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1 | AN ACT concerning civil law.
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2 | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, | ||||||
3 | represented in the General Assembly:
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4 | Section 5. The Insurance Claims Fraud Prevention Act is | ||||||
5 | amended by changing Section 25 as follows:
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6 | (740 ILCS 92/25)
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7 | Sec. 25. Costs and proceeds of action.
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8 | (a) If the State's Attorney or Attorney General proceeds | ||||||
9 | with an action
brought
by a
person under Section 15, that | ||||||
10 | person is entitled to receive an amount that the
court | ||||||
11 | determines is
reasonable based upon the extent to which the | ||||||
12 | person contributed to the
prosecution of the action.
Subject to | ||||||
13 | subsection (d), the amount awarded to the person who brought | ||||||
14 | the
action shall not be
less than 30% of the proceeds of the | ||||||
15 | action or settlement of the claim, and
shall be paid from the
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16 | proceeds.
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17 | (b) If the State's Attorney or Attorney General does not | ||||||
18 | proceed with an
action
brought
by a person under Section 15, | ||||||
19 | that person shall receive an amount that the
court decides is
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20 | reasonable for collecting the civil penalty and damages. | ||||||
21 | Subject to subsection
(d), the amount
shall not be less than | ||||||
22 | 40% of the proceeds of the action or settlement, and
shall be | ||||||
23 | paid from the
proceeds.
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1 | (c) If the person bringing the action as a result of a | ||||||
2 | violation of this Act
has paid money
to the defendant or to an | ||||||
3 | attorney acting on behalf of the defendant in the
underlying | ||||||
4 | claim, then
he or she shall be entitled to up to double the | ||||||
5 | amount paid to the defendant or
the attorney if that
amount is | ||||||
6 | greater than 50% of the proceeds.
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7 | (d) Where the action is one that the court finds to be | ||||||
8 | based primarily on
disclosures of
specific information, other | ||||||
9 | than information provided by the person bringing
the action | ||||||
10 | under
Section 15, relating to allegations or transactions in a | ||||||
11 | criminal, civil, or
administrative hearing, in
a legislative or | ||||||
12 | administrative report, hearing, audit, or investigation, or
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13 | from the news media, the
court may award those sums that it | ||||||
14 | considers appropriate, but in no case more
than 10% of the
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15 | proceeds, taking into account the significance of the | ||||||
16 | information and the role
of the person
bringing the action in | ||||||
17 | advancing the case to litigation.
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18 | (e) Any payment to a person under subsection (a), (b), (c), | ||||||
19 | or (d) shall be
made from the
proceeds. The person shall also | ||||||
20 | receive an amount for reasonable expenses that
the court finds | ||||||
21 | to
have been necessarily incurred, plus reasonable attorney's | ||||||
22 | fees and costs. All
of those expenses,
fees, and costs shall be | ||||||
23 | awarded against the defendant.
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24 | (f) If a local State's Attorney has proceeded with an | ||||||
25 | action under this Act,
the Treasurer
of the County where the | ||||||
26 | action was brought shall receive an amount for
reasonable |
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1 | expenses that
the court finds to have been necessarily incurred | ||||||
2 | by the State's Attorney,
including reasonable
attorney's fees | ||||||
3 | and costs, plus 50% of the funds not awarded to a private
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4 | party. Those amounts
shall be used to investigate and prosecute | ||||||
5 | insurance fraud, augmenting existing
budgets rather
than | ||||||
6 | replacing them. All remaining funds shall go to the State and | ||||||
7 | be deposited
in the General
Revenue Fund and, when | ||||||
8 | appropriated, shall be allocated to appropriate State
agencies | ||||||
9 | for
enhanced insurance fraud investigation, prosecution, and | ||||||
10 | prevention efforts.
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11 | (g) If the Attorney General has proceeded with an action | ||||||
12 | under this Act, all
funds not
awarded to a private party, shall | ||||||
13 | go to the State and be deposited in the
General Revenue Fund
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14 | and, when appropriated, shall be allocated to appropriate State | ||||||
15 | agencies for
enhanced insurance
fraud investigation, | ||||||
16 | prosecution, and prevention efforts.
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17 | (h) If neither a local State's Attorney or the Attorney | ||||||
18 | General has
proceeded
with an
action under this Act, 50% of the | ||||||
19 | funds not awarded to a private party shall be
deposited with | ||||||
20 | the
Treasurer of the County where the action was brought and | ||||||
21 | shall be disbursed to
the State's
Attorney of the County where | ||||||
22 | the action was brought. Those funds shall be used
by the | ||||||
23 | State's
Attorney solely to investigate, prosecute, and prevent | ||||||
24 | crime insurance fraud ,
augmenting existing
budgets rather than | ||||||
25 | replacing them. All remaining funds shall go to the State
and | ||||||
26 | be deposited in
the General Revenue Fund and, when |
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1 | appropriated, shall be allocated to
appropriate State
agencies | ||||||
2 | for enhanced crime insurance fraud investigation, prosecution, | ||||||
3 | and
prevention efforts.
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4 | (i) Whether or not the State's Attorney or Attorney General | ||||||
5 | proceeds with
the
action, if
the court finds that the action | ||||||
6 | was brought by a person who planned and
initiated the violation | ||||||
7 | of
this Act, that person shall be dismissed from the civil | ||||||
8 | action and shall not
receive any share of
the proceeds of the | ||||||
9 | action. The dismissal shall not prejudice the right of the
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10 | State's Attorney or
Attorney General to continue the action on | ||||||
11 | behalf of the State.
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12 | (j) If the State's Attorney or Attorney General does not | ||||||
13 | proceed with the
action, and the
person bringing the action | ||||||
14 | conducts the action, the court may award to the
defendant its
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15 | reasonable attorney's fees and expenses if the defendant | ||||||
16 | prevails in the action
and the court finds
that the claim of | ||||||
17 | the person bringing the action was clearly frivolous, clearly
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18 | vexatious, or
brought primarily for purposes of harassment.
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19 | (Source: P.A. 92-233, eff. 1-1-02.)
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