Illinois General Assembly - Illinois Compiled Statutes

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740 ILCS 92/25

(740 ILCS 92/25)

Sec. 25. Costs and proceeds of action.

(a) If the State's Attorney or Attorney General proceeds with an action
brought
by a
person under Section 15, that person is entitled to receive an amount that the
court determines is
reasonable based upon the extent to which the person contributed to the
prosecution of the action.
Subject to subsection (d), the amount awarded to the person who brought the
action shall not be
less than 30% of the proceeds of the action or settlement of the claim, and
shall be paid from the
proceeds.

(b) If the State's Attorney or Attorney General does not proceed with an
action
brought
by a person under Section 15, that person shall receive an amount that the
court decides is
reasonable for collecting the civil penalty and damages. Subject to subsection
(d), the amount
shall not be less than 40% of the proceeds of the action or settlement, and
shall be paid from the
proceeds.

(c) If the person bringing the action as a result of a violation of this Act
has paid money
to the defendant or to an attorney acting on behalf of the defendant in the
underlying claim, then
he or she shall be entitled to up to double the amount paid to the defendant or
the attorney if that
amount is greater than 50% of the proceeds.

(d) Where the action is one that the court finds to be based primarily on
disclosures of
specific information, other than information provided by the person bringing
the action under
Section 15, relating to allegations or transactions in a criminal, civil, or
administrative hearing, in
a legislative or administrative report, hearing, audit, or investigation, or
from the news media, the
court may award those sums that it considers appropriate, but in no case more
than 10% of the
proceeds, taking into account the significance of the information and the role
of the person
bringing the action in advancing the case to litigation.

(e) Any payment to a person under subsection (a), (b), (c), or (d) shall be
made from the
proceeds. The person shall also receive an amount for reasonable expenses that
the court finds to
have been necessarily incurred, plus reasonable attorney's fees and costs. All
of those expenses,
fees, and costs shall be awarded against the defendant.

(f) If a local State's Attorney has proceeded with an action under this Act,
the Treasurer
of the County where the action was brought shall receive an amount for
reasonable expenses that
the court finds to have been necessarily incurred by the State's Attorney,
including reasonable
attorney's fees and costs, plus 50% of the funds not awarded to a private
party. Those amounts
shall be used to investigate and prosecute insurance fraud, augmenting existing
budgets rather
than replacing them. All remaining funds shall go to the State and be deposited
in the General
Revenue Fund and, when appropriated, shall be allocated to appropriate State
agencies for
enhanced insurance fraud investigation, prosecution, and prevention efforts.

(g) If the Attorney General has proceeded with an action under this Act, all
funds not
awarded to a private party, shall go to the State and be deposited in the
General Revenue Fund
and, when appropriated, shall be allocated to appropriate State agencies for
enhanced insurance
fraud investigation, prosecution, and prevention efforts.

(h) If neither a local State's Attorney or the Attorney General has
proceeded
with an
action under this Act, 50% of the funds not awarded to a private party shall be
deposited with the
Treasurer of the County where the action was brought and shall be disbursed to
the State's
Attorney of the County where the action was brought. Those funds shall be used
by the State's
Attorney solely to investigate, prosecute, and prevent crime,
augmenting existing
budgets rather than replacing them. All remaining funds shall go to the State
and be deposited in
the General Revenue Fund and, when appropriated, shall be allocated to
appropriate State
agencies for enhanced crime investigation, prosecution, and
prevention efforts.

(i) Whether or not the State's Attorney or Attorney General proceeds with
the
action, if
the court finds that the action was brought by a person who planned and
initiated the violation of
this Act, that person shall be dismissed from the civil action and shall not
receive any share of
the proceeds of the action. The dismissal shall not prejudice the right of the
State's Attorney or
Attorney General to continue the action on behalf of the State.

(j) If the State's Attorney or Attorney General does not proceed with the
action, and the
person bringing the action conducts the action, the court may award to the
defendant its
reasonable attorney's fees and expenses if the defendant prevails in the action
and the court finds
that the claim of the person bringing the action was clearly frivolous, clearly
vexatious, or
brought primarily for purposes of harassment.

(Source: P.A. 100-358, eff. 1-1-18.)