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June 24, 2014

June 24, 2014, 2:49 pm
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Shareholder Class-Action Suits Curbed by U.S. High Court
From Business Week
The U.S. Supreme Court tightened the limits on class-action lawsuits by shareholders, giving a partial victory to Halliburton Co. while stopping short of abolishing those suits altogether.
Halliburton and business groups had sought to overturn a 1988 precedent and effectively end class-action fraud suits over securities bought on public exchanges. A divided court today refused, with Chief Justice John Roberts saying Halliburton hadn’t shown “the kind of fundamental shift in economic theory” that would warrant overruling the precedent.
The court instead made it easier for defendants to prevent approval of a class action, a certification that can ratchet up the pressure on a company to settle. Roberts said a defendant can block a class action by showing that an alleged misstatement didn’t affect a company’s stock price.
The ruling will “weed out some of the weaker cases,” said Larry Hamermesh, a Widener University law professor who teaches about securities litigation.
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June 25, 2014

June 25, 2014, 8:54 am
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Plaintiffs Push For More From GM's Compensation Plan
From the National Journal
Lawyers who represent victims of General Motors Co.’s ignition switch defects are raising concerns about a planned compensation fund, pushing for punitive damages and questioning who would be eligible.
During a June 18 congressional hearing over GM’s recalls, chief executive officer Mary Barra promised that the fund would not be capped and that people with injuries or deaths predating its 2009 bankruptcy could be eligible. She said GM would begin processing claims on Aug. 1.
“If the ignition switch was part of the issue, we want them in the program,” she said.
But she deferred specifics to the fund’s administrator, claims attorney Kenneth Feinberg, who is expected to announce the details within a few weeks. He has been meeting with plaintiffs lawyers to gather their views. Some of those lawyers, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they were pleased with some details, such as the possibility of including cases in which the driver was at fault, even if he or she was intoxicated.
But they’re pushing for additional concessions.
“We know the direction he is leading us into, and we’re not sure we like all of it,” said Jere Beasley, founding shareholder of Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles in Montgomery, Ala.
Feinberg and GM spokesman Greg Martin declined to comment.
Feinberg is a seasoned administrator of victim funds, including those for last year’s Boston Marathon bombings, BP PLC’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. GM has recalled 2.6 million vehicles this year over the defect, which could shut down engines, disabling power steering, airbags and other functions.
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June 26, 2014

June 26, 2014, 8:55 am
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Supreme Court Tells Police 'Get A Warrant' For Phone Searches
From Supreme Court Brief
The U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision protecting cellphone privacy sent a strong signal on Wednesday that the admittedly low-tech justices grasp the profound changes that the Information Age has wrought.
“Modern cell phones are not just another technological convenience. With all they contain and all they may reveal, they hold for many Americans ‘the privacies of life,’ ” Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. wrote for the court. He added that cellphones and smartphones are “now such a pervasive and insistent part of daily life that the proverbial visitor from Mars might conclude they were an important feature of human anatomy.”
Ruling in Riley v. California and United States v. Wurie, the court said that with rare exceptions, the Fourth Amendment requires that police obtain a search warrant to probe the contents of modern-day phones in the possession of arrestees. Rejecting government assertions of the need for quick access to phone contents, the court stressed the damage to personal privacy that would result from police seizure of devices that “place vast quantities of personal information literally in the hands of individuals.”
In tone and substance, Roberts’ decision seemed aimed at giving the court’s acknowledgement, if not blessing, to a new American era—much as Reno v. ACLU in 1997 commemorated the birth of the Internet, comparing it then to the colonial “town crier” deserving of full First Amendment protection.
Wednesday’s ruling was similar in retrofitting modern technology to the intention of the Constitution’s framers. Because of the vast data stored on phones, searching them could yield the same information that British soldiers could obtain by rummaging through a colonial home, the court suggested.
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June 27, 2014

June 27, 2014, 8:58 am
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High Court Limits Presidential Power, Triggers Turmoil At NLRB
From the National Law Journal
A major separation-of-powers decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday may prevent President Barack Obama from making recess appointments for the rest of his tenure, and will trigger uncertainty for months or years to come at the National Labor Relations Board.
Ruling in National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning, the court invalidated three recess appointments Obama made to the board during a brief Senate recess in January 2012. The three-day recess, the court agreed, was too short to trigger the president’s power under the Constitution to “fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate.”
A recess lasting less than 10 days is “presumptively too short to fall within the clause,” wrote Justice Stephen Breyer in an opinion joined by justices Anthony Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
The decision thwarted Obama’s first-term tactic for making appointments in the face of resistance from Senate Republicans. They had initiated a series of very brief “pro forma” sessions every Tuesday and Friday during longer recesses, with the goal of preventing recess appointments. Obama regarded those short breaks as true recesses that allowed him to make recess appointments.
The high court said those pro forma sessions deserved recognition. “The Senate is in session when it says it is,” Breyer wrote, “provided that, under its own rules, it retains the capacity to transact Senate business.”
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June 30, 2014

