Illinois Confidentiality Act Doesn’t Provide for Attorneys’ Fees

A therapist isn’t entitled to recoup attorneys’ fees from an Illinois agency that sought his notes because such relief isn’t specified in the state Confidentiality Act, the state’s high court ruled Thursday.

The act doesn’t contain “a clear and unequivocal consent by the legislature for an award of fees and costs against the State,” the unanimous opinion written by Justice David Overstreet states.

“Whether the State should pay attorney fees and costs under the circumstances of this case is an issue that lies strictly within the legislature’s discretion, and until the legislature explicitly authorizes an award of such fees ...