New Rule: Service of Process in Cook County

In the mid-1980s, Cook County municipal courts (small claims) suffered a large scandal related to “sewer service.” Court-appointed process servers were attesting to having served summons in cases where they did not even attempt service. Hundreds of judgments had to be vacated due to fraudulent returns of service.

In response to the service problems, the First Municipal District, encompassing the City of Chicago, issued a municipal court rule that all original summonses had to be placed with the Cook County Sheriff before a court could appoint a process server. Although a municipal court rule, it gradually became accepted practice throughout the county, and was eventually codified in Illinois Code of Civil Procedure Section 2-202 (“Section 2-202”).

A new law recently signed by Governor J. B. Pritzker now allows licensed private detectives and their employees to serve process in Cook County without court appointment. The new law is effective as of January 1, 2025.

Prior to the amendments introduced in Public Act 103-0671, Section 2-202 mandated that service of process in Cook County must first be attempted by the Sheriff. Depending on what type of case you had, you would have to file several different types of documents with the Sheriff’s office in Cook County in order for the Sheriff to serve process on the defendant. Say you were a landlord in Cook County trying to evict a delinquent tenant—once you filed your complaint with the court, you would have to file two copies of a Summons and two copies of your Complaint with the Sheriff, and pay the $60 Service of Process fee in order to have the Sheriff’s Civil Process Unit serve the defendant in your case.

Once the Sheriff attempted and was unable to serve process on a defendant, a plaintiff could file a Motion to Appoint a Special Process Server to allow a licensed private detective or detective agency to serve process on a defendant. Looking at our example of the landlord in Cook County, the landlord plaintiff would file this Motion to Appoint a Special Process Server with the court and, in its discretion, the court may or may not grant the motion. The motion would list the specific private detective agency the landlord wanted appointed and the agency’s certificate number, and the detective agency or an individual private detective would send a copy of their license or certificate to the sheriff of the county (the detective or agency only need supply their license or certificate to the Sheriff once).

Under Section 2-202, a special process server is, “any person who is licensed or registered as a private detective under the Private Detective, Private Alarm, Private Security, Fingerprint Vendor and Locksmith Act of 2004 or a registered employee of a private detective agency certified under that Act…”

Section 2-202 previously provided that process could be served by a licensed private detective or detective agency without special appointment by a court in any county with a population less 2,000,000 (any county in Illinois besides Cook County).

Public Act 103-0671 amends Section 2-202 to state that process may be served in Cook County by the Sheriff or by a licensed private detective or detective agency in the first instance. This means that plaintiffs may elect to have a private detective or detective agency serve process on the defendant, rather than having to go to the Sheriff and have the sheriff serve process first. Cook County service of process now conforms to the rules followed in all other Illinois counties. There is, however, one exception: the person serving process, or the employer, must remit $5.00 for each service to the Cook County Sheriff.

As the concerns related to improper service were addressed over the years, process server associations attempted to accomplish the amendment just signed into law to no avail. The Cook County Sheriff objected to their efforts. The new law was recently proposed by a labor law attorney. To everyone’s surprise, the Sheriff agreed and worked with legislators to write the law.

From what the authors can discern, the Sheriff was driven by two concerns: manpower and revenue. Deputies may now be diverted to more pressing responsibilities without the Sheriff’s office suffering a great loss of revenue.

To make the point clear, let’s go back to the example of the landlord plaintiff in Cook County. Before the passage of Public Act 103-0671, the landlord plaintiff would have to file the required documents with the Sheriff and pay the Service of Process fee or motion the court to appoint a special process server. Now, after the recent amendments, the landlord plaintiff would be able to choose between going to the Sheriff’s office for service of process or having a licensed private detective or detective agency serve process in the first instance. These amendments allow plaintiffs to choose the method of service that they feel is most appropriate in their case. It may also allow plaintiffs to serve process on the defendant in a timelier fashion, rather than having to take the time to motion the court to appoint a special process server.

The amendment to the Illinois Code of Civil Procedure does not change the long-established ability of a court to appoint anyone over the age of 18 and not a party to the action to serve process. A court-appointed process server does not need to remit the $5.00 fee to the sheriff.

Here’s an odd fact: Paragraph (a) of Section 2-202 begins with “Process shall be served by a sheriff, or if the sheriff is disqualified, by a coroner of some county of the State.” Cook County does not have a coroner. It has a medical examiner.