Bill Text: IL HB0264 | 2021-2022 | 102nd General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the Code of Civil Procedure. Deletes a provision authorizing an action to be commenced in any county if all defendants are nonresidents of this State. Limits venue for actions against corporations, partnerships, and insurance companies. Provides that in actions in which no party is a resident of this State and over which another forum has jurisdiction, the court shall, upon motion, dismiss the action subject to specified conditions. Provides that joint and several liability attaches when a defendant is found to be 50%, rather than 25%, at fault. Limits amounts recovered for medical care, treatment, or services and caretaking expenses to the amounts actually paid for those expenses regardless of the amounts initially billed.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-03-27 - Rule 19(a) / Re-referred to Rules Committee [HB0264 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2021-HB0264-Introduced.html

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102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2021 and 2022 HB0264 Introduced , by Rep. Thomas M. Bennett SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
735 ILCS 5/2-101 from Ch. 110, par. 2-101
735 ILCS 5/2-102 from Ch. 110, par. 2-102
735 ILCS 5/2-103 from Ch. 110, par. 2-103
735 ILCS 5/2-110 new
735 ILCS 5/2-1107.1 from Ch. 110, par. 2-1107.1
735 ILCS 5/2-1117 from Ch. 110, par. 2-1117
735 ILCS 5/2-1205.2 new
Amends the Code of Civil Procedure. Deletes a provision authorizing an action to be commenced in any county if all defendants are nonresidents of this State. Limits venue for actions against corporations, partnerships, and insurance companies. Provides that in actions in which no party is a resident of this State and over which another forum has jurisdiction, the court shall, upon motion, dismiss the action subject to specified conditions. Provides that joint and several liability attaches when a defendant is found to be 50%, rather than 25%, at fault. Limits amounts recovered for medical care, treatment, or services and caretaking expenses to the amounts actually paid for those expenses regardless of the amounts initially billed.
LRB102 04303 LNS 14321 b
A BILL FOR
HB0264 LRB102 04303 LNS 14321 b
AN ACT concerning civil law.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Code of Civil Procedure is amended by
changing Sections 2-101, 2-102, 2-103, 2-1107.1, and 2-1117
and by adding Sections 2-110 and 2-1205.2 as follows:
(735 ILCS 5/2-101) (from Ch. 110, par. 2-101)
Sec. 2-101. Generally. Except as otherwise provided in
this Act, every action must be commenced (1) in the county of
residence of any defendant who is joined in good faith and with
probable cause for the purpose of obtaining a judgment against
him or her and not solely for the purpose of fixing venue in
that county, or (2) in the county in which the transaction or
some part thereof occurred out of which the cause of action
arose.
If a check, draft, money order, or other instrument for
the payment of child support payable to or delivered to the
State Disbursement Unit established under Section 10-26 of the
Illinois Public Aid Code is returned by the bank or depository
for any reason, venue for the enforcement of any criminal
proceedings or civil cause of action for recovery and attorney
fees shall be in the county where the principal office of the
State Disbursement Unit is located.

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If all defendants are nonresidents of the State, an action
may be commenced in any county.
If the corporate limits of a city, village or town extend
into more than one county, then the venue of an action or
proceeding instituted by that municipality to enforce any
fine, imprisonment, penalty or forfeiture for violation of any
ordinance of that municipality, regardless of the county in
which the violation was committed or occurred, may be in the
appropriate court (i) in the county wherein the office of the
clerk of the municipality is located or (ii) in any county in
which at least 35% of the territory within the municipality's
corporate limits is located.
The changes to this Section made by this amendatory Act of
the 102nd General Assembly apply to actions filed on or after
the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 102nd General
Assembly.
(Source: P.A. 91-212, eff. 7-20-99.)
(735 ILCS 5/2-102) (from Ch. 110, par. 2-102)
Sec. 2-102. Residence of corporations, voluntary
unincorporated associations and partnerships defined. For
purposes of venue, the following definitions apply:
(a) Any private corporation or railroad or bridge company,
organized under the laws of this State, and any foreign
corporation authorized to transact business in this State is a
resident of any county in which it has its registered office or

