Full Text of HB6083 99th General Assembly
HB6083eng 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | AN ACT concerning the disclosure of information.
| 2 | | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
| 3 | | represented in the General Assembly:
| 4 | | Section 1. This Act may be referred to as Molly's Law. | 5 | | Section 5. The Wrongful Death Act is amended by changing | 6 | | Section 2 as follows:
| 7 | | (740 ILCS 180/2) (from Ch. 70, par. 2)
| 8 | | Sec. 2. Every such action shall be brought by and in the | 9 | | names of
the personal representatives of such deceased person, | 10 | | and, except as
otherwise hereinafter provided, the amount | 11 | | recovered in every such
action shall be for the exclusive | 12 | | benefit of the surviving spouse and
next of kin of such | 13 | | deceased person. In every such action the jury
may give such | 14 | | damages as they shall deem a fair and just compensation
with | 15 | | reference to the pecuniary
injuries resulting from such death, | 16 | | including damages for grief, sorrow, and mental suffering, to
| 17 | | the surviving spouse and next of kin of such deceased person.
| 18 | | The amount recovered in any such action shall be | 19 | | distributed by the
court in which the cause is heard or, in the | 20 | | case of an agreed
settlement, by the circuit court, to each of | 21 | | the surviving spouse and
next of kin of such deceased person in | 22 | | the proportion, as determined by
the court, that the percentage |
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| 1 | | of dependency of each such person upon
the deceased person | 2 | | bears to the sum of the percentages of dependency of
all such | 3 | | persons upon the deceased person.
| 4 | | Where the deceased person left no surviving spouse or next | 5 | | of kin
entitled to recovery, the damages shall, subject to the | 6 | | following
limitations inure, to the exclusive benefit of the | 7 | | following persons, or
any one or more of them:
| 8 | | (a) to the person or persons furnishing hospitalization or | 9 | | hospital
services in connection with the last illness or injury | 10 | | of the deceased
person, not exceeding $450;
| 11 | | (b) to the person or persons furnishing medical or surgical | 12 | | services
in connection with such last illness or injury, not | 13 | | exceeding $450;
| 14 | | (c) to the personal representatives, as such, for the costs | 15 | | and
expenses of administering the estate and prosecuting or | 16 | | compromising the
action, including a reasonable attorney's | 17 | | fee. In any such case the
measure of damages to be recovered | 18 | | shall be the total of the reasonable
value of such | 19 | | hospitalization or hospital service, medical and surgical
| 20 | | services, funeral expenses, and such costs and expenses of
| 21 | | administration, including attorney fees, not exceeding the | 22 | | foregoing
limitations for each class of such expenses and not | 23 | | exceeding $900 plus
a reasonable attorney's fee.
| 24 | | Except as otherwise provided in this Section, every Every | 25 | | such action shall be commenced within 2 years after the death
| 26 | | of such person but an action against a defendant arising from a |
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| 1 | | crime committed
by the defendant in whose name an escrow | 2 | | account was established under the
"Criminal Victims' Escrow | 3 | | Account Act" shall be commenced within 2 years
after the | 4 | | establishment of such account. An action may be brought within | 5 | | 5 years after the date of the death if the death is the result | 6 | | of violent intentional conduct or within one year after the | 7 | | final disposition of the criminal case if the defendant is | 8 | | charged with: | 9 | | (i) first degree murder under Section 9-1 of the | 10 | | Criminal Code of 2012; | 11 | | (ii) intentional homicide of an unborn child under | 12 | | Section 9-1.2 of the Criminal Code of 2012; | 13 | | (iii) second degree murder under Section 9-2 of the | 14 | | Criminal Code of 2012; | 15 | | (iv) voluntary manslaughter of an unborn child under | 16 | | Section 9-2.1 of the Criminal Code of 2012; | 17 | | (v) involuntary manslaughter or reckless homicide | 18 | | under Section 9-3 of the Criminal Code of 2012; | 19 | | (vi) involuntary manslaughter or reckless homicide of | 20 | | an unborn child under Section 9-3.2 of the Criminal Code of | 21 | | 2012; or | 22 | | (vii) drug-induced homicide under Section 9-3.3 of the | 23 | | Criminal Code of 2012. | 24 | | For the purposes of this Section
2, next of kin includes
an | 25 | | adopting parent and an adopted child, and they shall be treated | 26 | | as a
natural parent and a natural child, respectively. However, |
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| 1 | | if a person
entitled to recover benefits under this Act, is, at | 2 | | the time the cause
of action accrued, within the age of 18 | 3 | | years, he or she may cause such
action to be brought within 2 | 4 | | years after attainment of the age of 18.
| 5 | | In any such action to recover damages, it
shall not be a | 6 | | defense that the death was caused in whole or in part by
the | 7 | | contributory negligence of one or more of the beneficiaries on
| 8 | | behalf of whom the action is brought, but the amount of
damages | 9 | | given shall
be reduced in the following manner.
| 10 | | The trier of fact shall first determine the decedent's
| 11 | | contributory fault in accordance with Sections 2-1116 and | 12 | | 2-1107.1 of the Code
of Civil Procedure. Recovery of damages | 13 | | shall be barred or diminished
accordingly. The trier of fact | 14 | | shall then determine the contributory fault, if
any, of each | 15 | | beneficiary on behalf of whom the action was brought:
| 16 | | (1) Where the trier of fact finds that the contributory | 17 | | fault of a
beneficiary on whose behalf the action is | 18 | | brought is
not more than 50% of the proximate cause of the | 19 | | wrongful death of the
decedent, then the damages allowed to | 20 | | that beneficiary shall be
diminished in proportion to the
| 21 | | contributory fault attributed to that beneficiary. The | 22 | | amount of the reduction
shall not be
payable by any | 23 | | defendant.
| 24 | | (2) Where the trier of fact finds that the contributory | 25 | | fault of a
beneficiary on whose behalf the action is | 26 | | brought is
more than 50% of the proximate cause of the |
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| 1 | | wrongful death of the decedent,
then the beneficiary shall | 2 | | be barred from recovering damages and the amount of
damages | 3 | | which would have been payable to that beneficiary, but for | 4 | | the
beneficiary's contributory fault, shall not inure to | 5 | | the benefit of the
remaining beneficiaries and shall not be | 6 | | payable by any defendant.
| 7 | | The trial judge shall conduct a hearing to determine the | 8 | | degree of
dependency of each beneficiary upon the decedent. The | 9 | | trial judge shall
calculate the amount of damages to be awarded | 10 | | each beneficiary, taking into
account any reduction arising | 11 | | from either the decedent's or the beneficiary's
contributory | 12 | | fault.
| 13 | | This amendatory Act of the 91st General Assembly applies to | 14 | | all actions
pending
on or filed after the effective date of | 15 | | this amendatory Act.
| 16 | | This amendatory Act of the 95th General Assembly applies to | 17 | | causes of actions accruing on or after its effective date.
| 18 | | (Source: P.A. 95-3, eff. 5-31-07.)
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