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| 1 | AN ACT concerning civil law.
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| 2 | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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| 3 | represented in the General Assembly:
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| 4 | Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the | ||||||
| 5 | Consumer Contract Reciprocal Attorney's Fees Act. | ||||||
| 6 | Section 5. Definitions. As used in this Act: | ||||||
| 7 | "Consumer contract" means any contract in which the money, | ||||||
| 8 | property, or service that is the subject of the transaction is | ||||||
| 9 | primarily for personal, family, or household purposes. | ||||||
| 10 | "Commercial party" means the person from whom money, | ||||||
| 11 | property, or services are acquired under the consumer contract | ||||||
| 12 | that is a seller, lender, participating lender, lessor, | ||||||
| 13 | creditor, or assignee. | ||||||
| 14 | "Debt buyer" has the meaning given to that term in Section | ||||||
| 15 | 2 of the Collection Agency Act. | ||||||
| 16 | Section 10. Attorney's fees. If a consumer contract allows | ||||||
| 17 | for the recovery of attorney's fees in an action brought by a | ||||||
| 18 | commercial party to enforce the consumer contract, the court | ||||||
| 19 | may award reasonable attorney's fees to the defendant if the | ||||||
| 20 | defendant prevails in the action. A defendant prevails in an | ||||||
| 21 | action if: | ||||||
| 22 | (1) judgment is entered by the court in favor of the | ||||||
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| 1 | defendant; | ||||||
| 2 | (2) a motion to dismiss the case is filed by the | ||||||
| 3 | defendant under Section 2-619 of the Code of Civil | ||||||
| 4 | Procedure and is granted by the court; or | ||||||
| 5 | (3) the plaintiff voluntarily dismisses the pending | ||||||
| 6 | case under Section 2-1009 of the Code of Civil Procedure | ||||||
| 7 | after a trial date has been set and after the pending case | ||||||
| 8 | has been previously filed on the same consumer contract | ||||||
| 9 | and dismissed under Section 2-1009 of the Code of Civil | ||||||
| 10 | Procedure. | ||||||
| 11 | Section 15. Applicability. | ||||||
| 12 | (a) This Act applies to any action filed on or after the | ||||||
| 13 | effective date of this Act: | ||||||
| 14 | (1) with respect to any consumer contract entered into | ||||||
| 15 | on or after the effective date of this Act; if the | ||||||
| 16 | commercial party filing the action is a debt buyer, this | ||||||
| 17 | Act applies irrespective of when the consumer contract was | ||||||
| 18 | made or acquired by the debt buyer; and | ||||||
| 19 | (2) if the principal amount claimed does not exceed | ||||||
| 20 | the maximum amount of a judgment allowable for a small | ||||||
| 21 | claim under the Illinois Supreme Court Rules. | ||||||
| 22 | (b) Notwithstanding subsection (a), this Act does not | ||||||
| 23 | apply if: | ||||||
| 24 | (1) the commercial party does not request attorney's | ||||||
| 25 | fees in its complaint; or | ||||||
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| 1 | (2) each party to the consumer contract was | ||||||
| 2 | represented by counsel in the negotiation of the consumer | ||||||
| 3 | contract. | ||||||
| 4 | Section 20. Right to attorney's fees not limited. Nothing | ||||||
| 5 | in this Act shall be construed to apply to or limit the rights | ||||||
| 6 | of any party to attorney's fees under any other contract or as | ||||||
| 7 | authorized in relation to consumer contracts under other | ||||||
| 8 | provisions of State law.
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