:eek: : We live in Illinois and my son(10 yrs old) cut down to his first knuckle on his ring finger left hand, off in an outside school door. The school insurance sucks and we have picked up the bills and we have gone to the school and asked for the door to be fixed (the school is 2 years old) and the adjust the "arm" whatever that is. But this door still is not moving correctly we have contacted the school 9 time in the last few months about this door and we have gotten the same song and dance the will tighten the arm. My sons finger was reattached with complication and did lose about half of it to infection but the rest of the reattachement looks good. We got blessed with a talented doctor but he has had 7 surgeries and will have 3 or 4 more.
The deal we made with the school was you fix the door so this never happens again and we won't get a lawyer . Ha ha to us we just found out now that it has been one year and 12 days we can get a lawyer to do anything because we only had a year to start a lawsuit. Is their any other action we can take??

The deal we made with the school was you fix the door so this never happens again and we won't get a lawyer . Ha ha to us we just found out now that it has been one year and 12 days we can get a lawyer to do anything because we only had a year to start a lawsuit. Is their any other action we can take??


Who told you, that you only had 1 year?

If it was a lawyer, check with 2 more. Sometimes the lawyer will BS you simply as they feel the suit is either not winnable, or not worth the money.

Contact a personal injury attorney- most advertise in the yellow pages and in newspapers and on tv; the statute of limitations may not be one year and tehre may be other causes of action to pursue besides just that of the injury like the school district being grossly negligent in maintaining the door since the injury was foreseeable as a result of the improper door operation. There are probably still other causes of action that can be brought in a lawsuit. Consult an attorney.

Who told you, that you only had 1 year?

If it was a lawyer, check with 2 more. Sometimes the lawyer will BS you simply as they feel the suit is either not winnable, or not worth the money.

Yes we contacted one lawyer and he said it been a year and we had past all deadlines for filing any type of lawsuits

Contact a personal injury attorney- most advertise in the yellow pages and in newspapers and on tv; the statute of limitations may not be one year and tehre may be other causes of action to pursue besides just that of the injury like the school district being grossly negligent in maintaining the door since the injury was foreseeable as a result of the improper door operation. There are probably still other causes of action that can be brought in a lawsuit. Consult an attorney.

thanks -- My son was not the first child to be hurt in this door but so far he is the one with the most physical damage. So the school was aware these door were causing problems. If the door was manufactured wrong who should take care of getting the door replaced? the school is now only 3 years old.??

thanks -- My son was not the first child to be hurt in this door but so far he is the one with the most physical damage. So the school was aware these door were causing problems. If the door was manufactured wrong who should take care of getting the door replaced? the school is now only 3 years old.??

The school district is responsable for maintaining the property. You should consult with another attorney in this matter.

The Limitation on Personal Injury Actions in Illinois is normall 2 years from the date of the cause of action (accident). Il. Rules Civ. Pro 5/13-202. However, the Illinois Tort Liability of Schools Act, 745 ILCS 25, limits actions to 1 year after the accident.

HOWEVER, the cause of action arose only 14-15 months ago. You can contact a local Personal Injury attorney and he/she can file a Motion for Leave to File Complaint. The Court may grant leave to file after the expiration of the limitations period if doing so would fair and advance justice. In your case, a Court may grant it based on the agreement with the school, the school's inadequate insurance coverage, and the school's failure to inform of the limitations period. This all depends upon the County, the Court and the Judge. IT IS WORTH THE EFFORT. DO SO AS SOON AS POSSIBLE - NEXT MONDAY OR TUESDAY. If you are in Will, DuPage or Cook Counties, I can refer to a few PI attorneys in your area.

BEST OF LUCK and TAKE CARE.