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| 1 | AN ACT concerning civil law. | ||||||
| 2 | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, | ||||||
| 3 | represented in the General Assembly: | ||||||
| 4 | Section 5. The Code of Civil Procedure is amended by | ||||||
| 5 | changing Section 2-213 as follows: | ||||||
| 6 | (735 ILCS 5/2-213) (from Ch. 110, par. 2-213) | ||||||
| 7 | Sec. 2-213. Waiver of service. | ||||||
| 8 | (a) Notice and request for waiver. A plaintiff may notify | ||||||
| 9 | a defendant of the commencement of an action and request that | ||||||
| 10 | the defendant waive service of a summons. The notice and | ||||||
| 11 | request shall be in writing in a form prescribed by Supreme | ||||||
| 12 | Court rule. The notice and request shall: | ||||||
| 13 | (1) be addressed to an individual who is the defendant | ||||||
| 14 | or who could be served as representative of an entity that | ||||||
| 15 | is the defendant; | ||||||
| 16 | (2) be dispatched through first class U.S. mail or | ||||||
| 17 | other equally reliable means; | ||||||
| 18 | (3) contain a copy of the complaint and identify the | ||||||
| 19 | court in which it has been filed; | ||||||
| 20 | (4) inform the defendant of the consequences of | ||||||
| 21 | compliance and of a failure to comply with the request; | ||||||
| 22 | (5) allow the defendant a reasonable time to return | ||||||
| 23 | the waiver, which shall be at least (i) 30 days from the | ||||||
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| 1 | date on which the request is sent or (ii) 60 days if the | ||||||
| 2 | defendant is addressed outside the United States; and | ||||||
| 3 | (6) provide the defendant with an extra copy of the | ||||||
| 4 | notice and request and prepaid means of compliance in | ||||||
| 5 | writing. | ||||||
| 6 | (b) Limits on waiver. A defendant who waives service of a | ||||||
| 7 | summons in the manner provided in subsection (a) does not | ||||||
| 8 | thereby waive any objection to the venue or to the | ||||||
| 9 | jurisdiction of the court over the person of the defendant. | ||||||
| 10 | (c) Time to appear or answer. A defendant who returns a | ||||||
| 11 | timely waiver of service is not required to appear or serve an | ||||||
| 12 | answer to the complaint until (i) 60 days from the date on | ||||||
| 13 | which the request for waiver of service was sent or (ii) 90 | ||||||
| 14 | days if the defendant was addressed outside of the United | ||||||
| 15 | States. | ||||||
| 16 | (d) Effect of filing. When a waiver of service is filed by | ||||||
| 17 | the plaintiff with the court, the action shall proceed as if a | ||||||
| 18 | summons and complaint had been served at the time of filing of | ||||||
| 19 | the waiver, and no proof of service shall be required. | ||||||
| 20 | (e) Right to refuse to waive service; effect of refusal. A | ||||||
| 21 | defendant may refuse to waive service of a summons. If a | ||||||
| 22 | defendant does not return the waiver provided for in | ||||||
| 23 | subsection (a), the plaintiff must serve summons on that | ||||||
| 24 | defendant as otherwise provided by this Code and Supreme Court | ||||||
| 25 | rules. If a defendant located within the United States fails, | ||||||
| 26 | without good cause, to sign and return a waiver requested by a | ||||||
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| 1 | plaintiff located within the United States, the court must | ||||||
| 2 | impose on the defendant (1) the expenses later incurred in | ||||||
| 3 | making service and (2) the reasonable expenses, including | ||||||
| 4 | attorney's fees, of any motion required to collect those | ||||||
| 5 | service expenses. | ||||||
| 6 | (Source: P.A. 87-352.) | ||||||