Cook County lands at No. 6 of tort reform group’s ‘Judicial Hellholes’ list

[December 10, 2024]  By Greg Bishop | The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Cook County is at No. 6 on the Americans for Tort Reform Judicial Hellholes list.

ATR has been publishing the annual Judicial Hellholes list for more than 20 years. President Tiger Joyce said this year, Cook County is among the worst.

“Cook County is home to a disproportionate amount of the state’s litigation and nuclear verdicts,” the group said in the report released Tuesday morning. “No-injury litigation, including claims filed under the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act and consumer protection laws, also contributes to Cook County’s sustained appearance on the Judicial Hellholes report.”

The report highlights data from the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts showing plaintiffs filed 54,544 new civil cases each seeking over $50,000 in the Cook County Circuit Court in 2022, 91% of the 59,925 similar cases filed statewide.

“Yet, Cook County’s 2022 population is only 40.6% of the state’s total,” the report said.

For a family of four, the cost of lawsuit abuse is nearly $10,000, with nearly 200,000 jobs not created and an economic loss of $21 billion per year.

“So, these are real costs,” Joyce told The Center Square. “Lawsuit abuse and excessive litigation impacts the average person, not just the people who bring cases.”

While Cook County is down from No. 2 in last year’s Judicial Hellhole report, it remains in the top 10. Joyce said one thing that improved Illinois’ ranking was recent changes to the state’s controversial Biometric Information Privacy Act, which has penalties for capturing someone’s biometric data without their consent.

“The legislature has taken some steps there with the governor’s support, but this broader issue of no-injury litigation is a problem,” Joyce said.

Recent changes to BIPA effectively overturn an Illinois Supreme Court ruling last year that said companies could be held liable for each time they misused a person's private information and not only the first time.

Companies have faced massive verdicts and settlements in BIPA cases. The most notable case was fast food chain White Castle, which scanned fingerprints of nearly 9,500 employees without their written consent. The company said it could cost more than $17 billion if it lost at trial. White Castle earlier this year settled the case for just over $9 million.

The Illinois Trial Lawyers Association hadn’t seen ATR’s report but said such reports aim to “demean the U.S. Constitution by attacking citizens’ Seventh Amendment right to trial by jury.”

“[W]e assume it’s the same old recycled publicity stunt that ATRA does year after year,” ILTA President Sara Salger said in a statement to The Center Square. “It’s nothing more than ATRA’s ongoing campaign to deny access to the court system that our tax dollars fund.”

Joyce said he’s happy to debate with the trial bar, but said there needs to be change.

“How about let’s just require litigation be a focus of people who actually suffered losses rather than something that may have taken place but there has been no injury,” Joyce said.

ATR’s report also highlights the millions of dollars that trial lawyers spend on advertising in Illinois and Cook County.

“From January 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024, trial lawyers spent an eye-popping $58.9 million on more than 475,000 advertisements across television, print, radio, digital platforms and outdoor mediums in the Chicago market,” the report says.

Joyce said Madison County, Illinois, which used to be among the worst on the Judicial Hellhole list, is still on their radar for attracting asbestos cases.

The top 10 for ATR’s Judicial Hellhole list excluding Illinois is Pennsylvania, New York City, South Carolina, Georgia, California, St. Louis, Missouri, the Michigan Supreme Court, King County in Washington state, and Louisiana.