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Public Act 096-0751
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| HB2246 Enrolled |
LRB096 03554 AJO 13579 b |
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AN ACT concerning civil law.
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Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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represented in the General Assembly:
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Section 5. The Illinois Antitrust Act is amended by |
changing Sections 7 and 7.2 as follows:
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(740 ILCS 10/7) (from Ch. 38, par. 60-7)
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Sec. 7. The following civil actions and remedies are |
authorized under
this Act:
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(1) The Attorney General, with such assistance as he may |
from time
to time require of the State's Attorneys in the |
several counties, shall
bring suit in the Circuit Court to |
prevent and restrain violations of
Section 3 of this Act. In |
such a proceeding, the court shall determine
whether a |
violation has been committed, and shall enter such judgment as
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it considers necessary to remove the effects of any violation |
which it
finds, and to prevent such violation from continuing |
or from being
renewed in the future. The court, in its |
discretion, may exercise all
powers necessary for this purpose, |
including, but not limited to,
injunction, divestiture of |
property, divorcement of business units,
dissolution of |
domestic corporations or associations, and suspension or
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termination of the right of foreign corporations or |
associations to do
business in the State of Illinois.
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(2) Any person who has been injured in his business or |
property, or
is threatened with such injury, by a violation of |
Section 3 of this Act
may maintain an action in the Circuit |
Court for damages, or for an
injunction, or both, against any |
person who has committed such
violation. If, in an action for |
an injunction, the court issues an
injunction, the plaintiff |
shall be awarded costs and reasonable
attorney's fees. In an |
action for damages, if injury is found to be due
to a violation |
of subsections (1) or (4) of Section 3 of this Act,
the person |
injured shall be awarded 3 times the amount of actual damages
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resulting from that violation, together with costs and |
reasonable
attorney's fees. If injury is found to be due to a |
violation of
subsections (2) or (3) of Section 3 of this Act, |
the person injured
shall recover the actual damages caused by |
the violation, together with
costs and reasonable attorney's |
fees, and if it is shown that such
violation was willful, the |
court may, in its discretion, increase the
amount recovered as |
damages up to a total of 3 times the amount of
actual damages. |
This State, counties, municipalities, townships and any
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political subdivision organized under the authority of this |
State, and
the United States, are considered a person having |
standing to bring an
action under this subsection. The Attorney |
General may bring an action
on behalf of this State, counties, |
municipalities, townships and other
political subdivisions |
organized under the authority of this State to
recover the |
damages under this subsection or by any comparable Federal
law.
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The Attorney General may also bring an action in the name |
of this State, as parens patriae on behalf of persons residing |
in this State, to recover the damages under this subsection or |
any comparable federal law. The powers granted in this Section |
are in addition to and not in derogation of the common law |
powers of the Attorney General to act as parens patriae. |
No provision of this Act shall deny any person who is an |
indirect purchaser
the right to sue for damages. Provided,
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however, that in any case in which claims are asserted against |
a defendant
by both direct and indirect purchasers, the court |
shall take all steps
necessary to avoid duplicate liability for |
the same injury including transfer
and
consolidation of all |
actions. Provided further that no person other than
the |
Attorney General of this State shall be authorized to maintain |
a class
action in any court of this State for indirect |
purchasers asserting claims
under this Act, with the sole |
exception of this State's Attorney General, who may maintain an |
action parens patriae as provided in this subsection.
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Beginning January 1, 1970, a file setting out the names of |
all
special assistant attorneys general retained to prosecute |
antitrust
matters and containing all terms and conditions of |
any arrangement or
agreement regarding fees or compensation |
made between any such special
assistant attorney general and |
the office of the Attorney General shall
be maintained in the |
office of the Attorney General, open during all
business hours |
to public inspection.
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Any action for damages under this subsection is forever |
barred unless
commenced within 4 years after the cause of |
action accrued, except that,
whenever any action is brought by |
the Attorney General for a violation
of this Act, the running |
of the foregoing statute of limitations, with
respect to every |
private right of action for damages under the
subsection which |
is based in whole or in part on any matter complained
of in the |
action by the Attorney General, shall be suspended during the
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pendency thereof, and for one year thereafter. No cause of |
action
barred under existing law on July 21, 1965 shall be |
revived by this Act.
In any action for damages under this |
subsection the court may, in its
discretion, award reasonable |
fees to the prevailing defendant upon a finding
that the
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plaintiff acted in bad faith, vexatiously, wantonly or for |
oppressive reasons.
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(3) Upon a finding that any domestic or foreign corporation
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organized or operating under the laws of this State has been |
engaged in
conduct prohibited by Section 3 of this Act, or the |
terms of any
injunction issued under this Act, a circuit court |
may, upon petition of
the Attorney General, order the |
revocation, forfeiture or suspension of
the charter, |
franchise, certificate of authority or privileges of any
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corporation operating under the laws of this State, or the |
dissolution
of any such corporation.
