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The group Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse reports in 2023,
excessive tort litigation cost over 215,000 jobs in Illinois,
and cost state and local governments more than $2 million in
lost revenue.
“When the state government puts the interests of the trial
attorney lobby ahead of small businesses employers, we see
higher costs, fewer jobs, lower economic output and higher
inflation that impacts everyone,” said CALA Executive Director
Phil Melin.
Melin presented the findings of the Perryman Group report at a
recent meeting with state Rep. Martin McLaughlin, R-Barrington
Hills, state Rep. Tom Weber, R-Lake Villa, and HM
Manufacturing's President and CEO Nicole Walter at her facility
in Wauconda.
The group reports every Illinois resident is now estimated to
pay a nearly $1,900 “tort tax” each year to cover the loss in
jobs and economic output from lawsuit abuse. The "tort tax" is
estimated at $2,497 in Chicago and surrounding suburbs.
A report last December said that Illinois is home to one of the
worst judicial hellholes in the country. The American Tort
Reform Foundation identified Cook County as the second worst in
the U.S.
Melin said as a result, Illinois had the fourth highest
homeowners insurance premium increase in the country since 2018
at 18.5%.
“How does the next generation afford home ownership with high
interest rates, we all know in Illinois we have extremely high
property taxes across the state, and now you throw on the fourth
highest homeowners insurance increase, it makes home ownership
farther away for Gen-Z and every single person,” said Melin.
Melin added that the Illinois legislature is making things
difficult for employers in the state, including a measure that
created new punitive damage liabilities on top of compensatory
damages for wrongful death claims.
Illinois Trial Lawyers Association President Sara Salger issued
a statement to The Center Square on the CALA report.
“The CALA study is not new. It’s a recycled, dishonest 'report'
that has been debunked time and time again," Salger said. "The
goal of CALA is to protect the profits of their big business
funders by spreading the myth of lawsuit abuse and pushing
lawmakers for tort reform. There is no correlation between our
courts and the economy. CALA’s 'tort tax' estimates are used to
scare citizens and lawmakers into giving up their constitutional
right to access the courts and their tax dollars fund, simply
for the sake of higher corporate profits.”
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