State of Illinois
91st General Assembly
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Public Act 91-0380

HB1771 Enrolled                                LRB9101267DJcd

    AN ACT to  amend  the  Wrongful  Death  Act  by  changing
Section 2.

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

    Section 5.  The Wrongful Death Act is amended by changing
Section 2 as follows:

    (740 ILCS 180/2) (from Ch. 70, par. 2)
    (Text of Section WITHOUT the changes made by  P.A.  89-7,
which has been held unconstitutional)
    Sec. 2.  Every such action shall be brought by and in the
names  of  the  personal  representatives  of  such  deceased
person,  and,  except  as otherwise hereinafter provided, the
amount recovered in  every  such  action  shall  be  for  the
exclusive  benefit of the surviving spouse and next of kin of
such deceased person and in every such action  the  jury  may
give  such  damages  as  they  shall  deem  a  fair  and just
compensation  with  reference  to  the   pecuniary   injuries
resulting  from  such death, to the surviving spouse and next
of kin of such deceased person.
    In every such action, the jury shall determine the amount
of damages to be recovered without  regard  to  and  with  no
special  instruction  as  to  the  dollar  limits on recovery
imposed by this Section.  In  no  event  shall  the  judgment
entered  upon  such  verdict  exceed $20,000 where such death
occurred prior to July 14, 1955, and  not  exceeding  $25,000
where such death occurred on or after July 14, 1955 and prior
to  July  8, 1957, and not exceeding $30,000 where such death
occurs on or after July 8, 1957 and prior  to  the  effective
date  of  this amendatory Act of 1967, and without limitation
where such death occurs on or after  the  effective  date  of
this amendatory Act of 1967.
    The   amount  recovered  in  any  such  action  shall  be
distributed by the court in which the cause is heard  or,  in
the  case  of  an agreed settlement, by the circuit court, to
each of the surviving spouse and next of kin of such deceased
person in the proportion, as determined by  the  court,  that
the  percentage  of  dependency  of each such person upon the
deceased person bears  to  the  sum  of  the  percentages  of
dependency of all such persons upon the deceased person.
    Where  the  deceased  person  left no surviving spouse or
next of kin entitled to recovery, the damages shall,  subject
to  the following limitations inure, to the exclusive benefit
of the following persons, or any one or more of them:
    (a)  to the person or persons furnishing  hospitalization
or  hospital  services in connection with the last illness or
injury of the deceased person, not exceeding $450;
    (b)  to the  person  or  persons  furnishing  medical  or
surgical  services  in  connection  with such last illness or
injury, not exceeding $450;
    (c)  to the personal representatives, as  such,  for  the
costs   and   expenses   of   administering  the  estate  and
prosecuting  or  compromising   the   action,   including   a
reasonable  attorney's  fee.  In any such case the measure of
damages to be recovered shall be the total of the  reasonable
value  of  such  hospitalization or hospital service, medical
and surgical services, funeral expenses, and such  costs  and
expenses  of  administration,  including  attorney  fees, not
exceeding the foregoing limitations for each  class  of  such
expenses  and not exceeding $900 plus a reasonable attorney's
fee.
    Every such action shall be commenced within 2 years after
the death of such person but an action  against  a  defendant
arising from a crime committed by the defendant in whose name
an   escrow  account  was  established  under  the  "Criminal
Victims' Escrow Account Act"  shall  be  commenced  within  2
years  after  the  establishment  of  such  account.  For the
purposes of this Section 2, next of kin includes an  adopting
parent  and  an adopted child, and they shall be treated as a
natural parent and a natural child, respectively. However, if
a person entitled to recover benefits under this Act, is,  at
the  time  the  cause of action accrued, within the age of 18
years, he or she may cause such action to be brought within 2
years after attainment of the age of 18.
    In any such action to recover damages where the  wrongful
act,  neglect  or  default  causing  the death occurred on or
after July 14, 1955, it shall not be a defense that the death
was caused in whole or in part by the contributory negligence
of one or more of the beneficiaries on  behalf  of  whom  the
action  is  brought, but the amount of damages given shall be
reduced in the following manner.
    The trier of fact shall first  determine  the  decedent's
contributory  fault  in  accordance  with Sections 2-1116 and
2-1107.1 of the Code of Civil Procedure.  Recovery of damages
shall be barred or diminished accordingly. The trier of  fact
shall  then determine the contributory fault, if any, of each
beneficiary on behalf of whom the action was brought:
         (1)  Where  the  trier  of  fact  finds   that   the
    contributory  fault  of a beneficiary on whose behalf the
    action is brought is not more than 50% of  the  proximate
    cause  of  the  wrongful  death of the decedent, then the
    damages allowed to that beneficiary shall  be  diminished
    in  proportion  to  the  contributory fault attributed to
    that beneficiary.  The amount of the reduction shall  not
    be payable by any defendant.
         (2)  Where   the   trier  of  fact  finds  that  the
    contributory fault of a beneficiary on whose  behalf  the
    action is brought is more than 50% of the proximate cause
    of   the   wrongful  death  of  the  decedent,  then  the
    beneficiary shall be barred from recovering  damages  and
    the  amount  of  damages which would have been payable to
    that beneficiary, but for the beneficiary's  contributory
    fault,  shall  not  inure to the benefit of the remaining
    beneficiaries and shall not be payable by any defendant.
    The trial judge shall conduct a hearing to determine  the
degree  of  dependency of each beneficiary upon the decedent.
The trial judge shall calculate the amount of damages  to  be
awarded  each  beneficiary, taking into account any reduction
arising from  either  the  decedent's  or  the  beneficiary's
contributory   fault.   not  include  any  compensation  with
reference to  the  pecuniary  injuries  resulting  from  such
death,  to  such  contributorily negligent person or persons,
and such contributorily negligent person or persons shall not
share in any amount recovered in such action.
    This amendatory Act of the 91st General Assembly  applies
to  all  actions pending on or filed after the effective date
of this amendatory Act.
(Source: P.A. 81-906.)

    Section 99.  Effective date.  This Act takes effect  upon
becoming law.

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