HB4567 104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB104 17623 JRC 31054 b

104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2025 and 2026
HB4567

Introduced 1/30/2026, by Rep. Dagmara Avelar

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

735 ILCS 5/2-1301

from Ch. 110, par. 2-1301

Amends the Code of Civil Procedure. Prohibits a court from entering a default judgment against a party if the party: (1) is a pro se litigant; (2) has a specified disability or health condition; and (3) failed to appear at a hearing due to that disability or health condition. Provides that a party who meets these requirements is not required to give notice to the court of the party's inability to appear at a hearing. Provides that any default judgment entered against a party who meets these requirements shall be set aside and the party may seek relief from the default judgment. Applies to all default judgments, whether entered before, on, or after the effective date of the amendatory Act.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning civil law.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Code of Civil Procedure is amended by changing Section 2-1301 as follows:

(735 ILCS 5/2-1301) (from Ch. 110, par. 2-1301)

Sec. 2-1301. Judgments - Default - Confession.

(a) The court shall determine the rights of the parties and grant to any party any affirmative relief to which the party may be entitled on the pleadings and proofs. Judgments shall be in the form required by the nature of the case and by the recovery or relief awarded. More than one judgment may be rendered in the same cause. If relief is granted against a party who upon satisfying the same in whole or in part will be entitled by operation of law to be reimbursed by another party to the action, the court may determine the rights of the parties as between themselves, and may thereafter upon motion and notice in the cause, and upon a showing that satisfaction has been made, render a final judgment against the other party accordingly.

(b) A determination in favor of the plaintiff on an issue as to the truth or validity of any defense in abatement shall be that the defendant answer or otherwise plead.

(c) Except as otherwise limited by this subsection (c), any person for a debt bona fide due may confess judgment by himself or herself or attorney duly authorized, without process. The application to confess judgment shall be made in the county in which the note or obligation was executed or in the county in which one or more of the defendants reside or in any county in which is located any property, real or personal, owned by any one or more of the defendants. A judgment entered by any court in any county other than those herein specified has no force or validity, anything in the power to confess to the contrary notwithstanding.

No power to confess judgment shall be required or given after September 24, 1979 in any instrument used in a consumer transaction; any power to confess given in violation hereof is null and void and any judgment entered by a court based on such power shall be unenforceable. "Consumer transaction" as used in this Section means a sale, lease, assignment, loan, or other disposition of an item of goods, a consumer service, or an intangible to an individual for purposes that are primarily personal, family, or household.

(d) Judgment by default may be entered for want of an appearance, or for failure to plead, but the court may in either case, require proof of the allegations of the pleadings upon which relief is sought.

(e) The court may in its discretion, before final order or judgment, set aside any default, and may on motion filed within 30 days after entry thereof set aside any final order or judgment upon any terms and conditions that shall be reasonable.

(f) The fact that any order or judgment is joint does not deprive the court of power to set it aside as to fewer than all the parties, and if so set aside it remains in full force and effect as to the other parties.

(g) If any final judgment is entered against any defendant who has been served by publication with notice of the commencement of the action and who has not been served with a copy of the complaint, or received the notice required to be sent him or her by mail, or otherwise brought into court, and such defendant or his or her heirs, legatees, or personal representatives, as the case may require, shall, within 90 days after notice in writing given him or her of the judgment, or within 1 year after the judgment, if no notice has been given, appear in open court and petition to be heard touching the matter of the judgment, the court shall upon notice being given to the parties to such action who appeared therein and the purchaser at a sale made pursuant to the judgment, or their attorneys, set the petition for hearing and may allow the parties and the purchaser to answer the petition. If upon the hearing it appears that the judgment ought not to have been made against the defendant, it may be set aside, altered or amended as appears just; otherwise the petition shall be dismissed at petitioner's costs. If, however, a sale has been had under and pursuant to the final judgment, the court, in altering or amending the judgment may, upon terms just and equitable to the defendant, permit the sale to stand. If upon the hearing of the petition it appears that the defendant was entitled under the law to redeem from the sale, the court shall permit redemption to be made at any time within 90 days thereafter, upon terms that are equitable and just.

(h) A court may not enter a default judgment against a party if the party:

(1) is a pro se litigant;

(2) is a person with a disability as defined under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Illinois Human Rights Act, or any applicable local ordinances; and

(A) has a disability or health condition that interferes with the person's ability to appear at the hearing or participate in court proceedings; or

(B) has a health condition that puts others at risk of contracting this health condition; and

(3) failed to appear at a hearing or participate in court proceedings because of the disability or health condition.

If a party cannot provide prior notice to the court of the party's inability to attend or participate because of disability or a health condition and the party is subsequently defaulted, this default shall be vacated upon notice being given to the court explaining the party's failure to notify and inability to attend.

Any default judgment entered against a party who meets the requirements of this subsection is void as against public policy. If less than 30 days have passed since entry of the default judgment, the default shall be set aside under subsection (e). If 30 days or more have passed since the entry of the default judgment, the default shall be set aside under Section 2-1401(f).

This subsection applies to all default judgments, whether entered before, on, or after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 104th General Assembly, if the default judgment was entered in violation of this subsection. This subsection is intended to nullify any judgment that is procured or has been procured in violation of Section 2 of Article I of the Illinois Constitution, the Americans with Disabilities Act, or the 14th Amendment of the Due Process Clause of the United States Constitution.

(Source: P.A. 83-707.)