Consumer Rights

Securing Low-Income Discount Rates 

Together with the National Consumer Law Center and Community Organizing and Family Issues (COFI), we engaged in adversarial rate litigation before the Illinois Commerce Commission and secured the following benefits:  

In 2023, the Commission adopted our proposed five-tier discount structure for Peoples Gas, North Shore Gas, and Nicor Gas, making Illinois one of the first states to require income-based gas utility discounts on such a large scale. The new structure provides monthly bill discounts of up to 80% for the lowest-income households and extends eligibility to families with incomes up to 300% of the federal poverty level.  

In 2024, we expanded Illinois American Water’s existing affordability program. The Commission approved our proposal to broaden eligibility from 150% to 300% of the federal poverty level and replace a single discount with a four-tier structure providing discounts of 10% to 80% on customers’ total water bills.  

In 2025, we represented COFI in proceedings that established low-income discount rates for ComEd and Ameren Electric.  

Finally, in 2026, after Ameren Gas won an appeal regarding a similar discount rate program, we successfully convinced the Illinois Commerce Commission to keep the program largely the same on remand. 

Initial projections indicate that these programs will provide over two billion dollars in utility bill relief to low-income Illinois households over the next decade. 

Hammer v. City of Blue Island, 2024 IL App (1st) 232464-U 

After the trial court granted our motion to enjoin the City of Blue Island from terminating water service to the innocent residents of a mobile home park for the owner’s nonpayment of a more than $850,000 water bill, the City appealed. The Illinois Appellate Court affirmed the entry of the injunction. Innocent residents, the court stated, should not face the drastic health and safety consequences of a utility termination caused by the landlord’s failure to pay a bill for which the tenants were not responsible. The City then agreed to settle the case by agreeing to not disconnect the residents’ water service, and by paying a confidential amount of damages and attorneys’ fees. 

One year later, attorneys at Prairie State Legal Services used Hammer to convince the Illinois Appellate Court to reverse a lower court’s refusal to restore water service to innocent mobile home park residents after it had been disconnected for the park owner’s failure to pay a water bill that exceeded $500,000. See Holmberg v. City of Kewanee, 2025 IL App (4th) 250628. 

Overland Bond & Investment Corp. v. Calhoun, 2023 IL App (1st) 221804 

In Illinois, if a car owner has a loan agreement with a creditor and misses a scheduled payment, the creditor may repossess the vehicle, sell it, and sue the consumer for the deficiency (the difference between the sale price and the amount due on the loan). Instead of repossessing vehicles, Overland Bond disabled them remotely through a starter-interrupter device known as a “kill switch” and then sued the car owner for the full amount due on the loan. Overland had brought thousands of such cases. 

While defending two car owners against Overland lawsuits, we filed class action counterclaims alleging that Overland’s use of “kill switches” to effect constructive repossessions violated several consumer protection laws. Overland responded by moving to enforce the loan agreements’ arbitration clauses, but we argued that Overland was too late. By electing to sue the car owners, Overland had forfeited its right to arbitration. The trial court agreed, and Overland filed an interlocutory appeal.  

The appellate court granted the parties’ request for oral argument, and rarely have three appellate justices exhibited such clear support for one party (ours) and such disdain for the other. On November 23, 2023, the appellate court issued an opinion—not just a Rule 23 Order, but an actual opinion—that affirmed the trial court’s decision. The law firm Goldberg Kohn Ltd. worked with us on the appeal, and their help was invaluable. 

The appellate court’s decision allowed the litigation to move forward, and the parties eventually entered into a settlement agreement that resolved all their disputes.   

Public Act 104-0540—Expanding LIHEAP Access and Protecting Utility Discounts  

We drafted this landmark legislation, which was sponsored by Representative Laura Faver Dias and Senator Adriane Johnson. It strengthens the legal framework supporting Illinois’ low-income utility discount rate programs.  

The law confirms the Illinois Commerce Commission’s authority to establish comprehensive income-based discount rates for electric and natural gas customers, helping preserve the affordability programs we successfully secured before the Commission after those programs were challenged in court. It also expands eligibility for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) to households with incomes up to 300% of the federal poverty level. Finally, it prevents a scheduled increase in the Base Energy Assistance Charge while preserving funding for energy assistance programs.  

Together, these reforms are projected to save Illinois utility customers more than $100 million annually while expanding access to affordable utility services. 

Public Act 104-0120—Expanding Judgment Exemptions 

Working with a broad coalition of consumer advocates, legal aid organizations, and creditor representatives, we led a three-year legislative initiative to improve the state’s judgment exemption laws for the first time in more than two decades.  

