The Metro-East’s status as a haven for lawsuits has led to its county governments being frequently sued, costing area taxpayers millions and bleeding funds from local programs and services, according to a new study from grassroots legal watchdog group Illinois Lawsuit Abuse Watch (I-LAW).
Specifically, I-LAW found that, from 2010 to 2014, the St. Clair and Madison County governments spent a combined total of $17.1 million defending themselves against lawsuits. The study is titled “Lost to Lawsuits: How Abusive Lawsuits in the Metro-East Drain Municipal Budgets, Force Service Cuts and Suppress Job Growth.”
“It has become painfully clear that St. Clair and Madison County governments are perceived as easy marks by some personal injury lawyers and as a result, millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money is being drained away from already-squeezed municipal budgets, forcing budget cuts that affect us all,” Travis Akin, executive director of I-LAW, said.
Citing the Metro-East’s longtime national reputation as the “Lawsuit Abuse Capital of the Midwest,” Akin added that the money lost to such lawsuits depletes funding for teachers, police officers, new parks and road repairs, and siphons off jobs.
To put it in perspective, Akin said that the $3.14 million spent on litigation-related costs in Madison and St. Clair County in 2014 could have been used for other, more valuable services and programs, such as hiring 56 new teachers or 68 new deputies; purchasing 6,680 laptops for local schools or 2,910 protective vests for police officers; or funding the Madison County Parks and Recreation Grant Commission budget for two years.
“But instead, taxpayers in Madison and St. Clair County are seeing their hard-earned tax dollars go directly into the pockets of personal injury lawyers who are direct beneficiaries of the lawsuits filed against the Madison and St. Clair County governments,” according to the study, which was released Aug. 4.
In fact, Akin said that the questionably close ties between area judges and personal injury lawyers are a reason why Madison and St. Clair have become lawsuit magnets.
Case in point: in late 2011, Madison County Circuit Judge Barbara Crowder was removed from overseeing the asbestos docket when it was revealed that the plaintiff’s attorneys -- who had given $30,000 to her reelection campaign -- had been granted choice trial slots just a few days later, according to I-LAW.
And last year, Madison County judges appointed a personal injury lawyer from the leading asbestos plaintiffs’ firm in the Metro-East to a circuit court judgeship despite being just six years removed from law school, the group stated.
“We’ve known for a long time that the cozy connections between personal injury lawyers and Metro-East judges has driven businesses out of our area and stopped new employers from relocating here,” Akin said. “But our new report shows that judges who allow personal injury lawyers to game the system for their own personal benefit are essentially draining taxpayer dollars from our county budgets.”
Additionally, the amount of money spent on litigation in Madison and St. Clair County dwarfs the amount of money surrounding counties have spent, according to the study, which noted that Bond, Clinton and Monroe County, for instance, did not spend any money on judgments and settlements from 2010 to 2015.
“Perhaps one reason there is such a sharp contrast in litigation expenses in the same geographic area is that Madison and St. Clair counties are widely viewed as home to plaintiff-friendly judges who receive the majority of their campaign contributions from the personal injury lawyers who play the ‘lawsuit lottery’ in Metro-East courts,” according to the study.
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner has outlined reforms he thinks will get the Illinois economy moving again, including those such as venue reform, joint and several liability reform, a constitutional amendment to cap unreasonable judgments and settlements, and medical malpractice reform. Rauner has advocated for a better system of selecting judges in Illinois, as well.
The study noted that neighboring Wisconsin and Iowa have made lawsuit reform a priority while lawmakers in Illinois have consistently ignored the state’s lawsuit abuse problem.
“Who is serving on the bench matters,” Akin said. “Electing good judges who apply doctrines of common sense and fairness will help stop taxpayer dollars from being wasted fighting frivolous lawsuits.”
The study is available online at www.ILLawsuitAbuseWatch.org.
Alerts Sign-up