Illinois 2025-2026 Regular Session

Illinois Senate Bill SB2090 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2025 and 2026 SB2090 Introduced 2/6/2025, by Sen. Erica Harriss SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: New Act Creates the Stop Abusive Website-Access to Litigation Act. Authorizes the Attorney General to file a civil action in a State court against a party, attorney, or law firm that initiated the litigation that alleges any website-access violation for a determination as to whether it is abusive litigation. Provides that in determining whether the litigation alleging a website-access violation constitutes abusive litigation, the trier of fact shall consider the totality of the circumstances to determine if the primary purpose of the litigation that alleges a website-access violation is obtaining a payment from a defendant because of the costs of defending the action in court. Creates criteria for the trier of act to determine if the litigation is abusive under the Act. Provides that if the trier of fact determines that the litigation qualifies as abusive litigation under the Act, the court may award reasonable attorney's fees and costs to the defendant. Provides that the court may also award punitive damages not to exceed 3 times the amount of attorney's fees awarded by the court. LRB104 08505 JRC 18557 b A BILL FOR 104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2025 and 2026 SB2090 Introduced 2/6/2025, by Sen. Erica Harriss SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: New Act New Act Creates the Stop Abusive Website-Access to Litigation Act. Authorizes the Attorney General to file a civil action in a State court against a party, attorney, or law firm that initiated the litigation that alleges any website-access violation for a determination as to whether it is abusive litigation. Provides that in determining whether the litigation alleging a website-access violation constitutes abusive litigation, the trier of fact shall consider the totality of the circumstances to determine if the primary purpose of the litigation that alleges a website-access violation is obtaining a payment from a defendant because of the costs of defending the action in court. Creates criteria for the trier of act to determine if the litigation is abusive under the Act. Provides that if the trier of fact determines that the litigation qualifies as abusive litigation under the Act, the court may award reasonable attorney's fees and costs to the defendant. Provides that the court may also award punitive damages not to exceed 3 times the amount of attorney's fees awarded by the court. LRB104 08505 JRC 18557 b LRB104 08505 JRC 18557 b A BILL FOR
2	2	104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2025 and 2026 SB2090 Introduced 2/6/2025, by Sen. Erica Harriss SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
3	3	New Act New Act
4	4	New Act
5	5	Creates the Stop Abusive Website-Access to Litigation Act. Authorizes the Attorney General to file a civil action in a State court against a party, attorney, or law firm that initiated the litigation that alleges any website-access violation for a determination as to whether it is abusive litigation. Provides that in determining whether the litigation alleging a website-access violation constitutes abusive litigation, the trier of fact shall consider the totality of the circumstances to determine if the primary purpose of the litigation that alleges a website-access violation is obtaining a payment from a defendant because of the costs of defending the action in court. Creates criteria for the trier of act to determine if the litigation is abusive under the Act. Provides that if the trier of fact determines that the litigation qualifies as abusive litigation under the Act, the court may award reasonable attorney's fees and costs to the defendant. Provides that the court may also award punitive damages not to exceed 3 times the amount of attorney's fees awarded by the court.
6	6	LRB104 08505 JRC 18557 b LRB104 08505 JRC 18557 b
7	7	LRB104 08505 JRC 18557 b
8	8	A BILL FOR
9	9	SB2090LRB104 08505 JRC 18557 b SB2090 LRB104 08505 JRC 18557 b
10	10	SB2090 LRB104 08505 JRC 18557 b
11	11	1 AN ACT concerning civil law.
12	12	2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
13	13	3 represented in the General Assembly:
14	14	4 Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
15	15	5 Abusive Website-Access to Litigation Act.
