Illinois General Assembly - Illinois Compiled Statutes

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735 ILCS 5/2-1301

(735 ILCS 5/2-1301) (from Ch. 110, par. 2-1301)

Sec. 2-1301.

Judgments - Default - Confession.

(a) The court shall
determine the rights of the parties and grant to any party any
affirmative relief to which the party may be entitled on the pleadings and
proofs.  Judgments shall be in the form required by the nature of the
case and by the recovery or relief awarded.  More than one judgment  may
be rendered in the same cause.  If relief is granted against a party who
upon satisfying the same in whole or in part will be entitled by
operation of law to be reimbursed by another party to the action, the
court may determine the rights of the parties as between themselves, and
may thereafter upon motion and notice in the cause, and upon a showing
that satisfaction has been made, render a final judgment against the
other party accordingly.

(b) A determination in favor of the plaintiff on an issue as to the truth
or validity of any
defense in abatement shall be that the defendant answer or otherwise plead.

(c) Except as otherwise limited by this subsection (c), any person
for a debt bona fide due may confess judgment by himself or herself or attorney
duly authorized, without process.  The application to confess judgment
shall be made in the county in which the note or obligation was executed
or in the county in which one or more of the defendants reside or in any
county in which is located any property, real or personal, owned by any
one or more of the defendants.  A judgment entered by any court in any
county other than those herein specified has no force or validity,
anything in the power to confess to the contrary notwithstanding.

No power to confess judgment shall be required or given after September
24, 1979 in any instrument used in
a consumer transaction; any power to confess given in violation hereof
is null and void and any judgment entered by a court based on such power
shall be unenforceable. "Consumer transaction" as used in this Section
means a sale, lease, assignment, loan, or other disposition of an item
of goods, a consumer service, or an intangible to an individual for
purposes that are primarily personal, family, or household.

(d) Judgment by default may be entered for want of an appearance, or
for failure to plead, but the court may in either case, require proof of
the allegations of the pleadings upon which relief is sought.

(e) The court may in its discretion, before final order or judgment,
set aside any default, and may on motion filed within 30 days after
entry thereof set aside any final order or judgment upon any terms and
conditions that shall be reasonable.

(f) The fact that any order or judgment is joint does not deprive
the court of power to set it aside as to fewer than all the parties, and
if so set aside it remains in full force and effect as to the other
parties.

(g) If any final judgment is entered against any defendant who has
been served by publication with notice of the commencement of the action
and who has not been served with a copy of the complaint, or received
the notice required to be sent him or her by mail, or otherwise brought into
court, and such defendant or his or her heirs, legatees,
or personal representatives, as the
case may require, shall, within 90 days after notice in writing given
him or her of the judgment, or within 1 year after the judgment, if no notice
has been given, appear in open court and petition to be heard touching
the matter of the judgment, the court shall upon notice being given to
the parties to such action who appeared therein and the purchaser at a
sale made pursuant to the judgment, or their attorneys, set the petition
for hearing and may allow the parties and the purchaser to answer
the petition.  If upon the hearing it appears that the judgment ought
not to have been made against the defendant, it may be set aside,
altered or amended as appears just; otherwise the petition shall be
dismissed at petitioner's costs.  If, however, a sale has been had under
and pursuant to the final judgment, the court, in altering or amending
the judgment may, upon terms just and equitable to the defendant, permit
the sale to stand. If upon the hearing of the petition it appears that
the defendant was entitled under the law to redeem from the sale, the
court shall permit redemption to be made at any time within 90 days
thereafter, upon terms that are equitable and just.

(Source: P.A. 83-707.)