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Public Act 099-0587
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| HB6083 Enrolled | LRB099 17215 HEP 41573 b |
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AN ACT concerning the disclosure of information.
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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 1. This Act may be referred to as Molly's Law.
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Section 5. The Wrongful Death Act is amended by changing |
Section 2 as follows:
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(740 ILCS 180/2) (from Ch. 70, par. 2)
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Sec. 2. (a) Every such action shall be brought by and in |
the names of
the personal representatives of such deceased |
person, and, except as
otherwise hereinafter provided, the |
amount recovered in every such
action shall be for the |
exclusive benefit of the surviving spouse and
next of kin of |
such deceased person. In every such action the jury
may give |
such damages as they shall deem a fair and just compensation
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with reference to the pecuniary
injuries resulting from such |
death, including damages for grief, sorrow, and mental |
suffering, to
the surviving spouse and next of kin of such |
deceased person.
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(b) The amount recovered in any such action shall be |
distributed by the
court in which the cause is heard or, in the |
case of an agreed
settlement, by the circuit court, to each of |
the surviving spouse and
next of kin of such deceased person in |
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the proportion, as determined by
the court, that the percentage |
of dependency of each such person upon
the deceased person |
bears to the sum of the percentages of dependency of
all such |
persons upon the deceased person.
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(c) Where the deceased person left no surviving spouse or |
next of kin
entitled to recovery, the damages shall, subject to |
the following
limitations inure, to the exclusive benefit of |
the following persons, or
any one or more of them:
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(1) (a) to the person or persons furnishing |
hospitalization or hospital
services in connection with |
the last illness or injury of the deceased
person, not |
exceeding $450;
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(2) (b) to the person or persons furnishing medical or |
surgical services
in connection with such last illness or |
injury, not exceeding $450;
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(3) (c) to the personal representatives, as such, for |
the costs and
expenses of administering the estate and |
prosecuting or compromising the
action, including a |
reasonable attorney's fee. In any such case the
measure of |
damages to be recovered shall be the total of the |
reasonable
value of such hospitalization or hospital |
service, medical and surgical
services, funeral expenses, |
and such costs and expenses of
administration, including |
attorney fees, not exceeding the foregoing
limitations for |
each class of such expenses and not exceeding $900 plus
a |
reasonable attorney's fee.
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(d) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (e) of this |
Section, every Every such action shall be commenced within 2 |
years after the death
of such person but an action against a |
defendant arising from a crime committed
by the defendant in |
whose name an escrow account was established under the
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"Criminal Victims' Escrow Account Act" shall be commenced |
within 2 years
after the establishment of such account. |
(e) An action may be brought within 5 years after the date |
of the death if the death is the result of violent intentional |
conduct or within one year after the final disposition of the |
criminal case if the defendant is charged with: |
(1) first degree murder under Section 9-1 of the |
Criminal Code of 2012; |
(2) intentional homicide of an unborn child under |
Section 9-1.2 of the Criminal Code of 2012; |
(3) second degree murder under Section 9-2 of the |
Criminal Code of 2012; |
(4) voluntary manslaughter of an unborn child under |
Section 9-2.1 of the Criminal Code of 2012; |
(5) involuntary manslaughter or reckless homicide |
under Section 9-3 of the Criminal Code of 2012; |
(6) involuntary manslaughter or reckless homicide of |
an unborn child under Section 9-3.2 of the Criminal Code of |
2012; or |
(7) drug-induced homicide under Section 9-3.3 of the |
Criminal Code of 2012. |
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This subsection extends the statute of limitations only |
against the individual who allegedly committed a violent |
intentional act or was the defendant charged with a crime |
listed in this subsection. It does not extend the statute of |
limitations against any other person or entity. The changes to |
this Section made by this amendatory Act of the 99th General |
Assembly apply to causes of action arising on or after the |
effective date of this amendatory Act of the 99th General |
Assembly. |
(f) For the purposes of this Section
2, next of kin |
includes
an adopting parent and an adopted child, and they |
shall be treated as a
natural parent and a natural child, |
respectively. However, if a person
entitled to recover benefits |
under this Act, is, at the time the cause
of action accrued, |
within the age of 18 years, he or she may cause such
action to |
be brought within 2 years after attainment of the age of 18.
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(g) In any such action to recover damages, it
shall not be |
a defense that the death was caused in whole or in part by
the |
contributory negligence of one or more of the beneficiaries on
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behalf of whom the action is brought, but the amount of
damages |
given shall
be reduced in the following manner.
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(h) The trier of fact shall first determine the decedent's
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contributory fault in accordance with Sections 2-1116 and |
2-1107.1 of the Code
of Civil Procedure. Recovery of damages |
shall be barred or diminished
accordingly. The trier of fact |
shall then determine the contributory fault, if
any, of each |
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beneficiary on behalf of whom the action was brought:
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(1) Where the trier of fact finds that the contributory |
fault of a
beneficiary on whose behalf the action is |
brought is
not more than 50% of the proximate cause of the |
wrongful death of the
decedent, then the damages allowed to |
that beneficiary shall be
diminished in proportion to the
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contributory fault attributed to that beneficiary. The |
amount of the reduction
shall not be
payable by any |
defendant.
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(2) Where the trier of fact finds that the contributory |
fault of a
beneficiary on whose behalf the action is |
brought is
more than 50% of the proximate cause of the |
wrongful death of the decedent,
then the beneficiary shall |
be barred from recovering damages and the amount of
damages |
which would have been payable to that beneficiary, but for |
the
beneficiary's contributory fault, shall not inure to |
the benefit of the
remaining beneficiaries and shall not be |
payable by any defendant.
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(i) The trial judge shall conduct a hearing to determine |
the degree of
dependency of each beneficiary upon the decedent. |
The trial judge shall
calculate the amount of damages to be |
awarded each beneficiary, taking into
account any reduction |
arising from either the decedent's or the beneficiary's
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contributory fault.
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(j) This amendatory Act of the 91st General Assembly |
applies to all actions
pending
on or filed after the effective |