Full Text of HB6083 99th General Assembly
HB6083sam001 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY | Sen. Christine Radogno Filed: 5/3/2016
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| 1 | | AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 6083
| 2 | | AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 6083 by replacing | 3 | | everything after the enacting clause with the following:
| 4 | | "Section 1. This Act may be referred to as Molly's Law. | 5 | | Section 5. The Wrongful Death Act is amended by changing | 6 | | Section 2 as follows:
| 7 | | (740 ILCS 180/2) (from Ch. 70, par. 2)
| 8 | | Sec. 2. (a) Every such action shall be brought by and in | 9 | | the names of
the personal representatives of such deceased | 10 | | person, and, except as
otherwise hereinafter provided, the | 11 | | amount recovered in every such
action shall be for the | 12 | | exclusive benefit of the surviving spouse and
next of kin of | 13 | | such deceased person. In every such action the jury
may give | 14 | | such damages as they shall deem a fair and just compensation
| 15 | | with reference to the pecuniary
injuries resulting from such |
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| 1 | | death, including damages for grief, sorrow, and mental | 2 | | suffering, to
the surviving spouse and next of kin of such | 3 | | deceased person.
| 4 | | (b) The amount recovered in any such action shall be | 5 | | distributed by the
court in which the cause is heard or, in the | 6 | | case of an agreed
settlement, by the circuit court, to each of | 7 | | the surviving spouse and
next of kin of such deceased person in | 8 | | the proportion, as determined by
the court, that the percentage | 9 | | of dependency of each such person upon
the deceased person | 10 | | bears to the sum of the percentages of dependency of
all such | 11 | | persons upon the deceased person.
| 12 | | (c) Where the deceased person left no surviving spouse or | 13 | | next of kin
entitled to recovery, the damages shall, subject to | 14 | | the following
limitations inure, to the exclusive benefit of | 15 | | the following persons, or
any one or more of them:
| 16 | | (1) (a) to the person or persons furnishing | 17 | | hospitalization or hospital
services in connection with | 18 | | the last illness or injury of the deceased
person, not | 19 | | exceeding $450;
| 20 | | (2) (b) to the person or persons furnishing medical or | 21 | | surgical services
in connection with such last illness or | 22 | | injury, not exceeding $450;
| 23 | | (3) (c) to the personal representatives, as such, for | 24 | | the costs and
expenses of administering the estate and | 25 | | prosecuting or compromising the
action, including a | 26 | | reasonable attorney's fee. In any such case the
measure of |
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| 1 | | damages to be recovered shall be the total of the | 2 | | reasonable
value of such hospitalization or hospital | 3 | | service, medical and surgical
services, funeral expenses, | 4 | | and such costs and expenses of
administration, including | 5 | | attorney fees, not exceeding the foregoing
limitations for | 6 | | each class of such expenses and not exceeding $900 plus
a | 7 | | reasonable attorney's fee.
