Illinois Motion to Reconsider: Deadline, Grounds, and Sanctions

In Illinois, a motion to reconsider is a post-trial motion asking the judge who decided your case to take another look before you go to the appellate court. You have 30 days from the entry of judgment to file it, under 735 ILCS 5/2-1203 for non-jury cases and 735 ILCS 5/2-1202 for jury cases. A timely motion pauses enforcement of the judgment and resets the clock for filing a notice of appeal.¹²

The 30-Day Deadline

The clock starts the day the court enters its judgment. Under 735 ILCS 5/2-1203(a), you have 30 days to file in a non-jury case. The same 30-day window applies in jury cases under 735 ILCS 5/2-1202(c), counted from the date of judgment or the date the jury is discharged if no verdict was reached.¹²

Both statutes let the court grant additional time, but you must request the extension before the original 30 days expire. If you e-file, Illinois Supreme Court Rule 9(d) treats the document as timely as long as it is submitted before midnight in the court’s time zone on the due date. A document submitted on a day the clerk’s office is closed will be stamped as filed the next business day, so a Sunday submission doesn’t count for that Sunday.

Missing the deadline is one of the costliest mistakes in Illinois civil litigation. A late motion is treated as if it was never filed. The judgment stands, and your appeal clock may already be running out.

Grounds for Reconsideration

Illinois courts recognize three grounds: newly discovered evidence, errors of law, and errors of fact. One strong ground is enough.

Newly Discovered Evidence

If evidence surfaces after trial that would have changed the outcome, you can ask the court to reconsider. You have to show you didn’t know the evidence existed at the time of the earlier hearing and explain why. If the court concludes you could have found it through reasonable effort before the hearing, it will deny the motion.³

The evidence also needs to be meaningful. Information that merely repeats what the court already considered, or that adds only marginal detail, won’t justify reopening the case.

Errors of Law

A legal error means the court applied the wrong rule, misread a statute, or overlooked binding precedent. This is often the strongest ground because it asks the court to fix a mistake rather than relitigate the facts. Identify the specific legal principle the court got wrong and show how correcting it changes the result.

Errors of Fact

Factual errors involve findings that don’t match the record. The court might have attributed testimony to the wrong witness, miscalculated damages, or overlooked key exhibits. The error has to be substantial enough that correcting it would alter the judgment.

Jury Cases Have a Stricter Rule

The two statutes overlap but differ in a way that matters if your case went to a jury.

In a non-jury case, 735 ILCS 5/2-1203 lets you ask for a rehearing, retrial, modification of the judgment, vacating of the judgment, or “other relief.” The statute is deliberately broad.¹

In a jury case, 735 ILCS 5/2-1202 requires all post-trial relief to be raised in a single motion. You can’t file one motion seeking judgment as a matter of law and a separate one asking for a new trial; both requests must go into the same filing. The motion also has to spell out each point you’re relying on and state what relief you want. If you fail to request a new trial in your post-trial motion, you waive the right to ask for one later.²

Because of this single-motion rule, jury-case motions are often structured with alternative requests, asking for judgment first and a new trial in the alternative if judgment is denied.

Preparing and Filing the Motion

Start with a written motion that identifies the specific judgment being challenged and lays out your grounds. In jury cases, the statute explicitly requires you to specify each point you’re relying on. Even in non-jury cases, where the statute is less prescriptive, courts expect a clear explanation of why the original ruling was wrong. A vague request to “reconsider” with no supporting argument will fail.

Attach a memorandum of law walking the court through the statutes or cases that support your position. If your ground is newly discovered evidence, include the evidence itself or an affidavit explaining what it is and why it wasn’t available earlier. Serve copies on all other parties so they can respond. The opposing side will typically file a response memorandum, and the court may schedule oral argument before ruling.

Filing fees vary by county. Check your local circuit clerk’s fee schedule when planning the filing.

Enforcement of the Judgment Is Paused

A timely post-trial motion automatically stays enforcement of the judgment. In non-jury cases, that comes from 735 ILCS 5/2-1203(b); in jury cases, from 735 ILCS 5/2-1202(d). The stay generally lasts until the court rules on the motion.¹²⁴

There’s an exception. Under 735 ILCS 5/2-1203(b), if the judgment grants injunctive or declaratory relief, the automatic stay doesn’t apply. You’d need to file a separate application showing just cause for the court to stay enforcement of that type of order. Don’t assume the stay is universal.

Effect on the Appeal Deadline

This is where the real stakes are. Under Illinois Supreme Court Rule 303(a)(1), you normally have 30 days after entry of a final judgment to file a notice of appeal. If a timely post-trial motion is filed, the appeal clock resets: you get 30 days from the date the court enters an order disposing of the last pending post-trial motion.⁵

This tolling effect is one of the main reasons attorneys file motions to reconsider even when the odds at the trial level are slim. It preserves the right to appeal while giving the trial court a chance to self-correct.

Two warnings. First, if you file a notice of appeal before the court rules on your post-trial motion, the notice isn’t lost. It sits dormant and becomes effective once the court disposes of the motion. Second, Rule 303(a)(2) is explicit: asking the court to reconsider its ruling on a post-trial motion does not restart the appeal clock again. You get one tolling bite at the apple. If the court denies your motion to reconsider and you then file a motion asking it to reconsider that denial, your appeal deadline is still measured from the first denial.⁵

Sanctions Risk for Weak Motions

Illinois Supreme Court Rule 137 applies to every motion you file, motions to reconsider included. By signing the motion, your attorney certifies that it’s well grounded in fact, supported by existing law or a good-faith argument for changing the law, and not filed for an improper purpose like harassment or delay.

If the court finds a violation, it can impose sanctions on the attorney who signed the motion, the represented party, or both. Sanctions can include an order to pay the opposing party’s reasonable expenses, including attorney fees, caused by the frivolous filing. Courts don’t impose sanctions lightly, but a motion that simply rehashes arguments the court already rejected, without any new evidence or legal basis, invites scrutiny.

If the Motion Is Granted

The court has broad authority to fix a judgment it now sees as wrong. Depending on the situation, it may modify the judgment, vacate it entirely, or order a new hearing or retrial. In non-jury cases, 735 ILCS 5/2-1203(a) lists rehearing, retrial, modification, and vacating as available remedies.¹

In jury cases, the court must rule on all relief requested in the post-trial motion, even conditionally. If it grants judgment as a matter of law, it must also rule on whether a new trial should be granted in the event that judgment is later reversed on appeal. Those conditional rulings automatically take effect if the unconditional ruling is overturned.²

If the Motion Is Denied

Denial means the original judgment stands. It doesn’t end the road. Under Rule 303(a)(2), an appeal from the judgment is deemed to include an appeal from the denial of the post-trial motion, so you don’t need to file a separate notice of appeal for the denial itself.⁵

A well-drafted motion often strengthens an appeal even when the trial court denies it. It creates a clear record of the errors you identified, forces the trial court to address them on the record, and gives the appellate court a concrete ruling to review. Skipping the motion and going straight to appeal can leave issues unpreserved, particularly in jury cases where the statute requires specific objections in the post-trial motion to avoid waiver.

1
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Compiled Statutes 735 ILCS 5/2-1203
2
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Compiled Statutes 735 ILCS 5/2-1202
3
Illinois Legal Aid Online. Motion to Reconsider
4
Illinois Legal Aid Online. Post-Trial Relief
5
Illinois Courts. Illinois Supreme Court Rule 303