Rule 7-1.01 - Actions Subject to Mandatory Arbitration (Supreme Court Rule 86)A. Mandatory arbitration proceedings are undertaken and conducted in the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit, pursuant to Orders of the Illinois Supreme Court dated December 19, 1988, November 27, 1990 and November 22, 1993. On January 17, 2002, the Supreme Court increased the jurisdictional limit of cases subject to mandatory arbitration in the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit to $50,000. B. Mandatory arbitration proceedings are a part of the underlying civil action, and therefore, all Rules of Practice contained in the Illinois Code of Civil Procedure and the Illinois Supreme Court Rules shall apply to these proceedings. C. All civil actions, except confessions of judgment on promissory notes, will be subject to mandatory arbitration if each claim is exclusively for money in an amount exceeding $10,000 but not exceeding $50,000, exclusive of interest, costs, and attorney's fees. D. Every Complaint or Counterclaim filed shall contain specific prayers for relief except that in actions for injury to the person no ad damnum may be pleaded except to state whether the damages sought are: (1) greater than $10,000 but not exceeding $15,000; (2) greater than $15,000 but not exceeding $50,000; (3) greater than $50,000. E. Any case not assigned to an arbitration calendar, including cases transferred from another jurisdiction, may be ordered to arbitration at a status call, pre-trial conference, or upon receipt from another jurisdiction, when it appears to the Court that any claim in the action has a value exceeding $10,000 and that no claim in the action has a value in excess of $50,000. Within fourteen days of such determination any such case shall be transferred to and set on the Motion call of the Supervising Judge of Arbitration, at which time an arbitration hearing date shall be scheduled no more than one hundred and eighty days from the date of such transfer. In cases transferred from another jurisdiction it shall be incumbent upon the clerk to provide timely Notice of such hearing to all parties of record. F. Section E above shall allow the ordering to arbitration of cases filed prior to the effective date of these Rules as amended. G. The award of the arbitration panel shall be limited to the amount originally prayed for in the Complaint, Counterclaim, or Third Party Complaint, unless prior to the arbitration hearing, leave of Court is given to increase the ad damnum with the appropriate difference in filing fee paid but in no event shall the award be in excess of $50,000. H. Small claims cases in which a Jury Demand is filed shall be subject to mandatory arbitration pursuant to LCR 3-1.05.Ill. R. Cir. Ct. Lake Cnty. 7-1.01
Amended effective 7/1/2017.