HB5518 Summary

• Requires every pleading, motion, and other paper filed by a party represented by an attorney to be signed by at least one attorney of record in their individual name with their address stated.

• Authorizes courts to impose appropriate sanctions upon the person who signed a document, the represented party, or both if a pleading, motion, or other paper is signed in violation of this requirement, including orders to pay reasonable expenses and attorney fees to other parties.

• Requires all violation proceedings to be brought within the same civil action where the document was filed, with motions for sanctions filed within 30 days after entry of final judgment or within 30 days after ruling on post-judgment motions.

• Applies the same requirements and sanctions to the State of Illinois and state agencies as to other parties, and allows courts to award compensation for costs incurred in contesting administrative agency determinations made by the State without reasonable cause and found to be untrue.

• Requires judges to set forth with specificity the reasons and basis for any sanction imposed either in the judgment order itself or in a separate written order.