June 30, 2014, 6:22 am
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Supreme Court To Rule On Public Sector Unions
From the Chicago Tribune
The Supreme Court will is set to decide on a case involving Chicago-area in-home care providers that could end up dealing a major blow to public-sector labor unions.
Illinois, California, Maryland, Connecticut and other states have long used Medicaid funds to pay salaries for in-home care workers to assist disabled adults who otherwise might have to be put in state institutions. The jobs were poorly paid and turnover was high.
Over the last decade, more than 20,000 of these workers in Illinois voted to organize and won wage increases by joining the Service Employees International Union.
But the National Right to Work Foundation, an anti-union advocacy group, sued Gov. Pat Quinn and the SEIU, accusing the state and union of conspiring to relabel private care providers as state employees so they could collect more union fees.
"This scheme is nothing more than pure political payback," said Patrick Semmens, a director of the group, complaining that unions have helped fund Quinn's campaign.
They are also challenging whether workers who don't want to participate in the union should be forced to pay dues, a longtime union practice known as "fair share" fees. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of several mothers who take care of their disabled adult children at home and resent the idea of paying about $50 a month in union dues.
A federal judge in Chicago and the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the suit, citing Supreme Court precedents dating to 1977 that allow unions representing teachers and other public employees to collect fees from all workers, including those who object to the union.
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July 1, 2014

July 1, 2014, 6:34 am
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Justices Deal Unions A Setback In Illinois Health Care Case
From the Associated Press
The Supreme Court dealt a blow to public sector unions Monday, ruling that thousands of home health care workers in Illinois cannot be required to pay fees that help cover the union's costs of collective bargaining.
In a 5-4 split along ideological lines, the justices said the practice violates the First Amendment rights of nonmembers who disagree with the positions that unions take.
The ruling is a setback for labor unions that have bolstered their ranks — and bank accounts — in Illinois and other states by signing up hundreds of thousands of in-home care workers. It could lead to an exodus of members who will have little incentive to pay dues if nonmembers don't have to share the burden of union costs.
But the ruling was limited to this particular segment of workers — not private sector unions — and it stopped short of overturning decades of practice that has generally allowed public sector unions to pass through their representation costs to nonmembers.
Writing for the court, Justice Samuel Alito said home care workers are different from other types of government employees because they work primarily for their disabled or elderly customers and do not have most of the rights and benefits of state employees.
The case involves about 26,000 Illinois workers who provide home care for disabled people and are paid with Medicaid funds administered by the state. In 2003, the state passed a measure deeming the workers state employees eligible for collective bargaining.
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July 2, 2014

July 2, 2014, 8:46 am
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Report: Health Law Sign-ups Dogged By Data Flaws
From the Associated Press
The Obama administration is struggling to resolve widespread data discrepancies that could call into question coverage for millions under the health overhaul, the government's health care fraud watchdog reported Tuesday.
In a pair of reports, the Health and Human Services inspector general found that key personal details submitted by many consumers do not match up with records the government has on file.
It also found shortcomings in the internal safeguards used by the federal insurance exchange and some state marketplaces to check the accuracy of information submitted by consumers. That's critically important, because it can affect an individual's eligibility for taxpayer-subsidized health insurance.
The reports marked the first independent look at a festering behind-the-scenes issue that could turn into another health law headache for the White House.
The problem is one of the top challenges facing newly installed HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell. The administration says it is making daily progress to clear the issues, and that may not be completely reflected in the reports.
The inspector general said the federal insurance exchange reported a total of 2.9 million so-called "inconsistencies" with consumer data from October through December 2013.
Officials had the technical capability to resolve roughly 330,000 of those cases, but only about 10,000 cases were actually closed during the period covered by the report.
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July 3, 2014

