Public Act 1105 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SB2829 Enrolled LRB098 17209 HEP 52301 b

Public Act 098-1105

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 adding Section 5-120.5 as follows:

(735 ILCS 5/5-120.5 new)

Sec. 5-120.5. Administrative review, code compliance.

(a) In an administrative review action under Article III of this Code, if the court reverses the decision of a municipal code hearing officer in an action set forth under subsection (c) of this Section, then the court may award the plaintiff all reasonable costs, including court costs and attorney's fees, associated with the action if the court finds that: (i) the decision of the hearing officer was arbitrary and capricious; or (ii) the defendant failed to file a record under Section 3-108 of this Code that is sufficient to allow the court to determine whether the decision of the hearing officer was arbitrary and capricious.

(b) The court may award the municipality reasonable costs, including court costs and attorney's fees, if the court finds that the plaintiff's action under Article III of this Code for administrative review of a decision by the municipal code hearing officer is not reasonably well grounded in fact, is not warranted by existing law, or is not accompanied by a reasonable argument for the extension, modification, or reversal of existing law.

(c) This Section applies only to the decision of a code hearing officer that imposes a fine or penalty against the owner of a single-family or multi-family residential dwelling for a violation related to the condition or use of that residential property. This Section does not apply to any administrative decision of a municipality with a population of more than 500,000.

(d) The provisions of this Section are mutually dependent and inseverable; if any provision is held invalid, then the entire Section is invalid.

Effective Date: 1/1/2015