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(4) In lieu of any criminal penalty otherwise prescribed |
for a violation of
this Act, and in addition to any action |
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under this Act or any Federal
antitrust law,
the Attorney |
General may bring an action in the name and on behalf of
the |
people of the State against any person, trustee, director, |
manager
or other officer or agent of a corporation, or against |
a corporation,
domestic or foreign, to recover a penalty not to |
exceed $1,000,000 from every
corporation or $100,000 from every |
other
person for any act herein declared illegal. The action |
must
be brought within 4 years after the commission of the act |
upon which it
is based. Nothing in this subsection shall impair |
the right of any person
to bring an action under subsection (2) |
of this Section.
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(Source: P.A. 93-351, eff. 1-1-04.)
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(740 ILCS 10/7.2) (from Ch. 38, par. 60-7.2)
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Sec. 7.2. Whenever it appears to the Attorney General that |
any person has
engaged in, is engaging in, or is about to |
engage in any act or practice
prohibited by this Act, or that |
any person has assisted or participated
in any agreement or |
combination of the nature described herein, he may,
in his |
discretion, conduct an investigation as he deems necessary in
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connection with the matter and has the authority prior to the
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commencement of any civil or criminal action as provided for in |
the Act
to subpoena witnesses, and pursuant to a subpoena (i) |
compel their
attendance for the purpose of examining them under |
oath, (ii) require the
production of any books, documents, |
records, writings or tangible things
hereafter referred to as |
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"documentary material" which
the Attorney General deems |
relevant or material to his investigation,
for inspection, |
reproducing or copying under such terms and conditions
as |
hereafter set forth, (iii) require written answers under oath |
to written
interrogatories, or (iv) require compliance with a |
combination of the
foregoing. Any subpoena issued by the |
Attorney General
shall contain the following information:
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(a) The statute and section thereof, the alleged violation |
of which
is under investigation and the general subject matter |
of the
investigation.
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(b) The date and place at which time the person is required |
to
appear or produce documentary material in his possession, |
custody or
control or submit answers to interrogatories in the |
office of the Attorney
General located in Springfield or
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Chicago. Said date shall not be less than 10 days from date of |
service
of the subpoena.
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(c) Where documentary material is required to be produced, |
the same
shall be described by class so as to clearly indicate |
the material
demanded.
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The Attorney General is hereby authorized, and may so |
elect, to
require the production, pursuant to this section, of |
documentary
material or interrogatory answers prior to the |
taking of any testimony of
the person subpoenaed. Said |
documentary material shall be made available for
inspection and |
copying during normal business hours at the principal
place of |
business of the person served, or at such other time and place,
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as may be agreed upon by the person served and the Attorney |
General.
When documentary material is demanded by subpoena, |
said subpoena shall
not:
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(i) Contain any requirement which would be |
unreasonable or improper
if contained in a subpoena duces |
tecum issued by a court of this State;
or
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(ii) Require the disclosure of any documentary |
material which would
be privileged, or which for any other |
reason would not be required by a
subpoena duces tecum |
issued by a court of this State.
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(d) The production of documentary material in response to a |
subpoena served
pursuant to this Section shall be made under a |
sworn certificate, in such
form as the subpoena designates, by |
the person, if a natural person, to
whom the demand is directed |
or, if not a natural person, by a person or
persons having |
knowledge of the facts and circumstances relating to such
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production, to the effect that all of the documentary material |
required
by the demand and in the possession, custody, or |
control of the person to
whom the demand is directed has been |
produced and made available to the
custodian. Answers to |
interrogatories shall be accompanied by a statement
under oath |
attesting to the accuracy of the answers.
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While in the possession of the Attorney General and under |
such reasonable
terms and conditions as the Attorney General |
shall prescribe: (A) documentary
material shall be available |
for examination by the person who produced such
material or by |
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any duly authorized representative of such person, (B)
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transcript of oral testimony shall be available for examination |
by the person
who produced such testimony, or his or her |
counsel and (C) answers to
interrogatories shall be available |
for examination by the person who swore to
their accuracy.
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Except as otherwise provided in this Section, no |
documentary material, or
transcripts of oral testimony, or |
answers to interrogatories, or copies thereof, in the |
possession of the
Attorney General shall be available for |
examination by any individual other
than an authorized employee |
of the Attorney General or other law enforcement
officials, |
federal, State, or local, without the consent of the person who |
produced
such material, or transcripts, or interrogatory |
answers.
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For purposes of this Section, all documentary materials, |
transcripts of oral testimony, or answers to interrogatories |
obtained by the Attorney General from other law enforcement |
officials shall be treated as if produced pursuant to a |
subpoena served pursuant to this Section for purposes of |
maintaining the confidentiality of such information. |
(e) No person shall, with intent to avoid, evade, prevent, |
or obstruct
compliance in whole or in part by any person with |
any duly served subpoena
of the Attorney General under this |
Act, knowingly remove from any place,
conceal, withhold, |
destroy, mutilate, alter, or by any other means falsify
any |
documentary material that is the subject of such subpoena. A |