July 3, 2014, 8:48 am
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Supreme Court Set To Rule On Constitutional Challenge Over State Retiree Health Insurance Law
From the Madison County Record
The Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday is expected to decide whether a law requiring state retirees to start paying premiums for their health insurance is constitutional.
The anticipated ruling in Roger Kanerva et al., etc. v. Malcolm Weems, etc., et al. will not only resolve the constitutional question for thousands of retirees affected by the new law, but will likely provide court watchers and state leaders a glance into how the justices may react to a pension dispute expected to wind up before them in the near future.
At issue in Kanerva is Public Act 97-695, a law Gov. Patrick J. Quinn signed in 2012.
The law, which took effect July 1, 2013, requires retired Illinois employees, judges and university workers to pay premiums for their health insurance, something they previously didn’t have to do after serving the state for four to 20 years depending on their positions.
The Supreme Court in 2012 consolidated four suits brought over the law in the Sangamon County Circuit Court. The suits were filed in Madison, Sangamon and Randolph counties by several plaintiffs, including former Fifth District Appellate Court Justice Gordon Maag and members of the state retirement systems.
Sangamon County Associate Judge Steven Nardulli sided with the state, saying “health insurance benefits are not guaranteed pension benefits protected by the Pension Protection Clause” and as such, “plaintiffs do not have a vested contractual interest in free health insurance.”
After Nardulli dismissed the consolidated lawsuit, the Supreme Court agreed to review the case on direct appeal as it deals with the constitutionality of a state law. The justices heard arguments in the case in September 2013.
Before the high court, attorneys for the plaintiffs argued that the law is unconstitutional because it violates the Pension Clause, which refers to membership in the state’s pension and retirement systems as an “enforceable, contractual relationship, the benefits of which shall not be diminished or impaired.”
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July 7, 2014

July 7, 2014, 8:50 am
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Pension Reform Dealt Blow By Illinois Supreme Court
From Crain's Chicago Business
Pension reform, RIP?
In a case with ominous implications for the state's pension reform law, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled today that the state constitution prevents any diminishment of health care benefits for retired state employees.
According to the 6-1 decision, the pension protection clause -- which says that retirement benefits are a contractual agreement that “cannot be diminished or impaired” -- applies to other retirement benefits, not just pensions. That overrode the state's argument that its emergency powers, in dealing with its budget crisis, justified an increase in what retirees must pay for their health benefits.
The decision comes while the state is defending against challenges to an overhaul in December 2013 of pensions for state workers and schoolteachers outside Chicago. It also has implications for recent cutbacks in health care retiree benefits by the city of Chicago, which filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting the state's position.
“This is a major victory for members of state retirement systems,” said John Fitzgerald, a partner at Chicago law firm Tabet DiVito & Rothstein LLC who represents retired state teachers and school administrators. “I expect it will have a very significant effect on pending litigation” over the state's pension reform law. “It means that the Illinois Supreme Court is giving the pension protection clause the broad and liberal interpretation that the drafters intended.”
The court rejected the state's argument that health care benefits are not covered by the pension protection clause, finding that there is nothing in the state constitution to support that. The only question now is whether the reduction in the state's health care subsidies constituted an impairment or diminishment of those benefits.
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July 8, 2014

July 8, 2014, 6:48 am
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Voters As State Elections Loom: Can We Just Leave Illinois?
From the Associated Press
The people of Illinois are feeling particularly gloomy about their state, with its high unemployment, billions of dollars in debt, decades-long battles against corruption -- and another possible tax hike waiting for them after the November election.
The bad mood surfaces in public-opinion polls that startle even the pollsters, with one survey showing that more Illinoisans want to leave their home state than people in any other state in the U.S. It's also evident in the voting booth, where turnout in the March primary was the lowest on record. Now the cynicism is shaping one of the nation's most competitive governor's races, too.
"People are down in the dumps," said Rod Spears, a retired Army officer and conservative activist from southern Illinois who says he hears the same concerns from his golfing buddies, all union members and lifelong Democrats.
David Yepsen, director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University, said when he moved to the state from Iowa six years ago, he found Illinoisans joking about their state's dysfunctional politics. Not so today.
"It's not a laughing matter anymore," Yepsen said.
In a poll of 1,001 registered Illinois voters conducted by the institute earlier this year, 89 percent said they believe corruption is somewhat common in the state. A separate poll by Gallup found only 28 percent of Illinois residents said they have a great deal or a fair amount of trust in their government. That was the lowest percentage of any state, with the next lowest -- Rhode Island -- at 40 percent.
Half of Illinois residents in another Gallup poll said they would leave the state if they could, with about one-quarter saying they wanted to leave for work or business reasons. Smaller percentages mentioned weather, location and quality of life.
The governor's contest essentially boils down to the incumbent's insistence that it's not as bad as it used to be versus the challenger's exhortations to throw the bums out and start over.
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July 9, 2014

July 10, 2014, 6:35 am
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New Hospital Fee To Pay For Error Reports
From the Associated Press
A new annual licensing fee for hospitals that's taking effect in Illinois will finally fund a system for reporting medical errors that was established by state law back in 2005.
Crain's Chicago Business reports the new fee will raise about $1.7 million annually. The fee was part of legislation signed by Gov. Pat Quinn last week.
The fee of $55 per hospital bed will fund a system for hospitals to report mistakes such as performing surgery on the wrong body part. The idea is to improve patient safety by analyzing how errors occur.
A portion of the money collected will go toward new safety measures and addressing patient complaints. Small rural hospitals are exempt from the fees, as are safety-net hospitals that treat mostly poor patients.
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July 10, 2014

