740 ILCS 13/ Assistance Animal Damages Act.

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740 ILCS 13/1

(740 ILCS 13/1)

Sec. 1.

Short title.

This Act may be cited as the Assistance Animal Damages Act.

(Source: P.A. 91-480, eff. 1-1-00.)

740 ILCS 13/5

(740 ILCS 13/5)

Sec. 5.

Definitions.

As used in this Act:

"Blind person" means a person who has vision of 20/200 or less
with the best correction or has a visual field of 20 degrees or less.

"Guide dog" means a dog that is trained to lead or guide a blind
person.

"Deaf person" means a person whose hearing disability precludes
successful processing of linguistic information through audition with
or without a hearing aid.

"Hearing ear dog" means a dog that is trained to assist a deaf person.

"Assistance animal" means any animal trained to assist a
physically impaired person in one or more daily life activities,
including but not limited to:

(1) guide dogs;

(2) hearing ear dogs;

(3) an animal trained to pull a wheelchair;

(4) an animal trained to fetch dropped items; and

(5) an animal trained to perform balance work.

"Daily life activity" includes but is not limited to:

(1) self-care;

(2) ambulation;

(3) communication;

(4) transportation; or

(5) employment.

"Physically impaired person" means any person who is permanently
physically impaired, whose physical impairment limits one or more of
daily life activities and who has a record of impairment and is
regarded by health care practitioners as having such an impairment,
requiring the use of an assistance animal including but not limited to
blindness, deafness and complete or partial paralysis.

(Source: P.A. 91-480, eff. 1-1-00.)

740 ILCS 13/10

(740 ILCS 13/10)

Sec. 10.

Damages recoverable for harm or theft of assistance
animal.

(a) In addition to and not in lieu of any other penalty provided by
State law, a physically impaired person who uses an assistance animal
or the owner of an assistance animal may bring an action for economic
and noneconomic damages against any person who steals or, without
provocation, attacks the assistance animal or exposes the assistance animal to
any chemical that is hazardous to the
assistance animal; however, an action against a person for exposing an
assistance animal to a
chemical that is hazardous to the assistance animal may be brought under
this Act only if the person against whom the action is brought knew or
reasonably should have known that the assistance animal was present and
that the chemical was hazardous to the assistance animal. The physically
impaired
person or owner may also bring an action for such damages against the
owner of any animal that, without provocation, attacks an assistance
animal. The action authorized by this subsection may be brought by the
physically impaired person or owner even if the assistance animal was
in the custody or under the supervision of another person when the
theft, attack, or exposure occurred.

(b) If the theft of or unprovoked attack on an assistance animal
or exposure of the assistance animal to any chemical that is hazardous to the
assistance animal described in subsection (a) of this Section results in the
death of
the animal or the animal is not returned or if injuries sustained
prevent the animal from returning to service as an
assistance animal, the measure of economic damages shall include, but
need not be limited to, the veterinary medical expenses and the replacement
value of an equally trained
assistance animal, without any differentiation for the age or the
experience of the animal. In addition, the physically impaired person
or owner may recover any other costs and expenses, including, but not
limited to, costs of temporary replacement assistance services,
whether provided by another assistance animal or a person, incurred as
a result of the theft of or injury to the animal.

(c) If the theft of or unprovoked attack on an assistance animal
or exposure of the assistance animal to any chemical that is hazardous to the
assistance animal described in subsection (a) of this Section results in
injuries from
which the animal recovers and returns to service, or if the animal is
stolen but is recovered and returns to service, the measure of
economic damages shall include, but need not be limited to, the
veterinary medical expenses, costs of temporary replacement assistance
services, whether provided by another assistance animal or a person,
and any other costs and expenses incurred by the physically impaired
person or owner as a result of the theft of or injury to the animal.

(d) No cause of action arises under this Section if the physically
impaired person, owner or the person having custody or supervision of
the assistance animal was committing a criminal or civil trespass at
the time of the theft of or attack on the assistance animal
or exposure of the assistance animal to any chemical that is hazardous to the
assistance animal.

(e) The court shall award reasonable attorney's fees to the prevailing
plaintiff in an action under this Section. The court may award
reasonable attorney's fees and expert witness fees incurred by a
defendant who prevails in the action if the court determines that the
plaintiff had no objectively reasonable basis for asserting a claim or
no objectively reasonable basis for appealing an adverse decision of a
trial court.

(Source: P.A. 91-480, eff. 1-1-00.)