Crocker v. Finley

Opinion

 [*447]   [**1347]   [****98]  Plaintiff, Janice Marie Crocker, brought this class action in January 1982 against several Cook County officers to challenge the validity of sections 27.1(a)(3) and 27.2(1)(d) of "An Act to revise the law in relation to clerks of courts" (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1981, ch.  [***2]  25, par. 27.1(a)(3); Ill. Rev. Stat., 1982 Supp., ch. 25, par. 27.2(1)(d)). As amended by Public Act 82 -- 645, effective January 1, 1982, these provisions require clerks of the circuit courts to collect a  [**1348]   [****99]  special $ 5 filing fee from petitioners for dissolution of marriage. The $ 5 fee, which is paid in addition to regular filing fees, is collected to fund shelters and other services for victims of domestic violence  [*448]  in Illinois. See Ill. Rev. Stat. 1981, ch. 40, pars. 2401-2403; Ill. Rev. Stat., 1982 Supp., ch. 40, par. 2403.1.

As a petitioner for dissolution of marriage, plaintiff paid the $ 5 fee under protest. She then brought this suit in the circuit court of Cook County, naming as defendants the clerk of that court, his chief deputy in the domestic relations division, and the county treasurer. Plaintiff charged that the fee statute contravenes numerous provisions of the Federal and State constitutions. She requested the court to declare the statute invalid, to enjoin collection of the fee, and to restrain the clerk from transferring to the county treasurer the fees already collected.

Upon plaintiff's motion, the trial court ordered the [***3]  clerk to segregate all $ 5 fees collected from dissolution-of-marriage petitioners. The order directed the clerk to deposit the fees into interest-bearing accounts to be entitled the "Domestic Violence Special Protest Fund." The court appointed a trustee to supervise the fund, and it temporarily restrained the clerk and his deputies from transferring the fees to the county treasurer.

The following parties then requested and were granted leave to intervene: The People of the State of Illinois and Susan Catania, chairperson of the Illinois Commission on the Status of Women (represented by Illinois Attorney General Neil F. Hartigan); the Chicago Metropolitan Battered Women's Network and the Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence. After denying defendants' and intervenors' motions to dismiss, the court granted plaintiff's motion to define and certify a class. The classes certified consist of a State class -- all persons in the State of Illinois who petitioned for dissolution of marriage on or after January 1, 1982, and paid the $ 5 fee -- and a similar subclass consisting only of Cook County petitioners.

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