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91_HB0105enr
HB0105 Enrolled LRB9100603WHcs
1 AN ACT in relation to assistance animals.
2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3 represented in the General Assembly:
4 Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
5 Assistance Animal Damages Act.
6 Section 5. Definitions. As used in this Act:
7 "Blind person" means a person who has vision of 20/200 or
8 less with the best correction or has a visual field of 20
9 degrees or less.
10 "Guide dog" means a dog that is trained to lead or guide
11 a blind person.
12 "Deaf person" means a person whose hearing disability
13 precludes successful processing of linguistic information
14 through audition with or without a hearing aid.
15 "Hearing ear dog" means a dog that is trained to assist a
16 deaf person.
17 "Assistance animal" means any animal trained to assist a
18 physically impaired person in one or more daily life
19 activities, including but not limited to:
20 (1) guide dogs;
21 (2) hearing ear dogs;
22 (3) an animal trained to pull a wheelchair;
23 (4) an animal trained to fetch dropped items; and
24 (5) an animal trained to perform balance work.
25 "Daily life activity" includes but is not limited to:
26 (1) self-care;
27 (2) ambulation;
28 (3) communication;
29 (4) transportation; or
30 (5) employment.
31 "Physically impaired person" means any person who is
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1 permanently physically impaired, whose physical impairment
2 limits one or more of daily life activities and who has a
3 record of impairment and is regarded by health care
4 practitioners as having such an impairment, requiring the use
5 of an assistance animal including but not limited to
6 blindness, deafness and complete or partial paralysis.
7 Section 10. Damages recoverable for harm or theft of
8 assistance animal.
9 (a) In addition to and not in lieu of any other penalty
10 provided by State law, a physically impaired person who uses
11 an assistance animal or the owner of an assistance animal may
12 bring an action for economic and noneconomic damages against
13 any person who steals or, without provocation, attacks the
14 assistance animal or exposes the assistance animal to any
15 chemical that is hazardous to the assistance animal; however,
16 an action against a person for exposing an assistance animal
17 to a chemical that is hazardous to the assistance animal may
18 be brought under this Act only if the person against whom the
19 action is brought knew or reasonably should have known that
20 the assistance animal was present and that the chemical was
21 hazardous to the assistance animal. The physically impaired
22 person or owner may also bring an action for such damages
23 against the owner of any animal that, without provocation,
24 attacks an assistance animal. The action authorized by this
25 subsection may be brought by the physically impaired person
26 or owner even if the assistance animal was in the custody or
27 under the supervision of another person when the theft,
28 attack, or exposure occurred.
29 (b) If the theft of or unprovoked attack on an assistance
30 animal or exposure of the assistance animal to any chemical
31 that is hazardous to the assistance animal described in
32 subsection (a) of this Section results in the death of the
33 animal or the animal is not returned or if injuries sustained
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1 prevent the animal from returning to service as an assistance
2 animal, the measure of economic damages shall include, but
3 need not be limited to, the veterinary medical expenses and
4 the replacement value of an equally trained assistance
5 animal, without any differentiation for the age or the
6 experience of the animal. In addition, the physically
7 impaired person or owner may recover any other costs and
8 expenses, including, but not limited to, costs of temporary
9 replacement assistance services, whether provided by another
10 assistance animal or a person, incurred as a result of the
11 theft of or injury to the animal.
12 (c) If the theft of or unprovoked attack on an assistance
13 animal or exposure of the assistance animal to any chemical
14 that is hazardous to the assistance animal described in
15 subsection (a) of this Section results in injuries from which
16 the animal recovers and returns to service, or if the animal
17 is stolen but is recovered and returns to service, the
18 measure of economic damages shall include, but need not be
19 limited to, the veterinary medical expenses, costs of
20 temporary replacement assistance services, whether provided
21 by another assistance animal or a person, and any other costs
22 and expenses incurred by the physically impaired person or
23 owner as a result of the theft of or injury to the animal.
24 (d) No cause of action arises under this Section if the
25 physically impaired person, owner or the person having
26 custody or supervision of the assistance animal was
27 committing a criminal or civil trespass at the time of the
28 theft of or attack on the assistance animal or exposure of
29 the assistance animal to any chemical that is hazardous to
30 the assistance animal.
31 (e) The court shall award reasonable attorney's fees to
32 the prevailing plaintiff in an action under this Section. The
33 court may award reasonable attorney's fees and expert witness
34 fees incurred by a defendant who prevails in the action if
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1 the court determines that the plaintiff had no objectively
2 reasonable basis for asserting a claim or no objectively
3 reasonable basis for appealing an adverse decision of a trial
4 court.
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