$1.6 Million for Waiting: What Illinois Law Says About Delays in Justice

When hospitals delay, families suffer — and an Illinois law now playing out in court is starting to change that.

In January 2025, we helped a family secure a $7.5 million jury verdict after the preventable stillbirth of their full-term baby — a tragedy that never should have happened.

The total result was $9.1 million, because Illinois law added $1.6 million in prejudgment interest — a consequence of the years this family spent waiting, grieving, and fighting for answers from a hospital that refused to accept responsibility.

So what is prejudgment interest?

In Illinois, it is a law that allows victims in medical malpractice cases to collect up to 6% annual interest on their jury award, starting from the date the lawsuit is filed until the date of judgment. It is designed to ensure that plaintiffs are fairly compensated for the time they spend waiting for justice, adding a cost to delay and encouraging quicker resolution.

Landmark Case Supporting This Law

Our firm’s Cotton v. Coccaro case became the test case for the Illinois Prejudgment Interest Act. After Ms. Cotton won her case at trial for the doctor’s failure to diagnose breast cancer, the defense appealed, challenging their obligation to pay prejudgment interest on the verdict.

Attorney Bruce Pfaff and the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association argued the appeal; the Appellate Court upheld the constitutionality of the law and the requirement to pay prejudgment interest. When the Illinois Supreme Court denied certiorari to the defense’s appeal, it effectively cemented the Appellate Court’s decision, ensuring the law’s application and reinforcing the Prejudgment Interest Act as a permanent fixture in Illinois law. We are thankful to Mr. Pfaff and ITLA for their work. We are proud that the Cotton case established the precedent making prejudgement interest the law in Illinois.

Delay as a Business Strategy

We believe that delays in litigation are not accidental — they are calculated. Hospitals and insurers know that the longer a case drags on, the harder it becomes for families to keep going emotionally, and the more expensive it becomes for plaintiffs’ firms to sustain. The strategy is simple: exhaust the family, increase their financial stress, and pressure them to settle for less or walk away entirely.

Delay also benefits the defense financially. Hospitals can continue to hold, invest, or accrue interest on the money that might otherwise go to a grieving family. Time, for them, has monetary value.

Meanwhile, for the plaintiff, delay works in the opposite direction. Their loss remains just as real — just as permanent — but with time, memories aren’t as sharp in testimony. Witnesses become harder to find. Emotional urgency can feel more distant in the courtroom, even though the pain has never left the family.

Delay doesn’t erase the truth — it just makes it harder to prove.

Prejudgment interest was created to interrupt this defense strategy. It attaches a cost to waiting. It holds insurance companies and institutions accountable for drawing out justice.

That said, for billion-dollar healthcare systems, this is often a manageable cost. For families who have already lost everything, the time is irreplaceable.

Why Medical Malpractice Cases Are So Demanding

Medical Malpractice cases are some of the most challenging cases in the legal system — and that is exactly why we take them.

We work on contingency. That means families pay us nothing up front. We invest in the case ourselves — retaining nationally respected medical experts, digging through thousands of pages of records, conducting depositions, and preparing for trial — all with no guarantee of recovery. We only get paid if we win. That structure allows families to seek justice without financial risk, and we are proud to carry that burden for them.

These cases are also emotionally draining. Families do not just tell their story once. They relive it through every legal proceeding — every document, every deposition, every time the defense minimizes their pain by calling it a “complication.”

The defense strategy is often the same: blame the patient. They comb through years of unrelated medical history looking for anything that might influence a jury, even if it requires mental gymnastics to make it seem relevant.

We are not saying the people on the other side lack principles. We are saying that their principles are often skewed away from the families who are suffering — and aligned with a belief that hospitals and doctors can never be wrong. That belief drives the strategy. The system is designed to protect itself first, even when families are left with irreversible loss.

It is not about finding the truth. It is about defending the institution — reputation, liability, and bottom line.

This Isn’t Your Hometown Hospital Anymore

There was a time when hospitals were local institutions — accountable to the communities they served. When outcomes, good or bad, came with honest conversations.

That era is largely gone.

Many hospitals today are just outposts of sprawling health systems. Some are owned by private equity. Some are part of national conglomerates. They operate hundreds of facilities across the country and manage billions in assets. They have optimized nearly every process — including how to handle litigation.

They do not see a grieving family. They see a potential liability.

The question is not “What went wrong?”

It is “How long can we wait them out?”

Prejudgment interest is a step toward changing that equation. It says: if you choose to delay, you will pay for that delay. It is not a perfect fix, but it adds real pressure to a system that too often protects institutions at the expense of families.

What Families Deserve to Know

If you are navigating a preventable medical tragedy — or wondering whether legal action is even possible — here is what we want you to remember:

• Prejudgment interest is now law. It cannot undo what happened, but it helps hold institutions accountable for drawing justice out over years.
• The difficulty of your case does not mean it is invalid. It means the system was never built for you — and that is exactly why you need someone who knows how to fight within it.
• You did not do anything wrong. If the hospital is working overtime to make it seem like you did, it is likely because they know who really was at fault.

Final Word

Prejudgment interest will not make litigation easy. It will not erase what families have endured. However, it does something important:

It tells hospitals and insurers that time is no longer free.

If you’re wondering whether it is too late to ask questions — it’s not.

If you are unsure whether anyone will believe you — we will.