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91_HB0105enr HB0105 Enrolled 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; 29 (4) transportation; or 30 (5) employment. 31 "Physically impaired person" means any person who is HB0105 Enrolled -2- LRB9100603WHcs 1 permanently physically impaired, whose physical impairment 2 limits one or more of daily life activities and who has a 3 record of impairment and is regarded by health care 4 practitioners as having such an impairment, requiring the use 5 of an assistance animal including but not limited to 6 blindness, deafness and complete or partial paralysis. 7 Section 10. Damages recoverable for harm or theft of 8 assistance animal. 9 (a) In addition to and not in lieu of any other penalty 10 provided by State law, a physically impaired person who uses 11 an assistance animal or the owner of an assistance animal may 12 bring an action for economic and noneconomic damages against 13 any person who steals or, without provocation, attacks the 14 assistance animal or exposes the assistance animal to any 15 chemical that is hazardous to the assistance animal; however, 16 an action against a person for exposing an assistance animal 17 to a chemical that is hazardous to the assistance animal may 18 be brought under this Act only if the person against whom the 19 action is brought knew or reasonably should have known that 20 the assistance animal was present and that the chemical was 21 hazardous to the assistance animal. The physically impaired 22 person or owner may also bring an action for such damages 23 against the owner of any animal that, without provocation, 24 attacks an assistance animal. The action authorized by this 25 subsection may be brought by the physically impaired person 26 or owner even if the assistance animal was in the custody or 27 under the supervision of another person when the theft, 28 attack, or exposure occurred. 29 (b) If the theft of or unprovoked attack on an assistance 30 animal or exposure of the assistance animal to any chemical 31 that is hazardous to the assistance animal described in 32 subsection (a) of this Section results in the death of the 33 animal or the animal is not returned or if injuries sustained HB0105 Enrolled -3- LRB9100603WHcs 1 prevent the animal from returning to service as an assistance 2 animal, the measure of economic damages shall include, but 3 need not be limited to, the veterinary medical expenses and 4 the replacement value of an equally trained assistance 5 animal, without any differentiation for the age or the 6 experience of the animal. In addition, the physically 7 impaired person or owner may recover any other costs and 8 expenses, including, but not limited to, costs of temporary 9 replacement assistance services, whether provided by another 10 assistance animal or a person, incurred as a result of the 11 theft of or injury to the animal. 12 (c) If the theft of or unprovoked attack on an assistance 13 animal or exposure of the assistance animal to any chemical 14 that is hazardous to the assistance animal described in 15 subsection (a) of this Section results in injuries from which 16 the animal recovers and returns to service, or if the animal 17 is stolen but is recovered and returns to service, the 18 measure of economic damages shall include, but need not be 19 limited to, the veterinary medical expenses, costs of 20 temporary replacement assistance services, whether provided 21 by another assistance animal or a person, and any other costs 22 and expenses incurred by the physically impaired person or 23 owner as a result of the theft of or injury to the animal. 24 (d) No cause of action arises under this Section if the 25 physically impaired person, owner or the person having 26 custody or supervision of the assistance animal was 27 committing a criminal or civil trespass at the time of the 28 theft of or attack on the assistance animal or exposure of 29 the assistance animal to any chemical that is hazardous to 30 the assistance animal. 31 (e) The court shall award reasonable attorney's fees to 32 the prevailing plaintiff in an action under this Section. The 33 court may award reasonable attorney's fees and expert witness 34 fees incurred by a defendant who prevails in the action if HB0105 Enrolled -4- LRB9100603WHcs 1 the court determines that the plaintiff had no objectively 2 reasonable basis for asserting a claim or no objectively 3 reasonable basis for appealing an adverse decision of a trial 4 court.