St. Clair, Madison courts back on ‘Judicial Hellhole’ list. Local judges push back.

The American Tort Reform Association has once again ranked St. Clair and Madison counties among the country’s worst “judicial hellholes” — jurisdictions, courts and legislatures the lobbying group considers unfair.

St. Clair, Madison and Cook counties were ranked No. 7, just behind the city of St. Louis, which fell to fifth place from fourth place in 2018-2019.

The counties climbed a spot, the association wrote, because “they are magnets for no-injury class action lawsuits, have a disproportionate amount of asbestos litigation, and judges allow frivolous lawsuits concerning the Biometric Information Privacy Act to proceed.”

The group says lawyers flock to Madison County for asbestos claims, too, and that St. Clair County is rising among those filings, too.

“Their claim simply has no merit,” said Madison County Circuit Court Chief Judge William Mudge, challenging the American Tort Reform Association to show him evidence of unfairly large awards.

The American Tort Reform Association is a lobbying group that advocates tort and liability reform. Lawmakers who advocate for changing the state’s civil code often invoke the association’s eye-catching “judicial hellhole” phrase. And the association’s list is disputed by litigators in both St. Clair and Madison counties, who say the rankings are supported by corporations who want only to protect themselves from culpability and to undermine citizens’ constitutional right to sue them damages.

“We can’t keep people from filing suits, but we can rule upon issues that arrive in those suits,” he said. “We’re a place where citizens’ disputes are fairly and justly resolved.”

Mudge noted that asbestos claims are taken very seriously since it has been proven to cause mesothelioma and that when someone is exposed to it, “their health declines and that is something no one would want to go through.”

The circuit courts have to follow the laws as passed by the legislature, Mudge said, and cannot ignore the legal precedent set forth by the Illinois Supreme Court. He said the reason litigants come to Madison County for these suits is because “this is an efficiently run and fair courthouse.”

The Belleville News-Democrat has also reached out St. Clair County Chief Judge Andrew Gleeson for comment.

Antonio Romanucci, president of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, said the association’s annual Judicial Hellhole list “demeans the U.S. Constitution and attacks citizens’ Seventh Amendment right to trial by jury.”

“ATRA is a well-funded front group for the nation’s wealthiest corporations which work to undermine the independence of courts to help corporate interests avoid responsibility for their dangerous behavior and reckless actions,” Romanucci said in the statement. “The deceptively titled ‘Hellholes’ report is part of its ongoing campaign to deny access to the court system that our tax dollars fund.”

Romanucci also noted that civil lawsuits filed in Illinois have been dropping since 2010 and were down 47 percent.

“Illinois’ courts are fair and provide an avenue for people of ordinary means who are victims of wrongdoing to hold perpetrators accountable,” he said. “They serve as a powerful deterrent against corporate misconduct and that’s precisely why ATRA is so determined to shut down the ability of individuals to access them for help.”

In the release, the association cited the state legislature’s failure to propose legislative reforms to address issues of liability and tort reform and accused it of pursuing a liability-expanding agenda in 2019. The association said it expects more from the legislature in 2020.

The List

A release from the American Tort Reform Association rated the following U.S. jurisdictions, courts and legislatures as “Judicial Hellholes”:

1. Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas
2. California
3. New York City
4. Louisiana
5. City of St. Louis
6. Georgia
7. Illinois’ Cook, Madison and St. Clair counties
8. Oklahoma
9. Minnesota Supreme Court and the Twin Cities
10. New Jersey Legislature

This story was originally published December 10, 2019 at 1:09 PM.

Hana Muslic

Belleville News-Democrat

618-239-2626

Hana Muslic has been a public safety reporter for the Belleville News-Democrat since August 2018, covering everything from crime and courts to accidents, fires and natural disasters. She is a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s College of Journalism and her previous work can be found in The Lincoln Journal-Star and The Kansas City Star.