CHICAGO (AP) - A new class-action lawsuit alleges that one of the nation’s largest court systems violates the Illinois Constitution by requiring anyone filing a civil suit to pay a $10 fee for daycare-style services that the majority of litigants never use.
The 15-page suit, filed this week in Cook County Circuit Court in Chicago, argues that the Illinois Supreme Court has previously ruled that any fees not directly related to the litigation process amount to illegal taxation.
Some 300,000 civil suits are filed in Cook County each year, generating at least $3 million, the suit says. It wants a judge to prohibit the court from collecting the disputed fee and seeks the return of all such fee money from the last five years - around $15 million.
The stated objective of the program - to provide young children a place to wait when their parents participate in courtroom proceedings as litigants, witnesses or even jurors - is laudable, a plaintiff’s attorney in the case, Joseph Siprut, said Tuesday.
“But if you are a branch of government, there are certain things you aren’t allowed to do - good cause or not,” he said. “You don’t get to use the defense that it’s just $10. No. It’s either lawful or unlawful.”
In practice, rooms set aside as waiting rooms for children are frequently empty, Siprut said.
The clerk for Cook County Circuit Court and the county treasurer are named defendants. A statement from the clerk’s office didn’t address specific allegations, saying the suit was forwarded to attorneys. The treasurer’s office didn’t return a message seeking comment.
The overall fee litigants pay to file a lawsuit in Cook County ranges from around $100 to $350, not including the $10 fee. The total filing fee also includes a document storage fee and an arbitration fee, among others charges, all of which the lawsuit says are legitimate.
The filing fee in the new lawsuit seeking a judge’s order eradicating the children’s room fee was $337, Siprut’s law office said. That included the $10 children’s room fee.
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