Text of SB 1296 -- proposed amendment to §2-1117 of the Code of Civil Procedure

SB1296 Engrossed LRB095 07166 AJO 27297 b
1		AN ACT concerning civil law.
2		Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3		represented in the General Assembly:
4		Section 5. The Code of Civil Procedure is amended by
5		changing Section 2-1117 as follows:
6		(735 ILCS 5/2-1117) (from Ch. 110, par. 2-1117)
7		Sec. 2-1117. Joint liability. Except as provided in Section
8		2-1118, in actions on account of bodily injury or death or
9		physical damage to property, based on negligence, or product
10		liability based on strict tort liability, all defendants found
11		liable are jointly and severally liable for plaintiff's past
12		and future medical and medically related expenses. Any
13		defendant whose fault, as determined by the trier of fact, is
14		less than 25% of the total fault attributable to the plaintiff,
15		the defendants sued by the plaintiff, and any third party
16		defendant except the plaintiff's employer, shall be severally
17		liable for all other damages. Any defendant whose fault, as
18		determined by the trier of fact, is 25% or greater of the total
19		fault attributable to the plaintiff, the defendants sued by the
20		plaintiff, and any third party defendants except the
21		plaintiff's employer, shall be jointly and severally liable for
22		all other damages. The apportionment of fault under this
23		Section only applies to the parties still remaining in the case

SB1296 Engrossed - 2 - LRB095 07166 AJO 27297 b
1		at the time of the final determination by the trier of fact. It
2		does not apply to the defendants or third party defendants that
3		have been dismissed for any reason, including settlement.
4		The changes to this Section made by this amendatory Act of
5		the 95th General Assembly apply to actions commenced or pending
6		on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the
7		95th General Assembly.
8		(Source: P.A. 93-10, eff. 6-4-03; 93-12, eff. 6-4-03.)
9		Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
10		becoming law.

(I can't quite shrink the text of the statute to fit the narrow column here, but, after a couple of attempts, I've come close.)

The Illinois General Assembly has gone into overtime over matters like budgets and casinos and so forth. According to the General Assembly's website, this proposal is still alive in the extended House session and will come up for a third reading on June 9. So here's what Ed Murnane of the Civil Justice League has to say about SB 1296 (on the Illinoize blog). Here's what the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association has to say on the issue (PDF document). Oddly enough, these views are diametrically opposed. I'm still trying to sort out what I think.

When and if I do, my take on SB 1296 will be posted here.