16	16	6 Section 5. Legislative findings and purpose. The purpose
17	17	7 of this Act is to restrict abusive litigation while allowing
18	18	8 for meritorious litigation. It is the policy of this State
19	19	9 that people with disabilities must be ensured equal
20	20	10 opportunities to full access to public accommodations, and
21	21	11 that they are empowered to enforce the right to equal access
22	22	12 through litigation, if necessary. Unfortunately, the General
23	23	13 Assembly recognizes that in a small minority of cases, the use
24	24	14 of litigation to assert the right to equal access is being
25	25	15 abused for the primary purpose of obtaining an award of
26	26	16 attorney's fees for the plaintiff instead of remedying the
27	27	17 alleged access violation. This small minority of cases often
28	28	18 involves an alleged lack of equal access to a public
29	29	19 accommodation's internet site and are often filed in another
30	30	20 state's court system against smaller Illinois businesses. In
31	31	21 most cases, the litigation is filed without notifying the
32	32	22 defendant of the alleged violation, without attempting to
33	33	23 resolve the issue prelitigation, and without providing a
34	34
35	35
36	36
37	37	104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2025 and 2026 SB2090 Introduced 2/6/2025, by Sen. Erica Harriss SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
38	38	New Act New Act
39	39	New Act
40	40	Creates the Stop Abusive Website-Access to Litigation Act. Authorizes the Attorney General to file a civil action in a State court against a party, attorney, or law firm that initiated the litigation that alleges any website-access violation for a determination as to whether it is abusive litigation. Provides that in determining whether the litigation alleging a website-access violation constitutes abusive litigation, the trier of fact shall consider the totality of the circumstances to determine if the primary purpose of the litigation that alleges a website-access violation is obtaining a payment from a defendant because of the costs of defending the action in court. Creates criteria for the trier of act to determine if the litigation is abusive under the Act. Provides that if the trier of fact determines that the litigation qualifies as abusive litigation under the Act, the court may award reasonable attorney's fees and costs to the defendant. Provides that the court may also award punitive damages not to exceed 3 times the amount of attorney's fees awarded by the court.
41	41	LRB104 08505 JRC 18557 b LRB104 08505 JRC 18557 b
42	42	LRB104 08505 JRC 18557 b
43	43	A BILL FOR
44	44
45	45
46	46
47	47
48	48
49	49	New Act
50	50
51	51
52	52
53	53	LRB104 08505 JRC 18557 b
54	54
55	55
56	56
57	57
58	58
59	59
60	60
61	61
62	62
63	63	SB2090 LRB104 08505 JRC 18557 b
64	64
65	65
66	66	SB2090- 2 -LRB104 08505 JRC 18557 b SB2090 - 2 - LRB104 08505 JRC 18557 b
67	67	SB2090 - 2 - LRB104 08505 JRC 18557 b
68	68	1 reasonable opportunity for the public accommodation to revise
69	69	2 its website to remedy the alleged access violation. To address
70	70	3 this issue, the State intends to provide a process to curb
71	71	4 abusive litigation to mitigate the harms that abusive
72	72	5 litigation perpetuates. The State does not intend that this
73	73	6 process in any way is to be used to preclude a person with a
74	74	7 disability from asserting a right in good faith to equal
75	75	8 access to a public accommodation under the law either
76	76	9 individually or through a class through litigation in a State
77	77	10 court.
78	78	11 Section 10. Definitions. As used in this Act:
79	79	12 "Access violation" means any allegation that a public
80	80	13 accommodation does not provide sufficient access under the
81	81	14 federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, or comparable
82	82	15 State law.
83	83	16 "Public accommodation" has the meaning given to that term
84	84	17 in the federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
85	85	18 "Public accommodation" includes a website operated by a
86	86	19 resident of this State.
87	87	20 "Resident" means any person residing in this State and any
88	88	21 entity that has filed with the Secretary of State's office
89	89	22 requirements to do business in this State.
90	90	23 Section 15. Procedure under this Act.
