Metro East Sun

I own a small locksmith company in St. Clair County, and my business has suffered tremendously from our state’s anti-small business legal climate and out-of-control stacked costs. This unfortunate reality is highlighted by the latest American Tort Reform Foundation’s Judicial Hellholes rankings which lists Illinois as the fifth-worst legal jurisdiction in the country, up three spots from just a year ago.

Thanks to Senate Bill 72, small businesses like mine are forced to allocate more dollars to possible legal defense thanks to an astonishing six percent pre-trial interest rate. Because of this, greedy trial lawyers can also swindle us into meritless settlements since they know we can’t afford an even costlier loss in court. This means fewer jobs and reduced service capacity for customers.

Adding to the pain, employers are restricted from working with employees through mediated arbitration in workers compensation cases. Instead, both sides are forced to spend more money on needless lawyers and court fees, all for a less-direct, more complicated process and less effective resolutions. Of course, yet again, most of these additional dollars go to lawyers who make their living exploiting Illinois’ backwards system.

Last but not least, the state actually increased taxes on Illinois businesses by $655 million during COVID-19. And worst of all, we can’t even benefit from tax deductions due to lost business from the pandemic. If things are this bad right now when the whole country is struggling, what will be next for Illinois employers when times are better?

If our lawmakers like State Senator Rachelle Crowe and State Representative Jay Hoffman don’t start prioritizing legal reforms that will help small businesses like mine, we will likely become a “Judicial Hellhole” next year, too.