Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Illinois

Costs are one thing; fees are another. If the lawsuit is on a contract or lease, the contract or lease would have to specify that fees are allowed specifically - allowing costs won't do it (or shouldn't but you never know what a judge might do). If the contract covers fees it has to say something about whether the fees need to be reasonable. So, in part depending on the contract and depending on the kind of case it is, you'd have to argue that the fees are unreasonable and you'd have to provide testimony about what other attorneys charge for similar situations. While most judges who are in courts where fees are allowed have a sense of what is reasonable, that's not always going to help. If it's any other kind of case, some allow fees by statute, most others do not. So you'd have to be far more specific.