A crash in Lombard can turn an ordinary drive down Roosevelt Road into months of medical bills, missed paychecks, and calls from insurance adjusters who seem more interested in closing your file than helping you. A Lombard personal injury lawyer steps in so you can focus on healing while someone else handles the evidence, the paperwork, and the negotiations.
Some of the hardest cases we see start with a driver who chose to get behind the wheel after drinking. If a drunk driver hit you near I-355 or on your way home from Yorktown Center, you may have claims that go beyond a typical accident case. The Law Offices of Michael W. Kopsick handles impaired driving injury claims in Lombard.
What a Dram Shop Claim Requires in Illinois
The Illinois Dram Shop Act, 235 ILCS 5/6-21, gives a victim injured by an intoxicated person a right of action against a licensee who, by selling or giving alcoholic liquor, caused that intoxication. It does not require proof that the bartender knew the patron was drunk.
What it does require is a licensed seller, alcohol that materially contributed to the intoxication, and injury to somebody other than the drinker. That last limit is firm: the Act confers no cause of action for injuries to the intoxicated person himself.
Like other civil claims, it is proved to the ordinary preponderance of the evidence standard.
Damages are subject to statutory limits, which the state sets and adjusts each year rather than leaving to a jury. If you wish to see other cases our firm handles, you will notice we cover many practice areas, and that broad scope comes after years of experience defending crash victims throughout the state.
One Year, and It Is Easy to Miss
A dram shop action must be brought within one year of injury. The claim against the drunk driver personally is an ordinary negligence claim on the ordinary two year clock. Those two deadlines run side by side out of the same crash, and a victim who assumes the longer one applies to everything can lose the establishment claim while the driver claim is still perfectly alive.
Where the driver carries minimum limits, that lost claim may have been the larger of the two.
One further wrinkle applies where someone died. The Illinois Wrongful Death Act allows a longer period where the defendant is charged with certain criminal offenses, and criminal charges are common in these cases. That extension reaches the wrongful death action against the driver; it does not lengthen the one year dram shop period.
The auto accident claims the firm handles involving alcohol are worked on the shorter calendar from day one.
Building the Service Evidence
Proving where someone drank is a documentary challenge. Card receipts, tabs, point of sale records and interior camera footage can all establish it, and all are held by the establishment rather than by the injured person. Lombard's restaurant and bar concentration along the Butterfield Road corridor and around Yorktown Center usually makes the relevant licensee easy to identify.
This doesn’t mean getting those records is easy or straightforward. A written preservation request is the step that keeps the footage from being overwritten on the system's ordinary cycle.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a personal injury lawyer in Lombard, IL after a drunk driving crash?
The one year dram shop deadline and the evidence held by the establishment are both reasons to involve professional help early.
Can I sue the bar if I was the one drinking?
No. The Act does not create a cause of action for injuries to the intoxicated person.
How The Law Offices of Michael W. Kopsick Handles Injury Claims in Lombard
Our firm strives to identify the serving establishment and send preservation demands while the records still exist. Our team then works the driver claim and the dram shop claim on their separate calendars.
Point of sale data and interior video have a high risk of being overwritten on the business’s own cycle, which can directly harm your claim. We offer free consultations, where our team at The Law Offices of Michael W. Kopsick will review your case.
You can contact the firm at (847) 807-8695 today.
Last reviewed: September 2026
This page was reviewed by Michael W. Kopsick, licensed in Illinois since 2014.
Content is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Consult a licensed Illinois attorney for guidance specific to your situation.
