The Supreme Court of Illinois just issued its highly anticipated opinion in Evans v. Cook County State’s Attorney, 2021 IL 125513. Evans considered whether Section 10 of the FOID Card Act – which establishes a process for relief from firearms disabilities – automatically and permanently makes this relief unavailable to convicted of felons. The Supreme Court of Illinois determined that Section 10 of the FOID Card Act was intended to be a mechanism for firearm civil rights restoration for some convicted felons.

Evans was convicted of two felonies in 1994. Both were related to controlled substances. Evans applied for a FOID card in 2018 but was denied. The Illinois State Police’s (ISP) justification was based on federal law. ISP argued that Section 922(g)(1) of the Federal Gun Control Act of 1968 prohibits an individual from possessing a firearm when that person “has been convicted in any court of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year.”

The circuit court agreed with the ISP and rejected Evans’s petition to have his firearm rights restored. The court reasoned that federal law barred Evans from obtaining a FOID and Evans had also failed to prove that his owning a firearm would not be contrary to the public interest. Evans had submitted various materials to the court in support of his rehabilitated character including letters of recommendation. However, the circuit court did not find those materials to be persuasive.

Williams & Nickl (W&N) authored two legislative bills that were both signed by the Governor in August 2021. These legislative changes to the Private Detective, Private Alarm, Private Security, Fingerprint Vendor and Locksmith Act (Act) were the product of the combined efforts of W&N, the Associated Detective and Security Agencies of Illinois (ADSAI) and the Illinois Security Professionals Association (ISPA).

Public Act 102-0152 made significant changes to the training requirements for private detectives and their employees and private security contractors and their employees. Another change is that all licensees and employees who were issued Firearm Control Cards (FCC) (or who wish to apply) will have changes in the number of hours required to obtain a firearm training certificate and the addition of annual refresher firearm training requirements. We include a short summary of the Act changes made by PA 102-0152. All licensees are urged to read through the Act changes:

20-Hour Basic Training

Since the pandemic started in March of 2020, there have been many changes and unexpected effects/conditions/outcomes in many professional industries. Licensed real estate brokers and appraisers are in, perhaps, one of the more unique situations directly stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic: an enormous housing boom that has generated a frenzied market of high sale prices, even higher offers, and extremely low mortgage rates. Just like the pandemic itself, these conditions are unprecedented and have been rocking the relatively steady industry.

There are likely a variety of conditions that intersected to create this particular current market. Although economical and other similar conditions have been greatly altered with the pandemic, one cannot ignore the human impact rooted in conditions of life. For many people who normally experience a hectic daily life, they suddenly found themselves working remotely 100% of the time. This caused many to reflect on their current living situation and many reached the same conclusion: it was time to buy a house, especially if conditions of the pandemic created the reality of being home most of the time. There is also the simple fact that more people were saving money due to lack of commute and the closure of mostly everything. Thus, many people were finally simultaneously emotionally/mentally and fiscally ready to pursue the housing market. This newly gained interest and “supply” for licensed real estate professionals certainly fed the current housing boom.

The mere fact that many more people are looking for houses than in a normal market also creates the increased prices. People are ramping up their initial offers to far above the asking price simply due to the sheer amount of people also vying for that same house. The potential buyer may assume that the only way to get the house is to outbid all other parties, which may or may not be true; in the end, however, it results in most others operating in this same way, and this causes houses to be sold tens of thousands of dollars above their asking price not because the house is valued as such, but because of the amount of people competing for one particular house. While this condition is not uncommon in the real estate industry, it is usually not a widespread phenomena across all standard houses.

Until recently, Illinois courts disagreed on how to serve process on residents of Cook County. Some Appellate Courts interpreted the law to require court appointment of a private process server when serving a resident of Cook County. Other Appellate Courts held that the county where the lawsuit is filed is the controlling factor to determine whether appointment is necessary. Thus, if a lawsuit were filed in DuPage County against a resident of Cook County, then court appointment would not be necessary.

The Supreme Court of Illinois recently resolved this disagreement in Municipal Trust and Savings Bank v. Moriarty, 2021 IL 126290. Service of process in Illinois is controlled by Section 2-202 of the Code of Civil Procedure. Moriarty involved a plaintiff who filed suit in Kankakee County against a defendant residing in Cook County. The Supreme Court of Illinois held that Section 2-202 is concerned with where process is served on a defendant. Therefore, for a private detective to serve process on a defendant in Cook County, he or she must be specially appointed by the court.

The ruling sheds light on a murky area of the law. It also adds to the expense of lawsuits, requiring further diligence by both attorneys and process servers. Special attention should be given to the location of defendants and its impact on service of process requirements. 

The current pandemic has noticeably altered the way most industries function. Prior to covid-19, Licensed Real Estate Brokers heavily relied on the ability to meet with possibly buyers/renters in person. Home tours were always in person, and open houses relied on the ability to invite many people into a small space to view the prospective house/condo/apartment prior to applying for it. The ability to meet in person has been heavily altered, and for a time especially toward the beginning of the pandemic, all in person meetings were effectively non-existent. Despite this, the show must go on, and Real Estate Brokers must make clever adjustments in order to reach their clientele and to navigate the housing market underneath these unprecedented terms.

One of the main differences and changes to the industry is the utilization of virtual tours. It was uncommon to organize a virtual tour for a possible buyer prior to covid-19, simply because it’s difficult for the person to gauge the space and to see the details as one would in-person. This type of tour might only occur for possible out-of-state individuals looking to move to this location. With the inability to avoid virtual tours, Real Estate Brokers have had to become adept at using technology to adequately and desirably show the space they are seeking to sell/rent out. There is also a different personal experience with virtual interaction rather than in person interaction, and the onus is certainly on the licensed professional to make the experience comfortable and easy for the interested party. This requires a distinct set of skills that the professional would have to quickly adapt to in order to continue to make money and generate happy clients.

The types of houses and amenities people are seeking out has also changed. With many individuals working from home for the foreseeable future, and some possibly permanently, having a space for a home office is absolutely vital. Because of the prevalence of working from home, individuals who would not normally seek quieter spaces are doing so, which can be a challenge for Real Estate Brokers who practice in places like Chicago. This certainly has encouraged and effectively required the professional to adapt to these particularities and to attempt to anticipate these particular needs from a prospective buyer/renter in the particular circumstances generated by the pandemic.