House Bill 2430
Topic:
Rent Control Preemption Act .
(Guzzardi, D-Chicago) repeals this Act. It has just been introduced.
Senate Bill 1246
Topic:
Exempt from collection
(Bennett, D-Champaign) makes moneys held in educational expense accounts and similar types of educational savings accounts exempt from judgment, attachment, or distress for rent. This would include, but not be limited to, funds invested in an ABLE Account and funds invested in a 529 Plan. It has just been introduced.
Lardas v. Grcic
Federal 7th Circuit Court
Civil Court
Standing
Dist. Ct. did not err in granting defendant’s motion to dismiss plaintiff’s breach of contract/fraudulent inducement action, alleging that defendants induced her into participating in global settlement that gave plaintiff’s nephew 99 percent interest in Polish shopping plaza, which was lost through alleged subsequent maneuvers by defendants when shopping plaza defaulted on loan. Dist. Ct. could properly find that plaintiff lacked standing to pursue instant action, where plaintiff had no current or contingent interest in shopping plaza. Moreover, plaintiff could not assert in Rule 59(e) motion for reconsideration claim that nephew was third-party beneficiary with respect to global settlement, since: (1) said argument should have been raised prior to entry of Dist. Ct.'s judgment; and (2) nephew could not be viewed as third-party beneficiary of global settlement when he was actual party to said settlement. Also, nephew’s appeal of Bankruptcy Ct. order that authorized sale of nephew’s interest in shopping plaza was moot, where: (1) nephew failed to obtain stay of said sale pending appeal; and (2) nephew failed to show that said sale was made in bad faith, where nephew merely claimed that defendants had paid too much for nephew’s interest in shopping plaza.
Senate Bill 758
Topic:
Forcible Entry and Detainer Article
(Barickman, R-Bloomington) provides that if a landlord or the landlord's attorney is unable to personally serve the demand on the tenant, then constructive service of the demand may be used. Senate Bill 758 was just introduced.
In re: Kempff
Federal 7th Circuit Court
Civil Court
Bankruptcy
Dist. Ct. did not err in affirming Bankruptcy Ct. order that rejected creditor’s complaint challenging debtor’s Chapter 7 discharge based on claim that debtor made fraudulent transfer to Ill. Dept. of Revenue to satisfy tax levy after filing her bankruptcy petition and made multiple false statements in her bankruptcy schedules. Bankruptcy Ct. could properly find that debtor was unaware of said transfer, where said transfer was in form of corporate distribution to stockholders and occurred in spite of debtor’s contrary direction to corporation. Creditor also failed to show that debtor intended instant transfer to hinder or defraud creditor. Moreover, Bankruptcy Ct. could properly find that certain misstatements in bankruptcy petition did not satisfy dictates of section 727(a)(4) so as to set aside instant discharge of debtor's debts, where Bankruptcy Ct. found debtor to be “very credible” that mistakes, pertaining to failure to list worthless $300,000 divorce settlement, as well as listing of uncollectible $1.4 million claim by debtor's parents arising out of their support of debtor’s children and $3,000 underreporting of payments to debtor’s parents, resulted from either misunderstanding or “utter incompetence” of debtor’s attorney.
McGarry & McGarry, LLC v. Rabobank, N.A.
Federal 7th Circuit Court
Civil Court
Bank Holding Company Act
Dist. Ct. did not err in dismissing for failure to state cause of action plaintiff-creditor’s action, alleging that contracts between bankruptcy trustee and entity that provided banking services to trustee in distributing debtor’s funds to creditors violated Bank Holding Company Act because terms of contract called for trustee not to obtain equivalent services from competitor bank during life of bankruptcy proceeding. Instant contracts did not violate said Act, since fair reading of contracts allowed trustee to use different Bank for other bankruptcy proceedings. Fact that trustee preferred to work with instant entity did not create exclusivity arrangement required to establish violation of said Act. Moreover, there was no evidence that entity’s $194.35 fee that was deducted from creditor’s recovery on its share of debtor’s assets was exorbitant, or that plaintiff would have incurred lower fee had trustee been allowed to hire different entity to provide said banking services.
House Bill 723
Topic:
Real Estate Appraisal Fees Article of the Residential Real Property Disclosure Act
(Rita, D-Blue Island) provides that in any residential real estate closing document in which real estate appraisal fees are shown, the fee paid to an appraiser must be shown separately from the fee paid to an appraisal management company. House Bill 723 was just introduced.
Senate Bill 584
Topic:
Administrative Procedure Act
(Barickman, R-Bloomington) provides a means for correcting inadvertent failures to name necessary parties in actions for administrative review.
(1) It amends the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) to mandate that final administrative orders list all of the parties of record together with their last known address of record. The final order must also include whether there are any agency rules requiring a motion for reconsideration as a part of obtaining a reviewable final administrative decision and, if so, the rules citation.
(2) It also amends the APA to allow service by electronic mail if agreed to by the parties in contested cases.
(3) It amends the Administrative Review Law (ARL) in the Code of Civil Procedure to state that this Article is to be liberally construed in the interests of justice to grant an orderly method of judicial review of administrative agency decisions.
(4) It amends the ARL to prohibit an action for administrative review to be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction based on the misnomer of any agency that is properly served with summons issued in the action within the applicable time limits. It also prohibits dismissal for failure to perfectly name an agent if a timely action of administrative review has been filed that identifies the final administrative decision under review and makes a good faith effort to properly name the administrative agency.
(5) It amends the ARL to allow a court to correct misnomers for an erroneous identification of the administrative agency.
Senate Bill 584 was just introduced.
Senate Bill 9
Topic:
Business Opportunity Tax Act
(Hutchinson, D-Chicago Heights) creates the Business Opportunity Tax that imposes a tax on all entities that issue a Form W-2 or a Form 1099 to a resident of Illinois. It imposes a sliding scale of taxation based on the employer’s total Illinois payroll as follows. (1) if the taxpayer’s total Illinois payroll for the taxable year is less than $100,000, then the annual tax is $225; (2) if the taxpayer’s total Illinois payroll for the taxable year is $100,000 or more but less than $250,000, then the annual tax is $750; (3) if the taxpayer’s total Illinois payroll for the taxable year is $250,000 or more but less than $500,000, then the annual tax is $3,750; (4) if the taxpayer’s total Illinois payroll for the taxable year is $500,000 or more but less than $1,500,000, then the annual tax is $7,500; and (5) if the taxpayer’s total Illinois payroll for the taxable year is $1,500,000 or more, then the annual tax is $15,000.
The following are exempt from taxation under this Act: (1) governmental employers described in Section 707 of the Illinois Income Tax Act; and (2) not-for-profit corporations that are exempt from taxation under Sections 501(c) or 501(d) of the Internal Revenue Code or organized under the General Not For Profit Corporation Act of 1986. Senate Amendment No. 2 becomes the bill and was just filed. It is part of the “grand bargain” being attempted by Senate leaders.