Study reveals Illinois is 6th in the nation for massive jury awards

[September 28, 2022]  By Kevin Bessler | The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Illinois places near the top of a study that ranks states based on the amount of large monetary jury awards over the past decade.

The large awards are called nuclear verdicts and are described as being worth $10 million or more.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform analyzed nearly 1,400 verdicts in personal injury and wrongful death cases and found that Illinois juries delivered 75 reported nuclear verdicts to the tune of more than $3 billion. That ranks as the state sixth most in the nation.

Nathan Morris, senior vice president of Legal Reform Advocacy, said juries in Illinois often deliver large awards in medical malpractice cases.

“In Illinois, there is one kind of case that is dominating, which is medical malpractice cases,” Morris said. “Those are about 40% of the very large verdicts.”

The next two most frequent areas for nuclear verdicts in Illinois are product liability (17.3%) and premises liability (16%). Auto accidents made up 10.7% of nuclear verdicts in personal injury and wrongful death cases compared to 22.8% nationwide.
 

Two of Illinois’ largest verdicts during the 10-year study time frame were the trials in a federal multidistrict case alleging that men experienced heart attacks from using the testosterone-boosting drug AndroGel. The trial court threw out the first verdict of $150 million, contending that it was inconsistent for the jury to find that the drug had not caused the plaintiff's heart attack and awarded no compensatory damages, but to award punitive damages by finding the manufacturer had misleadingly marketed the drug. The court tossed the second verdict of $140 million for similar reasons.

Morris said there are several reforms that could limit nuclear verdicts, including addressing misleading lawsuit advertising.
 

“We do see around the country a real increase in trial lawyer advertising, some of which is misleading or deceptive, and often touts really large awards that have been handed out by juries even if they never actually have been recovered or they were turned over by appeal,” Morris said.

The report also suggests adopting a third party litigation funding disclosure, and prohibiting the manipulation of juries through anchoring tactics. The authors said this can be accomplished by something as straightforward as a one sentence reform stating that no party or counsel may refer to a specific dollar amount, state a range, or offer a formula to suggest to the jury an amount to award for noneconomic damages.

Florida, California and New York produced the most nuclear verdicts in the study, with a combined 575 verdicts of more than $10 million.

Kevin Bessler reports on statewide issues in Illinois for the Center Square. He has over 30 years of experience in radio news reporting throughout the Midwest.