Making those New Year’s resolutions …

We all know that the New Year provides a great opportunity to commit to making a list of positive changes in our lives. Is it possible that judges in state court jurisdictions can make New Year’s resolutions as well? If so, I am sure that the Illinois judicial system shouldn’t have to ponder very long or hard about what their resolutions might be.

Earlier this month the American Tort Reform Association announced its fourth annual Judicial Hellhole list, a ranking of the worst courts in the United States. Illinois had the distinction of having not one or two, but three court jurisdictions on a list of only six. Court systems in Cook County, Madison County and St. Clair County were all listed as having a disproportionate impact on civil litigation.

In fact, attorneys carefully consider these Illinois court jurisdictions when they are venue shopping for a judicial setting where a favorable outcome, an excessive verdict or settlement or favorable precedent will be set. The attorneys in most cases don’t even reside in the state and neither do most of the injured parties they represent.

Consider that Madison County has made the list for all four years ATRA has had one. In 2003, ATRA described Madison County as the worst judicial hellhole in the country and said county judges there receive three quarters of their contributions from trial attorneys. No surprise there. ATRA also said that the Madison County is famous for certifying class (or as they describe them mass) actions and handing down irrational verdicts.

Even with Texas taking first honors, Illinois courts and judges made a splash in 2005. Numbers two through six are: Cook County, Ill., West Virginia, Madison County, Ill., St. Clair County, Ill., and South Florida.

A study released in November and conducted by the Illinois Civil Justice adds more fodder to consider. Litigation Imbalance, The Need for Venue Reform in Illinois is a 10-year analysis of venue disparities in the Illinois court system between1994-2003. The study said that as the state’s population and legal climate have changed over the past decade, one trend seems to have remained constant and even grown, and that is the disproportionate filing of major lawsuits in specific venues in Illinois. For example,while Cook County represented 44 percent of the state’s population in 1994 and only 46.6 percent a decade later, the court system hears 63.6 percent of the litigation. In Madison County, population 200,000 plus, the findings show the number of cases heard were four times the average of the rest of the 101 counties outside of Cook County. These trends have blossomed since the legislative passage and judicial defeat of the Civil Justice Reform Amendments of 1995.

There is one tiny bright spot for Midwesterners. ATRA recently heaped praise on the high court for reversing the $10 billion class action lawsuit against Philip Morris and remanding the case back to Madison County where it was instructed to dismiss the case.

In 2006 maybe the judges aren’t the only ones who should consider making some New Year’s resolutions. Lawmakers should consider looking at what they have done or not done and maybe the rest of us should be making resolutions to remind them about “what should be done.”