Child Passenger Injuries in Illinois Car Accidents

Last Updated: October 24, 2026

Section 735 ILCS 5/13-211(a) lets a child who was under 18 when a covered claim accrued bring that action within 2 years after attaining 18. In Lee v. Naperville Community Unit School District 203, 2015 IL App (2d) 150143, paragraph 14, the court held that section 13-211 tolls an action governed by 745 ILCS 10/8-101(a) until the plaintiff attains 18, and section 8-101 then requires the action within one year. The one-year period in that holding does not run through childhood, and two years after age 18 was not enough in that case.

The Two Periods

735 ILCS 5/13-202 says an action for damages for an injury to the person shall be commenced within 2 years next after the cause of action accrued. That two-year sentence does not cover damages resulting from first-degree murder or a Class X felony when the perpetrator is convicted of that crime. The source is P.A. 99-90, effective January 1, 2016. The section measures the period from accrual. It does not say every car crash starts the period on the calendar date of the crash.

Section 13-211(a) applies when the person entitled to bring an action specified in sections 13-201 through 13-210 was under the age of 18, or under a legal disability, when the cause of action accrued. That person may bring the action within 2 years after attaining the age of 18, or after the disability is removed. The source is P.A. 98-1077, effective January 1, 2015. The subsection does not name section 8-101. That omission does not decide the interplay. Lee was a personal-injury action against a school district and its board of education. Paragraph 14 holds that section 13-211 tolls the period until the plaintiff attains 18, and section 8-101 requires the action within one year after that. The complaint, filed one day before the plaintiff’s twentieth birthday, was untimely. Footnote 2 says the General Assembly may assign a different period when a statute’s language shows that intent. Section 13-211 does not say “notwithstanding any other provision of law.”

Current section 8-101(a) is one year from the date the injury was received or the cause of action accrued, for a civil action against a local entity or its employees other than an action described in subsection (b). Subsection (b) is the patient-care action: no more than 2 years after the first of actual knowledge, reasonable-diligence knowledge, or written notice, and no more than 4 years after the act, omission, or occurrence. The source is P.A. 93-11, effective June 4, 2003. Lee applied the one-year period in section 8-101(a). It did not apply the patient-care limits in current subsection (b). 745 ILCS 10/8-102 is repealed.

735 ILCS 5/13-203 covers loss of consortium and other actions deriving from injury to the person of another, including actions for the medical expenses of minors or persons under a legal disability. Those actions shall be commenced within the same period as the injured person’s action, except damages resulting from first-degree murder or a Class X felony. Where section 13-211 tolls or extends the injured person’s time, section 13-203 tolls or extends the derivative action to coincide with the period in which the injured person must file. A qualifying derivative claim therefore follows the child’s period, including the one year after age 18 when Lee applies section 8-101(a) to that child. A parent who was independently injured has that parent’s own claim. Section 13-203 does not give every claim a parent files the child’s period, and it does not exclude every parental claim from the extension. The source is P.A. 88-22.

Who May Commence the Child’s Proceeding

755 ILCS 5/11-13(d) says any proceeding on behalf of a minor may be commenced and prosecuted by a next friend, without any previous authority or appointment by the court, if the next friend enters bond for costs and files it in the court where the proceeding is pending. The same subsection says this does not impair the court’s power to appoint a representative or next friend. If the representative of the minor’s estate and another person as next friend both appear, and the attorney’s compensation is solely a contingent fee, the guardian of the estate shall not participate in, or have a duty to review, the prosecution, the appropriateness of any settlement, or the fees. The source is P.A. 101-329, effective August 9, 2019.

The Restraint Rules

625 ILCS 25/4 applies when a person transports a child under the age of 8 in a non-commercial motor vehicle of the first division, a truck or truck tractor equipped with seat safety belts, another motor vehicle of the second division with a gross vehicle weight rating of 9,000 pounds or less, or a recreational vehicle, on a roadway, street, or highway in this State. That person shall properly secure the child in an appropriate child restraint system. The parent or legal guardian of a child under 8 shall provide a child restraint system to any person who transports the child. A child under the age of 2, in a first-division vehicle or a second-division vehicle weighing 9,000 pounds or less, shall be secured in a rear-facing child restraint system unless the child weighs 40 or more pounds or is 40 or more inches tall. The source is P.A. 100-672, effective January 1, 2019.

625 ILCS 25/4a says every person transporting a child 8 or older but under 16, as provided in section 4, shall properly secure that child in a seat belt. Section 5 says failure to secure a child under 8 in an approved child restraint system shall not constitute contributory negligence and shall not be admissible as evidence in the trial of any civil action. The source of section 5 is P.A. 93-100, effective January 1, 2004. 625 ILCS 5/12-603.1(c) is the separate seat-belt rule: failure to wear a seat belt in violation of that section shall not be considered evidence of negligence, shall not limit the liability of an insurer, and shall not diminish any recovery.

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Frequently Asked Questions

When may a child bring a bodily-injury action?

Section 13-211(a) says a person who was under 18 when the cause of action accrued may bring the action within 2 years after attaining the age of 18. Lee, paragraph 14, holds that section 13-211 tolls an action governed by section 8-101(a) until age 18, and section 8-101 then requires the action within one year. The one-year period does not run through childhood. Current section 8-101(b) states a separate patient-care period, and Lee did not apply that subsection.

Does a next friend need a prior court appointment?

Section 11-13(d) says a next friend may commence and prosecute a proceeding on behalf of a minor without previous authority or appointment if the next friend enters bond for costs and files it in the court where the proceeding is pending.

Does failure to use a child restraint reduce the child’s damages?

Section 5 says failure to secure a child under 8 in an approved child restraint shall not constitute contributory negligence and shall not be admissible in any civil action. Section 12-603.1(c) says seat-belt nonuse in violation of that section shall not diminish any recovery.

Does the childhood period apply to a parent’s separate claim?

Section 13-203 gives a qualifying derivative claim, including a claim for a minor’s medical expenses, the same period as the injured child’s action, and it extends that claim when section 13-211 extends the child’s time. A parent who was independently injured has a separate claim. The section does not put every parental claim on the child’s period, and it does not keep every parental claim off that period.

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