An Illinois appeals court recently revived a lawsuit over uninsured motorist coverage after ruling that the insurance company’s policy language was too unclear to limit the time to file a claim. The case involves a 2015 rear-end collision in Leyden Township where an uninsured driver struck a state snowplow.
Carlos E. Garcia, the snowplow operator from Wisconsin, held an uninsured motorist policy with American Family Mutual Insurance Company. After the accident caused by Miguel Angel Sanchez-Lopez, who was uninsured and had a suspended license, Garcia sought coverage under his insurance policy more than a year later. His attorney sent a letter in 2016 asking for uninsured motorist benefits but did not include a claim or policy number, leading the insurer to return it twice, once in 2016 and again in 2021, requesting those details.
Garcia initially sued the other driver and vehicle owner in Cook County in 2017 but later dropped that suit and refiled, eventually adding a claim against American Family for uninsured motorist benefits in 2021. The insurer denied the claim, arguing the notification letter failed to meet the policy’s requirements, the negligence suit was filed too late under Illinois law, and that the snowplow driver was likely insured.
American Family then moved to dismiss Garcia’s coverage claim, referencing the policy’s “Suit Against Us” clause, which said the company could not be sued unless all policy terms were met and that no suit under uninsured motorist coverage could be brought after the tort statute of limitations expired. The circuit court agreed and dismissed the case, noting the lawsuit was late by both Illinois’s two-year and Wisconsin’s three-year personal injury limits.
However, the appeals court saw things differently. It ruled that the policy language was too vague because it didn’t clearly state a specific deadline or when the clock starts ticking. Without a clear time frame in the contract, Illinois law’s 10-year statute of limitations for written contracts applies. This means Garcia’s claim was filed on time.
The court highlighted that just mentioning "the tort statute of limitations" in a policy isn’t enough to shorten the time to sue. The policy must clearly state a timeframe, like filing within a certain number of years after the accident. Since American Family’s policy didn’t do that, the longer 10-year limit applies.
Now, Garcia’s claim will go back to trial. Meanwhile, he has already won a default judgment of $300,000 against Sanchez-Lopez. This ruling is significant because it clarifies that insurance companies can’t use vague language about timing to deny uninsured motorist claims in Illinois. Instead, clear and specific deadlines are needed if insurers want to limit how long policyholders can sue.