Credit: chrisdlugosz / Flickr.com -- Creative Commons License McLean County’s courts in IL get slammed for steep settlements
SPRINGFIELD — A central Illinois county has been deemed a “judicial hellhole” for its practice of handing out large settlements to plaintiffs in civil cases, according to a nonprofit that focuses on judicial reform.
The American Tort Reform Foundation, or ATRF, listed McLean County among judicial systems with judges and courts who generally favor these types of lawsuits.
McLean County landed on the list for the first time this year because of its recent history of judges awarding more than $120 million settlements for asbestos-related cases, according to ATRF.
The defendants had made asbestos products or had no direct connection to the plaintiff's injury.
Illinois does not cap settlements for asbestos-related cases.
The largest jury award came in March when a plaintiff received $90 million for asbestos-related injuries he received while working for a now bankrupt company in the 1970s. The company wasn’t named as a defendant. Instead, two other companies were sued, because they knew asbestos was harmful but didn’t speak up.
“It’s an attempt to go after deep pockets is what this is all about,” said Travis Akin, executive director for Illinois Lawsuit Abuse Watch, a judicial reform group.
In 2010, 15 asbestos-related cases were filed in McLean County.
“When you begin to develop a reputation for allowing these kinds of things to happen, you immediately draw in interests in filing lawsuits in those particular jurisdictions,” Akin said.
The Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, which lobbies on behalf of trial lawyers, blasted the ATRF’s report. They said the report is based on poor research and is meant to push legislative tort reforms that favor businesses.
“This so-called report is nothing more than a public relations stunt designed to further their political and legislative strategies to prevent individual citizens from exercising their rights,” Jerry Latherow, president of the of Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, said.
ATRF touts on its website that it works "to help bring greater fairness, efficiency, and predictability to our civil justice system by educating the public, the media, and policymakers about the need for a balanced civil justice system, how the American civil justice system operates, the role of tort law in the civil justice system, and the impact of tort law on the private, public and business sectors of society."
Higher courts have tossed out some verdicts.
In McLean County in 2009, a woman was awarded $2.7 million after she contracted a rare form of cancer linked to breathing in asbestos fibers from her husband's clothing after he came home from work.
Like the man in the $90 million case, the woman didn’t sue the business directly responsible for her asbestos-related cancer. Instead, she sued other companies for conspiring to keep the dangers of asbestos secret, according to court documents.
The 4th District Illinois Appellate Court in July dismissed the woman’s claim for lack of evidence.
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