The new law, which went into effect on January 1, 2026, waives appearance fees for defendants in small claims cases and provides for, 

• the largest-ever increase in Illinois homestead exemptions (shielding equity in a primary residence from $15,000 to $50,000 for single owners, and from $30,000 to $100,000 for jointly owned properties); 

• an exemption for $1,000 in a debtor’s checking, savings, or credit union account; and 

• increased personal property exemptions for motor vehicles and tools-of-the-trade exemptions.  

These increased protections also apply to bankruptcy proceedings, so financially distressed families can retain more of the assets they need to achieve a fresh start. The legislation was sponsored by Representative Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz and Senator Robert Martwick.  

 

Public Act 104-0506—Helping “Stuck Heirs” 

“Stuck heirs” have inherited property through intestacy but cannot obtain clear title to the property because it is subject to a “tenancy in common” and the other heirs have disappeared or cannot be located. Stuck heirs with limited incomes lack the means to use other procedures that may be available under Illinois law, and this is especially frustrating when they have exclusively possessed, maintained, and paid taxes on the subject property for years.  

We advanced legislation that allows a low-income co-tenant who has inherited property through intestacy, been in exclusive possession for at least seven years, and paid all property taxes during that period to petition the court for full title. They must first provide notice to other heirs by mail, publication, and recorded declarations Any heir who wishes to preserve an ownership interest may appear and object.  

By establishing a fair process that protects the rights of absent heirs while allowing “stuck heirs” to obtain clear title to properties, the legislation—which was sponsored by Representative Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz and Senator Robert Martwoick and signed into law in June 2026—helps preserve generational wealth and promotes neighborhood stability. 

Kidd v. Pappas, 22-cv-07061 

Together with attorneys from Guin Stokes & Evans and Reed Smith, we filed this federal class action lawsuit to challenge Cook County’s failure to provide just compensation to individuals who lose their homes for failing to pay property taxes.  

After granting our motion to certify the class, which now includes more than 2,000 members, the court held that Cook County’s failure violates both the Fifth Amendment’s prohibition against taking private property for a public purpose without just compensation and the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against the imposition of excessive fines.  

The court then held a bench trial to determine whether the County may (under the standards set forth in a U.S. Supreme Court case on municipal liability) be held financially liable for its constitutional violations. The Court found the evidence established that the County was deliberately indifferent to the obvious risk of such violations and was therefore liable.  

The litigation continues because the trial court has not yet addressed the issue of damages, but the victories we have already secured in this case have received widespread and positive media coverage: 

“Federal judge rules Cook County tax sale system unconstitutional,” Chicago Tribune, December 9, 2025 

“Cook County liable for property tax sale violation, judge rules,” Chicago Sun-Times, May 11, 2026 

“For the first time, a federal judge blames Cook County for tax-sale violations,” Crain’s Chicago Business, May 11, 2026 

“Cook County faces possible millions in payouts after federal tax sale ruling,” FOX 32 Chicago, May 13, 2026 

Keeping Public Utility Profits in Check 

Investor-owned utilities often request excessive profit margins or returns on equity (ROEs). Modest reductions in ROEs can save ratepayers hundreds of millions of dollars over time, so we work to secure these reductions. 

In 2026, we elicited and provided expert testimony in the rate cases for Peoples Gas and North Shore Gas (co-sponsored with Illinois PIRG and the City of Chicago), Nicor Gas (co-sponsored with Illinois PIRG), and Illinois American Water, arguing that current financial market conditions did not justify the elevated returns the utilities had requested. We urged the Commission to adopt lower, evidence-based ROEs that compensate investors fairly while protecting customers from unnecessary rate hikes.  

Our testimony in the Illinois American Water case emphasized that excessive ROEs disproportionately burden low-income households, who spend a far greater share of their income on essential utility services, and that reasonable reductions in authorized returns can produce significant customer savings without impairing the utilities’ work. 

Part 280 Regulations 

Since 2023 we have partnered with the National Consumer Law Center and Metropolitan Family Services to improve the Illinois Commerce Commission’s Part 280 regulations, which govern utility billing, payment plans, deposits, disconnections, reconnections, and other essential consumer protections. Our advocacy has focused on improving the rules governing collections, disconnections, reconnections, deferred payment agreements, and customer notices. We continue to work with the Commission, utilities, and consumer advocates to ensure that Part 280 provides meaningful protections against unnecessary utility shutoffs while promoting affordable access to essential utility services. 

Water for All (Chicago) 

Together with Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Blacks in Green, and the Chicago Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights, we are advocating before the Chicago City Council in support of the “Water for All” proposal. This measure, sponsored by Alderman Daniel La Spata, would help ensure equitable access to affordable water service for low-income Chicago residents by (1) expanding a citywide program that makes it easier for low-income households to afford water service, and (2) strengthening protections against water shutoffs for nonpayment.