91	91	24 (a) The Attorney General is authorized, on behalf of a
92	92
93	93
94	94
95	95
96	96
97	97	SB2090 - 2 - LRB104 08505 JRC 18557 b
98	98
99	99
100	100	SB2090- 3 -LRB104 08505 JRC 18557 b SB2090 - 3 - LRB104 08505 JRC 18557 b
101	101	SB2090 - 3 - LRB104 08505 JRC 18557 b
102	102	1 resident or a class of residents, who have been sued as
103	103	2 defendants alleging a website-access violation, to file a
104	104	3 civil action in a State court against the party, attorney, or
105	105	4 law firm that initiated the website-access violation
106	106	5 litigation for a determination as to whether the litigation is
107	107	6 abusive under this Act.
108	108	7 (b) In determining whether litigation that alleges any
109	109	8 website-access violation constitutes abusive litigation, the
110	110	9 trier of fact shall consider the totality of the circumstances
111	111	10 to determine if the primary purpose of the litigation is for
112	112	11 obtaining a payment from a defendant because of the expense of
113	113	12 defending the action in court. For the purposes of making this
114	114	13 determination, the trier of fact may assess the following
115	115	14 factors and any other factors the trier of fact deems
116	116	15 relevant:
117	117	16 (1) the number of substantially similar actions filed
118	118	17 by the same plaintiff, lawyer, or law firm or the history
119	119	18 of such plaintiff, lawyer, or law firm in bringing
120	120	19 frivolous litigation or other litigation declared by a
121	121	20 court to be abusive litigation in the past 10 years;
122	122	21 (2) the number of full-time employees employed by the
123	123	22 defendant and the resources available to the defendant to
124	124	23 engage in the litigation;
125	125	24 (3) the resources available to the defendant to
126	126	25 correct the alleged website-access violation;
127	127	26 (4) whether the jurisdiction or venue where the action
128	128
129	129
130	130
131	131
132	132
133	133	SB2090 - 3 - LRB104 08505 JRC 18557 b
134	134
135	135
136	136	SB2090- 4 -LRB104 08505 JRC 18557 b SB2090 - 4 - LRB104 08505 JRC 18557 b
137	137	SB2090 - 4 - LRB104 08505 JRC 18557 b
138	138	1 is brought is a substantial obstacle to defending against
139	139	2 the litigation;
140	140	3 (5) whether the filing party or lawyer filing the
141	141	4 litigation is a resident of this State or is licensed to
142	142	5 practice law in this State;
143	143	6 (6) the nature of settlement discussions, the
144	144	7 reasonableness of settlement offers, and refusals to
145	145	8 settle. The settlement information may be used only as
146	146	9 provided by this Section and may not otherwise alter the
147	147	10 applicable rules of evidence; and
148	148	11 (7) whether any factors under State law exist in the
149	149	12 litigation and whether sanctions are appropriate.
150	150	13 (c) If the defendant in the litigation alleging a
151	151	14 website-access violation in good faith attempts to cure the
152	152	15 alleged violation within 30 days after being provided written
153	153	16 notice or being served a complaint with sufficient detail to
154	154	17 identify and correct the alleged violation, there is a
155	155	18 rebuttable presumption that a later initiation or continuance
156	156	19 of the litigation constitutes abusive litigation. There is no
157	157	20 rebuttable presumption that such litigation is abusive if the
158	158	21 alleged website-access violation is not corrected, as
159	159	22 determined by the court, within 90 days after the defendant
160	160	23 was provided notice as under this subsection of the alleged
161	161	24 violation. The trier of fact may not determine whether such
162	162	25 litigation is abusive litigation until after such 90-day
163	163	26 period expires or the alleged violation is corrected, as
164	164
165	165
166	166
167	167
168	168
169	169	SB2090 - 4 - LRB104 08505 JRC 18557 b
170	170
171	171
172	172	SB2090- 5 -LRB104 08505 JRC 18557 b SB2090 - 5 - LRB104 08505 JRC 18557 b
173	173	SB2090 - 5 - LRB104 08505 JRC 18557 b
174	174
175	175
176	176
177	177
178	178
179	179	SB2090 - 5 - LRB104 08505 JRC 18557 b