MARION - A new report shows how personal injury lawyers are gaming the system in Illinois by strategically timing asbestos lawsuits to inflate legal costs and further erode the state’s business climate.
The report from the Illinois Civil Justice League – Illinois Asbestos Trust Transparency – shows how personal injury lawyers are rigging the timing of asbestos lawsuits to double dip for the same claim.
“It should come as no surprise, but personal injury lawyers have now found a new way to game the system in Illinois,” said Travis Akin, Executive Director of Illinois Lawsuit Abuse Watch, a non-partisan legal watchdog group. “Illinois has long been known as the 'Land of Lincoln,' but due to aggressive efforts by personal injury lawyers to game the system to their advantage, Illinois has been turned into the ‘Land of Lawsuits.’”
The new study shows how plaintiffs’ attorneys file an asbestos claim in court against small businesses and other defendants. Then after the case is resolved they file claims against various asbestos trust funds which then allows them to get paid twice for the same claim.
“This lack of transparency and incentive to double dip creates a perverse profit motive for personal injury lawyers to file even more lawsuits here that target Illinois businesses,” explained Akin. “This is especially troubling given the fact neighboring states Missouri and Iowa have just passed laws this year that target this kind of double dipping through increased transparency.
The two bordering states say that they hope to lure Illinois businesses that want to cross the river to flee being a target in the ‘Land of Lawsuits.’
"Missouri, the ‘Show Me State,’ is showing Illinois the way to create jobs by restoring fairness and common sense to their courts, and yet here in the 'Sue Me State,' Illinois legislators have so far failed to advance similar common sense legislation," Akins said.
As a result of the system gaming, personal injury lawyers win, and the rest of us lose, Akin said.
"It is time for Illinois legislators to stop siding with the personal injury lawyers that game the system and start standing up for fairness and common sense in our courts that will help us retain and expand jobs here," he said.
As part of the new study, the law firm of Maron Marvel Bradley Anderson & Tardy, LLP conducted an asbestos trust review and analysis on a sample of 100 asbestos cases recently filed in Illinois and found in 92 percent of the cases there was no disclosure for double dipping.
Akin said it is not a surprise personal injury lawyers have found a new way to game the system in Illinois. He said personal injury lawyers have been gaming the system for years in Illinois, which is a big reason why Illinois is home to three of the worst “Judicial Hellholes” (Madison, St. Clair and Cook Counties) in the country and why Illinois is ranked the third-worst state in the country for legal fairness, according to a report from the Harris Poll company.
The study also documents how judges in Illinois allow cases to be heard hear that have nothing to do with Illinois. In Madison County, less than 1% of all asbestos-related lawsuits filed there are on behalf of Illinois plaintiffs.
For more information on this report and I-LAW’s efforts to restore common sense and fairness to Illinois courts, visit I-LAW’s website at www.ILLawsuitAbuseWatch.org.