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other office or, if on due inquiry no office can be found in
this State, any county in which it is doing business. A foreign
corporation not authorized to transact business in this State
is a nonresident of this State.
(b) A partnership sued in its firm name is a resident of
any county in which any partner resides or in which the
partnership has an office or, if on due inquiry no office can
be found in this State, any county in which it is doing
business. A partnership sued in its firm name, of which all
partners are nonresidents of this State and which does not
have an office or do business in this State, is a nonresident
of this State.
(c) A voluntary unincorporated association sued in its own
name is a resident of any county in which the association has
an office or, if on due inquiry no office can be found, in
which any officer of the association resides. A voluntary
unincorporated association sued in its own name, of which all
its members are nonresidents of this State and which does not
have an office or do business in this State, is a nonresident
of this State.
The changes to this Section made by this amendatory Act of
the 102nd General Assembly apply to actions filed on or after
the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 102nd General
Assembly.
(Source: P.A. 83-901.)

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(735 ILCS 5/2-103) (from Ch. 110, par. 2-103)
Sec. 2-103. Public corporations - Local actions - Libel
Libel - Insurance companies.
(a) Actions must be brought against a public, municipal,
governmental or quasi-municipal corporation in the county in
which its principal office is located or in the county in which
the transaction or some part thereof occurred out of which the
cause of action arose. Except as otherwise provided in Section
7-102 of this Code, if the cause of action is related to an
airport owned by a unit of local government or the property or
aircraft operations thereof, however, including an action
challenging the constitutionality of this amendatory Act of
the 93rd General Assembly, the action must be brought in the
county in which the unit of local government's principal
office is located. Actions to recover damage to real estate
which may be overflowed or otherwise damaged by reason of any
act of the corporation may be brought in the county where the
real estate or some part of it is situated, or in the county
where the corporation is located, at the option of the party
claiming to be injured. Except as otherwise provided in
Section 7-102 of this Code, any cause of action that is related
to an airport owned by a unit of local government, and that is
pending on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act
of the 93rd General Assembly in a county other than the county
in which the unit of local government's principal office is
located, shall be transferred, upon motion of any party under

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Section 2-106 of this Code, to the county in which the unit of
local government's principal office is located.
(b) Any action to quiet title to real estate, or to
partition or recover possession thereof or to foreclose a
mortgage or other lien thereon, must be brought in the county
in which the real estate or some part of it is situated.
(c) Any action which is made local by any statute must be
brought in the county designated in the statute.
(d) Every action against any owner, publisher, editor,
author or printer of a newspaper or magazine of general
circulation for libel contained in that newspaper or magazine
may be commenced only in the county in which the defendant
resides or has his, her or its principal office or in which the
article was composed or printed, except when the defendant
resides or the article was printed without this State, in
either of which cases the action may be commenced in any county
in which the libel was circulated or published.
(e) (Blank). Actions against any insurance company
incorporated under the law of this State or doing business in
this State may also be brought in any county in which the
plaintiff or one of the plaintiffs may reside.
(f) The changes to this Section made by this amendatory
Act of the 102nd General Assembly apply to actions filed on or
after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 102nd
General Assembly.
(Source: P.A. 93-450, eff. 8-6-03.)

