at whether the property owner knew or should have known about the hazard – ice and snow, broken stairs, torn carpet, unsecured rugs, missing handrails, code violations. The two-year personal-injury statute under 735 ILCS 5/13-202 applies; if a public entity is involved, the one-year notice rule under the Tort Immunity Act (745 ILCS 10/8-101) cuts the window in half.

How long do I have to file a fracture lawsuit in Illinois?

Illinois gives most adult personal-injury plaintiffs two years from the date of the injury to file suit under 735 ILCS 5/13-202. Wrongful death follows a two-year window under 740 ILCS 180/2. Cases against public entities (e.g., a fall on a CTA platform or in a city building) shrink to one year under the Tort Immunity Act, 745 ILCS 10/8-101.

Contact our Chicago bone fracture lawyer

If you have suffered a fracture in a Chicago, Cook County, DuPage County, Lake County, or Will County incident, call Phillips Law Offices for a free, no-obligation case review. The sooner we get the spoliation letter out and the investigation started, the stronger your case will be. Reach us any time at (312) 346-4262.

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Related Phillips Law Offices pages

• Chicago Personal Injury Lawyers (main practice page)
• Premises Liability Attorneys
• Chicago Car Accident Lawyers
• Chicago Truck Accident Lawyers
• Motorcycle Accident Lawyers
• Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect
• Contact Phillips Law Offices

Page reviewed by the attorneys at Phillips Law Offices. The information on this page is for general education only and is not legal advice. Reading this page does not create an attorney-client relationship. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. No aspect of these advertisements has been approved by the Supreme Court of Illinois.