HB5278eng 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HB5278 Engrossed LRB098 16204 HEP 51263 b

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 13-201 as follows:

(735 ILCS 5/13-201) (from Ch. 110, par. 13-201)

Sec. 13-201. Defamation - Privacy.

(a) Except as otherwise provided in this Section, actions Actions for slander, libel or for publication of matter violating the right of privacy, shall be commenced within one year next after the cause of action accrued.

(b) When slander, libel, or publication of matter violating the right of privacy is committed anonymously, under a false or fictitious name, or without identifying the speaker, author, or publisher sufficiently to permit an action to be commenced against the person, the period of limitations shall not run during the time period in which the person entitled to bring the action undertakes to discover the identity of one who may be responsible in damages via an action or actions brought under Illinois Supreme Court Rule 224 or Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 27 or similar actions for pre-suit discovery under the law of other states or nations. In no event may an action be commenced under this subsection (b) more than 3 years after the commission of the slander, libel, or publication of matter violating the right of privacy. Nothing in this amendatory Act of the 98th General Assembly extends the period of limitations of any claim of slander, libel, or invasion of a right of privacy brought against the news media, provided the identity of the news media is sufficiently known at the time of the slander, libel, or invasion of a right of privacy. As used in this subsection (b), "news media" means a newspaper published at regular intervals whether in print or electronic format, a news service whether in print or electronic format, a radio station, a television station, a television network, a community antenna television service, or a person or corporation engaged in making news reels or other motion picture news for public showing.

(Source: P.A. 82-280.)