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(735 ILCS 5/2-110 new)
Sec. 2-110. Motion to dismiss for inconvenient venue.
(a) In any action in which none of the parties is a
resident of this State and over which another forum has
jurisdiction, the court shall on motion dismiss the action on
the conditions set forth in subsection (b) unless the cause of
action primarily arose in this State or the interests of
justice require that the action proceed in this State. The
court in its discretion may award costs and reasonable
attorney's fees in connection with the dismissal.
(b) Dismissal of the action shall be on condition that:
(i) if the plaintiff elects to file the action in another forum
within 6 months after the dismissal order, the defendant shall
accept service of process from that court; and (ii) if the
statute of limitations has run in the other forum, the
defendant shall waive that defense. If the defendant refuses
to abide by these conditions, the action shall be reinstated
for further proceedings in the court in which the dismissal
was granted. If the court in the other forum refuses to accept
jurisdiction, the plaintiff may, within 30 days after the
final order refusing jurisdiction, reinstate the action in the
court in which the dismissal was granted.
(c) This Section applies to actions filed on or after the
effective date of this amendatory Act of the 102nd General
Assembly. Motions authorized by this Section are in addition

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to, and not in place of, a motion otherwise available to a
party or the court or under any other statute or rule or the
common law.
(735 ILCS 5/2-1107.1) (from Ch. 110, par. 2-1107.1)
(Text of Section WITHOUT the changes made by P.A. 89-7,
which has been held unconstitutional)
Sec. 2-1107.1. Jury instruction in tort actions. In all
actions on account of bodily injury or death or physical
damage to property based on negligence, or product liability
based on strict tort liability, the court shall instruct the
jury in writing that: (a) the defendant shall be found not
liable if the jury finds that the contributory fault of the
plaintiff is more than 50% of the proximate cause of the injury
or damage for which recovery is sought; and (b) if the
defendant is found liable, (i) the defendant is jointly and
severally liable for the plaintiff's past and future medical
and medically related expenses regardless of the fault
attributed to the defendant and (ii) the defendant is jointly
and severally liable for the plaintiff's other damages if the
jury finds that the fault of the defendant is 50% or more of
the proximate cause.
The changes to this Section made by this amendatory Act of
the 102nd General Assembly apply to actions filed on or after
the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 102nd General
Assembly.

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(Source: P.A. 84-1431.)
(735 ILCS 5/2-1117) (from Ch. 110, par. 2-1117)
Sec. 2-1117. Joint liability. Except as provided in
Section 2-1118, in actions on account of bodily injury or
death or physical damage to property, based on negligence, or
product liability based on strict tort liability, all
defendants found liable are jointly and severally liable for
plaintiff's past and future medical and medically related
expenses. Any defendant whose fault, as determined by the
trier of fact, is less than 50% 25% of the total fault of all
tortfeasors, including but not limited to the plaintiff's
employer, nonparties, entities that have settled, or any other
person that the trier of fact finds was at fault and a
proximate cause of the injury or damage for which recovery is
sought by attributable to the plaintiff, the defendants sued
by the plaintiff, and any third party defendant except the
plaintiff's employer, shall be severally liable for all other
damages. Any defendant whose fault, as determined by the trier
of fact, is 50% 25% or greater of the total fault of all
tortfeasors, including but not limited to plaintiff's
employer, nonparties, entities that have settled, or any other
person that the trier of fact finds was at fault and a
proximate cause of the injury or damage for which recovery is
sought by the plaintiff attributable to the plaintiff, the
defendants sued by the plaintiff, and any third party

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defendants except the plaintiff's employer, shall be jointly
and severally liable for all other damages.
The changes to this Section made by this amendatory Act of
the 102nd General Assembly apply to actions filed on or after
the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 102nd General
Assembly.
(Source: P.A. 93-10, eff. 6-4-03; 93-12, eff. 6-4-03.)
(735 ILCS 5/2-1205.2 new)
Sec. 2-1205.2. Recovery of medical expenses. In actions on
account of bodily injury or death in which recovery is sought
for the reasonable expense of necessary medical care,
treatment, or services, including but not limited to medical,
hospital, nursing, or caretaking expenses, the amount
recovered shall be not more than the amount actually paid or
the amount expected to be actually paid for such expenses,
regardless of the amount initially billed for such expenses.
The court may hear evidence of the amount actually paid or the
amount expected to be paid for such services. This Section
applies to actions filed on or after the effective date of this
amendatory Act of the 102nd General Assembly.