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| | HB1685 Engrossed | | LRB100 03379 HEP 13384 b |
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| 1 | | AN ACT concerning civil law.
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| 2 | | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, |
| 3 | | represented in the General Assembly:
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| 4 | | Section 5. The Insurance Claims Fraud Prevention Act is |
| 5 | | amended by changing Section 25 as follows:
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| 6 | | (740 ILCS 92/25)
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| 7 | | Sec. 25. Costs and proceeds of action.
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| 8 | | (a) If the State's Attorney or Attorney General proceeds |
| 9 | | with an action
brought
by a
person under Section 15, that |
| 10 | | person is entitled to receive an amount that the
court |
| 11 | | determines is
reasonable based upon the extent to which the |
| 12 | | person contributed to the
prosecution of the action.
Subject to |
| 13 | | subsection (d), the amount awarded to the person who brought |
| 14 | | the
action shall not be
less than 30% of the proceeds of the |
| 15 | | action or settlement of the claim, and
shall be paid from the
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| 16 | | proceeds.
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| 17 | | (b) If the State's Attorney or Attorney General does not |
| 18 | | proceed with an
action
brought
by a person under Section 15, |
| 19 | | that person shall receive an amount that the
court decides is
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| 20 | | reasonable for collecting the civil penalty and damages. |
| 21 | | Subject to subsection
(d), the amount
shall not be less than |
| 22 | | 40% of the proceeds of the action or settlement, and
shall be |
| 23 | | paid from the
proceeds.
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| 1 | | (c) If the person bringing the action as a result of a |
| 2 | | violation of this Act
has paid money
to the defendant or to an |
| 3 | | attorney acting on behalf of the defendant in the
underlying |
| 4 | | claim, then
he or she shall be entitled to up to double the |
| 5 | | amount paid to the defendant or
the attorney if that
amount is |
| 6 | | greater than 50% of the proceeds.
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| 7 | | (d) Where the action is one that the court finds to be |
| 8 | | based primarily on
disclosures of
specific information, other |
| 9 | | than information provided by the person bringing
the action |
| 10 | | under
Section 15, relating to allegations or transactions in a |
| 11 | | criminal, civil, or
administrative hearing, in
a legislative or |
| 12 | | administrative report, hearing, audit, or investigation, or
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| 13 | | from the news media, the
court may award those sums that it |
| 14 | | considers appropriate, but in no case more
than 10% of the
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| 15 | | proceeds, taking into account the significance of the |
| 16 | | information and the role
of the person
bringing the action in |
| 17 | | advancing the case to litigation.
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| 18 | | (e) Any payment to a person under subsection (a), (b), (c), |
| 19 | | or (d) shall be
made from the
proceeds. The person shall also |
| 20 | | receive an amount for reasonable expenses that
the court finds |
| 21 | | to
have been necessarily incurred, plus reasonable attorney's |
| 22 | | fees and costs. All
of those expenses,
fees, and costs shall be |
| 23 | | awarded against the defendant.
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| 24 | | (f) If a local State's Attorney has proceeded with an |
| 25 | | action under this Act,
the Treasurer
of the County where the |
| 26 | | action was brought shall receive an amount for
reasonable |
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| 1 | | expenses that
the court finds to have been necessarily incurred |
| 2 | | by the State's Attorney,
including reasonable
attorney's fees |
| 3 | | and costs, plus 50% of the funds not awarded to a private
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| 4 | | party. Those amounts
shall be used to investigate and prosecute |
| 5 | | insurance fraud, augmenting existing
budgets rather
than |
| 6 | | replacing them. All remaining funds shall go to the State and |
| 7 | | be deposited
in the General
Revenue Fund and, when |
| 8 | | appropriated, shall be allocated to appropriate State
agencies |
| 9 | | for
enhanced insurance fraud investigation, prosecution, and |
| 10 | | prevention efforts.
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| 11 | | (g) If the Attorney General has proceeded with an action |
| 12 | | under this Act, all
funds not
awarded to a private party, shall |
| 13 | | go to the State and be deposited in the
General Revenue Fund
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| 14 | | and, when appropriated, shall be allocated to appropriate State |
| 15 | | agencies for
enhanced insurance
fraud investigation, |
| 16 | | prosecution, and prevention efforts.
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| 17 | | (h) If neither a local State's Attorney or the Attorney |
| 18 | | General has
proceeded
with an
action under this Act, 50% of the |
| 19 | | funds not awarded to a private party shall be
deposited with |
| 20 | | the
Treasurer of the County where the action was brought and |
| 21 | | shall be disbursed to
the State's
Attorney of the County where |
| 22 | | the action was brought. Those funds shall be used
by the |
| 23 | | State's
Attorney solely to investigate, prosecute, and prevent |
| 24 | | crime insurance fraud,
augmenting existing
budgets rather than |
| 25 | | replacing them. All remaining funds shall go to the State
and |
| 26 | | be deposited in
the General Revenue Fund and, when |
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| 1 | | appropriated, shall be allocated to
appropriate State
agencies |
| 2 | | for enhanced crime insurance fraud investigation, prosecution, |
| 3 | | and
prevention efforts.
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| 4 | | (i) Whether or not the State's Attorney or Attorney General |
| 5 | | proceeds with
the
action, if
the court finds that the action |
| 6 | | was brought by a person who planned and
initiated the violation |
| 7 | | of
this Act, that person shall be dismissed from the civil |
| 8 | | action and shall not
receive any share of
the proceeds of the |
| 9 | | action. The dismissal shall not prejudice the right of the
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| 10 | | State's Attorney or
Attorney General to continue the action on |
| 11 | | behalf of the State.
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| 12 | | (j) If the State's Attorney or Attorney General does not |
| 13 | | proceed with the
action, and the
person bringing the action |
| 14 | | conducts the action, the court may award to the
defendant its
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| 15 | | reasonable attorney's fees and expenses if the defendant |
| 16 | | prevails in the action
and the court finds
that the claim of |
| 17 | | the person bringing the action was clearly frivolous, clearly
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| 18 | | vexatious, or
brought primarily for purposes of harassment.
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| 19 | | (Source: P.A. 92-233, eff. 1-1-02.)
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