| 8 | | (d) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (e) of this | 9 | | Section, every Every such action shall be commenced within 2 | 10 | | years after the death
of such person but an action against a | 11 | | defendant arising from a crime committed
by the defendant in | 12 | | whose name an escrow account was established under the
| 13 | | "Criminal Victims' Escrow Account Act" shall be commenced | 14 | | within 2 years
after the establishment of such account. | 15 | | (e) An action may be brought within 5 years after the date | 16 | | of the death if the death is the result of violent intentional | 17 | | conduct or within one year after the final disposition of the | 18 | | criminal case if the defendant is charged with: | 19 | | (1) first degree murder under Section 9-1 of the | 20 | | Criminal Code of 2012; | 21 | | (2) intentional homicide of an unborn child under | 22 | | Section 9-1.2 of the Criminal Code of 2012; | 23 | | (3) second degree murder under Section 9-2 of the | 24 | | Criminal Code of 2012; | 25 | | (4) voluntary manslaughter of an unborn child under | 26 | | Section 9-2.1 of the Criminal Code of 2012; |
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| 1 | | (5) involuntary manslaughter or reckless homicide | 2 | | under Section 9-3 of the Criminal Code of 2012; | 3 | | (6) involuntary manslaughter or reckless homicide of | 4 | | an unborn child under Section 9-3.2 of the Criminal Code of | 5 | | 2012; or | 6 | | (7) drug-induced homicide under Section 9-3.3 of the | 7 | | Criminal Code of 2012. | 8 | | This subsection extends the statute of limitations only | 9 | | against the individual who allegedly committed a violent | 10 | | intentional act or was the defendant charged with a crime | 11 | | listed in this subsection. It does not extend the statute of | 12 | | limitations against any other person or entity. The changes to | 13 | | this Section made by this amendatory Act of the 99th General | 14 | | Assembly apply to causes of action arising on or after the | 15 | | effective date of this amendatory Act of the 99th General | 16 | | Assembly. | 17 | | (f) For the purposes of this Section
2, next of kin | 18 | | includes
an adopting parent and an adopted child, and they | 19 | | shall be treated as a
natural parent and a natural child, | 20 | | respectively. However, if a person
entitled to recover benefits | 21 | | under this Act, is, at the time the cause
of action accrued, | 22 | | within the age of 18 years, he or she may cause such
action to | 23 | | be brought within 2 years after attainment of the age of 18.
| 24 | | (g) In any such action to recover damages, it
shall not be | 25 | | a defense that the death was caused in whole or in part by
the | 26 | | contributory negligence of one or more of the beneficiaries on
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| 1 | | behalf of whom the action is brought, but the amount of
damages | 2 | | given shall
be reduced in the following manner.
| 3 | | (h) The trier of fact shall first determine the decedent's
| 4 | | contributory fault in accordance with Sections 2-1116 and | 5 | | 2-1107.1 of the Code
of Civil Procedure. Recovery of damages | 6 | | shall be barred or diminished
accordingly. The trier of fact | 7 | | shall then determine the contributory fault, if
any, of each | 8 | | beneficiary on behalf of whom the action was brought:
| 9 | | (1) Where the trier of fact finds that the contributory | 10 | | fault of a
beneficiary on whose behalf the action is | 11 | | brought is
not more than 50% of the proximate cause of the | 12 | | wrongful death of the
decedent, then the damages allowed to | 13 | | that beneficiary shall be
diminished in proportion to the
| 14 | | contributory fault attributed to that beneficiary. The | 15 | | amount of the reduction
shall not be
payable by any | 16 | | defendant.
| 17 | | (2) Where the trier of fact finds that the contributory | 18 | | fault of a
beneficiary on whose behalf the action is | 19 | | brought is
more than 50% of the proximate cause of the | 20 | | wrongful death of the decedent,
then the beneficiary shall | 21 | | be barred from recovering damages and the amount of
damages | 22 | | which would have been payable to that beneficiary, but for | 23 | | the
beneficiary's contributory fault, shall not inure to | 24 | | the benefit of the
remaining beneficiaries and shall not be | 25 | | payable by any defendant.
| 26 | | (i) The trial judge shall conduct a hearing to determine |
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| 1 | | the degree of
dependency of each beneficiary upon the decedent. | 2 | | The trial judge shall
calculate the amount of damages to be | 3 | | awarded each beneficiary, taking into
account any reduction | 4 | | arising from either the decedent's or the beneficiary's
| 5 | | contributory fault.
| 6 | | (j) This amendatory Act of the 91st General Assembly | 7 | | applies to all actions
pending
on or filed after the effective | 8 | | date of this amendatory Act.
| 9 | | (k) This amendatory Act of the 95th General Assembly | 10 | | applies to causes of actions accruing on or after its effective | 11 | | date.
| 12 | | (Source: P.A. 95-3, eff. 5-31-07.)".
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