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Public Act 100-0358
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| HB1685 Enrolled | LRB100 03379 HEP 13384 b |
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AN ACT concerning civil law.
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Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, |
represented in the General Assembly:
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Section 5. The Insurance Claims Fraud Prevention Act is |
amended by changing Section 25 as follows:
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(740 ILCS 92/25)
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Sec. 25. Costs and proceeds of action.
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(a) If the State's Attorney or Attorney General proceeds |
with an action
brought
by a
person under Section 15, that |
person is entitled to receive an amount that the
court |
determines is
reasonable based upon the extent to which the |
person contributed to the
prosecution of the action.
Subject to |
subsection (d), the amount awarded to the person who brought |
the
action shall not be
less than 30% of the proceeds of the |
action or settlement of the claim, and
shall be paid from the
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proceeds.
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(b) If the State's Attorney or Attorney General does not |
proceed with an
action
brought
by a person under Section 15, |
that person shall receive an amount that the
court decides is
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reasonable for collecting the civil penalty and damages. |
Subject to subsection
(d), the amount
shall not be less than |
40% of the proceeds of the action or settlement, and
shall be |
paid from the
proceeds.
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(c) If the person bringing the action as a result of a |
violation of this Act
has paid money
to the defendant or to an |
attorney acting on behalf of the defendant in the
underlying |
claim, then
he or she shall be entitled to up to double the |
amount paid to the defendant or
the attorney if that
amount is |
greater than 50% of the proceeds.
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(d) Where the action is one that the court finds to be |
based primarily on
disclosures of
specific information, other |
than information provided by the person bringing
the action |
under
Section 15, relating to allegations or transactions in a |
criminal, civil, or
administrative hearing, in
a legislative or |
administrative report, hearing, audit, or investigation, or
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from the news media, the
court may award those sums that it |
considers appropriate, but in no case more
than 10% of the
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proceeds, taking into account the significance of the |
information and the role
of the person
bringing the action in |
advancing the case to litigation.
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(e) Any payment to a person under subsection (a), (b), (c), |
or (d) shall be
made from the
proceeds. The person shall also |
receive an amount for reasonable expenses that
the court finds |
to
have been necessarily incurred, plus reasonable attorney's |
fees and costs. All
of those expenses,
fees, and costs shall be |
awarded against the defendant.
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(f) If a local State's Attorney has proceeded with an |
action under this Act,
the Treasurer
of the County where the |
action was brought shall receive an amount for
reasonable |
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expenses that
the court finds to have been necessarily incurred |
by the State's Attorney,
including reasonable
attorney's fees |
and costs, plus 50% of the funds not awarded to a private
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party. Those amounts
shall be used to investigate and prosecute |
insurance fraud, augmenting existing
budgets rather
than |
replacing them. All remaining funds shall go to the State and |
be deposited
in the General
Revenue Fund and, when |
appropriated, shall be allocated to appropriate State
agencies |
for
enhanced insurance fraud investigation, prosecution, and |
prevention efforts.
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(g) If the Attorney General has proceeded with an action |
under this Act, all
funds not
awarded to a private party, shall |
go to the State and be deposited in the
General Revenue Fund
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and, when appropriated, shall be allocated to appropriate State |
agencies for
enhanced insurance
fraud investigation, |
prosecution, and prevention efforts.
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(h) If neither a local State's Attorney or the Attorney |
General has
proceeded
with an
action under this Act, 50% of the |
funds not awarded to a private party shall be
deposited with |
the
Treasurer of the County where the action was brought and |
shall be disbursed to
the State's
Attorney of the County where |
the action was brought. Those funds shall be used
by the |
State's
Attorney solely to investigate, prosecute, and prevent |
crime insurance fraud,
augmenting existing
budgets rather than |
replacing them. All remaining funds shall go to the State
and |
be deposited in
the General Revenue Fund and, when |
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appropriated, shall be allocated to
appropriate State
agencies |
for enhanced crime insurance fraud investigation, prosecution, |
and
prevention efforts.
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(i) Whether or not the State's Attorney or Attorney General |
proceeds with
the
action, if
the court finds that the action |
was brought by a person who planned and
initiated the violation |
of
this Act, that person shall be dismissed from the civil |
action and shall not
receive any share of
the proceeds of the |
action. The dismissal shall not prejudice the right of the
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State's Attorney or
Attorney General to continue the action on |
behalf of the State.
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(j) If the State's Attorney or Attorney General does not |
proceed with the
action, and the
person bringing the action |
conducts the action, the court may award to the
defendant its
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reasonable attorney's fees and expenses if the defendant |
prevails in the action
and the court finds
that the claim of |
the person bringing the action was clearly frivolous, clearly
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vexatious, or
brought primarily for purposes of harassment.
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(Source: P.A. 92-233, eff. 1-1-02.)
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