State of Illinois
91st General Assembly
Legislation

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[ Engrossed ][ Enrolled ][ Senate Amendment 002 ]

91_HB0105

 
                                               LRB9100603WHcs

 1        AN ACT in relation to assistance animals.

 2        Be it enacted by the People of  the  State  of  Illinois,
 3    represented in the General Assembly:

 4        Section  1.   Short  title.  This Act may be cited as the
 5    Assistance Animal Damages Act.

 6        Section 5. Definitions. As used in this Act:
 7        "Blind person" means a person who has vision of 20/200 or
 8    less with the best correction or has a  visual  field  of  20
 9    degrees or less.
10        "Guide  dog" means a dog that is trained to lead or guide
11    a blind person.
12        "Deaf person" means a  person  whose  hearing  disability
13    precludes  successful  processing  of  linguistic information
14    through audition with or without a hearing aid.
15        "Hearing ear dog" means a dog that is trained to assist a
16    deaf person.
17        "Assistance animal" means any animal trained to assist  a
18    physically   impaired  person  in  one  or  more  daily  life
19    activities, including but not limited to:
20             (1) guide dogs;
21             (2) hearing ear dogs;
22             (3) an animal trained to pull a wheelchair;
23             (4) an animal trained to fetch dropped items; and
24             (5) an animal trained to perform balance work.
25        "Daily life activity" includes but is not limited to:
26             (1) self-care;
27             (2) ambulation;
28             (3) communication; or
29             (4) transportation.
30        "Physically impaired person"  means  any  person  who  is
31    permanently  physically  impaired,  whose physical impairment
 
                            -2-                LRB9100603WHcs
 1    limits one or more of daily life activities  and  who  has  a
 2    record   of   impairment  and  is  regarded  by  health  care
 3    practitioners as having such an impairment, requiring the use
 4    of  an  assistance  animal  including  but  not  limited   to
 5    blindness, deafness and complete or partial paralysis.

 6        Section  10.   Damages  recoverable  for harm or theft of
 7    assistance animal.
 8        (a) In addition to and not in lieu of any  other  penalty
 9    provided  by State law, a physically impaired person who uses
10    an assistance animal or the owner of an assistance animal may
11    bring an action for economic and noneconomic damages  against
12    any  person  who  steals or, without provocation, attacks the
13    assistance animal. The physically impaired  person  or  owner
14    may  also  bring an action for such damages against the owner
15    of  any  animal  that,  without   provocation,   attacks   an
16    assistance  animal.  The action authorized by this subsection
17    may be brought by the physically  impaired  person  or  owner
18    even if the assistance animal was in the custody or under the
19    supervision  of  another  person  when  the  theft  or attack
20    occurred.
21        (b) If the theft of or unprovoked attack on an assistance
22    animal described in subsection (a) of this Section results in
23    the death of the animal or the animal is not returned  or  if
24    injuries  sustained in the theft or attack prevent the animal
25    from returning  to  service  as  an  assistance  animal,  the
26    measure  of  economic  damages shall include, but need not be
27    limited to, the  replacement  value  of  an  equally  trained
28    assistance animal, without any differentiation for the age or
29    the  experience  of  the  animal. In addition, the physically
30    impaired person or owner may  recover  any  other  costs  and
31    expenses,  including,  but not limited to, costs of temporary
32    replacement assistance services, whether provided by  another
33    assistance  animal  or  a person, incurred as a result of the
 
                            -3-                LRB9100603WHcs
 1    theft of or injury to the animal.
 2        (c) If the theft of or unprovoked attack on an assistance
 3    animal described in subsection (a) of this Section results in
 4    injuries from  which  the  animal  recovers  and  returns  to
 5    service,  or  if  the  animal  is stolen but is recovered and
 6    returns to service, the measure  of  economic  damages  shall
 7    include,  but  need not be limited to, the veterinary medical
 8    expenses, costs of temporary replacement assistance services,
 9    whether provided by another assistance animal  or  a  person,
10    and  any  other costs and expenses incurred by the physically
11    impaired person or owner as a  result  of  the  theft  of  or
12    injury to the animal.
13        (d)  No  cause of action arises under this Section if the
14    physically  impaired  person,  owner  or  the  person  having
15    custody  or  supervision  of  the   assistance   animal   was
16    committing  a  criminal  or civil trespass at the time of the
17    theft of or attack on the assistance animal.
18        (e) The court shall award reasonable attorney's  fees  to
19    the prevailing plaintiff in an action under this Section. The
20    court may award reasonable attorney's fees and expert witness
21    fees  incurred  by  a defendant who prevails in the action if
22    the court determines that the plaintiff  had  no  objectively
23    reasonable  basis  for  asserting  a  claim or no objectively
24    reasonable basis for appealing an adverse decision of a trial
25    court.

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