A PIVOTAL MOMENT
Illinoisans want legal reform—
but they’ll need to work to get it.
Illinois has been at the crossroads of North American
commerce since even before its entry into the Union. Today, the Prairie
State finds itself at a crucial juncture, and the path it follows will
determine whether it continues on a slow decline or reestablishes its
prominence as the economic hub of the Midwest. Illinois voters have clearly
signaled their desire for a saner civil-justice system, but sustaining
that political momentum will demand resolve, particularly in the face
of Trial Lawyers, Inc.’s aggressive lobbying and public-relations
efforts every election season. An engaged citizenry needs to hold elected
officials accountable for delivering the legal reform Illinois needs.
And until the state’s supreme court shows its willingness to let
democratically enacted reform stand, all legislative gains and executive
bill-signings must be viewed with skepticism.
 Undoubtedly, Illinoisans have been energized about tort
reform over the past two years. Lloyd Karmeier’s thrashing of Gordon
Maag to win the Fifth District’s seat on the state supreme court
was the first major political setback for Trial Lawyers, Inc. in southern
Illinois’s modern history, and the newly constituted supreme court
has already begun to address the most ridiculous examples of forum shopping
and to reverse outlandish trial-court verdicts.[186]
The legislature, mindful of growing public discontent, has passed a comprehensive
medical-liability reform bill.[187] Even the judges
of Madison County have shown progress: Daniel Stack has trimmed out-of-state
plaintiffs from the clogged asbestos docket he inherited from Nicholas
Byron, and he could do the same with the broader civil docket after supplanting
Byron as the county’s civil-division chief, as well.[188]
For all the positive signs, Illinois remains one of the
nation’s worst states for litigation: next to last for medical liability,
third from last in corporate liability, and 44th overall according to
corporate litigators. The will of the voters is plainly in favor of tort
reform, but if the Illinois supreme court once again thwarts legislative
action, citizens will have to wait until 2008 to hold it accountable.[189]
On lower courts, however, voters in southern Illinois
face real choices this November. The Fifth District’s newest appellate
judge, Stephen McGlynn, has been a vast improvement over Gordon Maag as
a Fifth District appellate judge, but Trial Lawyers, Inc. is devoting
considerable resources to regain Maag’s old seat for its anointed
candidate, Bruce Stewart.[190] Three Madison County
circuit judges are also up for retention, including chief judge Ann Callis,
daughter of local litigation-industry chieftain Lance Callis.[191]
These candidates’ public statements are peppered with calls for reform,
but voters will have to decide if the tough talk on torts is just election-year
rhetoric.[192]
Then there’s Cook County, which together with some
small counties at the state’s southern tip has warmly welcomed suits
diverted by Madison County’s forum-shopping crackdown. Reforming
the courts of the nation’s third-largest city is a mammoth task.
While some reform could be adopted at the district level, like improved
handling of the county’s asbestos docket, the number of judgeships
system-wide makes it difficult to counter Trial Lawyers, Inc.’s political
giving and public messaging with the type of voter-education efforts that
have gained so much traction downstate.
Therefore, statewide reform is crucial. Our report concludes
as it began—with questions that only Illinoisans can answer.
Central to legal improvement, obviously, is the judiciary.
Will the state supreme court uphold the legislature’s third attempt
to fix the state’s broken medical-liability system? If not, will
citizens maintain their commitment to legal reform and replace activist
judges with those ready to uphold their political will? And will voters
and lawmakers resist the efforts of lawyer-backed “consumer”
groups and their media parrots to push through campaign-finance laws that
will further cement Trial Lawyers, Inc.’s control of the courthouse
and insulate it from citizen pressure?
Legislative change is a necessary complement to a less
activist judiciary. Can Illinois pass meaningful statewide venue reform
to prevent forum shopping? Will the legislature enact class action reform
to allow defendants to appeal class certifications? Can Springfield muster
the political will to extend to products liability the reasonable protections
it has adopted for medical-malpractice liability, and to clarify the state’s
ambiguous consumer-protection laws before the latest abuses popping up
in other states gain a foothold in Illinois?
Illinois will need to address these issues to restore
its legal reputation. Otherwise, neighboring states like Iowa, Indiana,
Missouri, and Michigan will continue to poach job-creating businesses
and skilled workers. Residents of the Land of Lincoln need to take Honest
Abe’s commonsense admonition against litigation to heart, and stand
resolutely against the self-serving political machinations of Trial Lawyers,
Inc.
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186. See Price v. Phillip Morris, Inc., No. 96236,
2005 Ill. LEXIS 2071 (Ill.2005); Avery v. State Farm Mutual Auto. Ins. Co.,
805 N.E.2d 801 (Ill.2005); Gridley v. State Farm Mutual Auto. Ins. Co.,
840 N.E.2d 269 (Ill. 2005).
187. See 2005 Ill. Laws 677.
188. See Knef, supra note 103.
189. See Associated Press, Anne Burke Takes Seat on Illinois Supreme
Court, Crain’s Chicago Bus., July 6, 2006, available at
http://www.chicagobusiness.com
(subscription required).
190. See Ann Knef, McGlynn-Stewart on Par in Fund Raising,
Madison County Rec., Aug. 1, 2006.
191. See Ann Knef, ICJL Mulls over Retention Position, Madison
County Rec., Oct. 5, 2006.
192. See id.; Ed Murnane, Madison Reform Has Been Right Under
Our Noses All Along, ICJLWeekly Rpt. No. 160, May 31, 2006, available
at http://www.icjl.org/weekly060531.htm.
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