Workers’ Compensation Law

(Radogno, R-Lemont) makes the following changes to the venue section of the Code of Civil Procedure. (1) Deletes current law that if all defendants are nonresidents of Illinois, and action may be commenced in any county. (2) Makes the residence of an Illinois private corporation or railroad or bridge company and any foreign corporation authorized to transact business in Illinois to be any county in which it is doing business if after due inquiry no other office can be found in Illinois. Any county in which it has a registered office would still be considered to be a county of residence. (3) Deletes current law in which a partnership may be sued in any county in which any partner resides. A partnership may be sued in any county in Illinois in which it is doing business if after due inquiry no office can be found in Illinois. (4) Deletes current law in which an Illinois insurance company or one doing business in Illinois may be brought in any county in which the plaintiff or one of the plaintiffs may reside. (5) Creates a new motion to dismiss for inconvenient venue. It requires the court to dismiss an action in which none of the parties is a resident of Illinois and over which another forum has jurisdiction unless the cause of action primarily arose in Illinois or the interests of justice require that the action proceed in Illinois. Allows the court to award costs and reasonable attorney’s fees in connection with the dismissal. A condition of dismissal is that if the plaintiff elects to file an action in another forum within six months after the dismissal order, the defendant must accept service of process from the court. If the statute of limitations has run in the other forum, the defendant must waive that defense. If the defendant refuses to abide by these conditions, the action shall be reinstated for further proceedings in the court in which the dismissal was granted. If the court in the other forum refuses to accept jurisdiction, the plaintiff may, within 30 days after the final order refusing jurisdiction, reinstate the action in which the dismissal was granted.

(Madigan, D-Chicago) is a constitutional amendment for the ballot in the 2016 general election. It does the following: (1) caps punitive damages to three times the amount of compensatory damages awarded in the action or $50,000, whichever is greater. (2) Caps the total amount recoverable for an injury or death of the patient as a result of medical malpractice to $1.25 million. (3) Caps the liability of a health-care provider for medical malpractice to $250,000. (3) Caps the aggregate damages for the loss of society resulting from the wrongful death of an unmarried adult who has no dependents to $300,000. “Loss of society” includes affection, care, attention, companionship, comfort, guidance, and protection. Scheduled for hearing this Wednesday in House Judiciary Committee