July 10, 2014, 6:36 am
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Feds Ask For 90-day Delay In Lawmaker Probe Of Quinn Grants
From the Chicago Tribune
Federal authorities investigating Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn’s $54.5 million anti-violence grant program on Wednesday asked state lawmakers doing their own probe to hold off 90 days — a request that’s likely to be granted.
In the short term, the move takes the air out of a potentially explosive legislative hearing scheduled for next week in which several former Quinn aides who ran or worked on the program had been summoned to testify. In the long term, a delay means the issue would continue to be in the spotlight as the governor prepares to ask voters for another term on Nov. 4. The 90-day window would expire during the closing weeks of Quinn’s campaign against Republican challenger Bruce Rauner.
The request made by the U.S. Department of Justice came days after the Tribune revealed that a federal grand jury in Springfield had subpoenaed emails of some of the same key former Quinn administration officials that lawmakers had asked to testify at next week’s hearing about a program hobbled by a quick launch, poor oversight and questionable spending.
Quinn launched his Neighborhood Recovery Initiative four years ago as he faced a tough election battle. It was a decision that drew cries then and now from Republicans that it was a “slush fund” to gin up Democratic votes in Chicago and the south suburbs. Quinn has denied politics was the motive, saying a spate of high-profile crime made it necessary to take action.
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July 11, 2014

July 11, 2014, 7:16 am
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Feds: Stand Down Or Pose 'Substantial Risks' To Investigation
From the Chicago Tribune
As Illinois Republicans argued Thursday that a legislative panel should push ahead with an election-year inquiry into Gov. Pat Quinn’s troubled anti-violence program, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a letter to clear up any misunderstanding: stand down or pose “substantial risks” to a federal criminal investigation.
Lawmakers had issued subpoenas to force seven aides connected to the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative to testify at a hearing next week, but received a call from the Justice Department on Wednesday asking them to delay the proceedings by 90 days so as not to interfere with a grand jury probe.
Republican leaders cried foul, declaring Thursday afternoon that lawmakers were capable of conducting a parallel examination without getting in the way. They questioned why the request came over the phone instead of in a formal letter. Around 5 p.m., Republicans released a letter federal officials sent to Springfield.
“This confirms our request that the Illinois Legislative Audit Commission refrain from conducting interviews or receiving testimony from any individuals in connection with (the anti-violence program),” wrote Peter J. Kadzik, assistant attorney general for the Office of Legislative Affairs in the Justice Department.
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July 14, 2014

July 14, 2014, 7:17 am
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Lisa Madigan To File Lawsuits Targeting Student Loan Debt ‘Scams'
From the Chicago Sun-Times
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is expected to file two lawsuits Monday against two companies that, she alleges, have preyed on those trying to lighten their student loan debt.
The separate suits, the first of their kind in the U.S., will be filed against Texas-based Broadsword Student Advantage LLC and First American Tax Defense LLC, based in Chicago, according to a release from Madigan’s office.
Madigan alleges that the two unlicensed companies “engaged in deceptive marketing practices and illegally charged consumers hundreds of dollars in upfront fees to reduce or eliminate their student loan debt burden.”
The companies “sought to scam vulnerable people into paying as much as $1,200 upfront for bogus services, including the fake ‘Obama forgiveness program,’ or for government services that are already free of charge,” Madigan’s office said.
The lawsuits allege the companies are in violation of the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, the Credit Services Organizations Act, and the Debt Settlement Consumer Protection Act, according to Madigan’s office.
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ILR Calls For Investigation Into Lawsuit Lenders’ Possible Violations

July 14, 2014, 7:24 am
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From the US Chamber Institute for Legal Reform

The Illinois Workers Compensation Act expressly prohibits assignment of any payment, claim, award or decision - which is why it is so concerning that various lawsuit lending firms are marketing and providing loans to workers compensation claimants in Illinois.

That was the topic of a letter sent this month by Lisa A. Rickard, president of the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform, to Michael Latz, chairman, Illinois Workers Compensation Commission.

“In our view, any lender issuing loans in return for payments from Illinois Workers Compensation claims is doing so in violation of the Illinois Workers Compensation Act,” wrote Rickard. “We formally request that your agency conduct an investigation and review of this potential violation by consumer credit lenders.”

Click here to view a sampling of marketing materials being distributed by lawsuit lending firms operating in Illinois soliciting Illinois workers compensation claimants.

“Consumer lawsuit lending lacks regulation and transparency, harms consumers by hiding excessive fees and interest rates, and abuses the judicial system by prolonging and inflating lawsuits,” added Rickard. “The lawsuit lending industry’s attempts to evade consumer loan laws and banking regulations are drawing scrutiny from attorneys general and other interest groups.”

The letter also noted that both the National Black Caucus of State Legislators and National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators passed resolutions last year calling for the lawsuit lending industry to be subject to the same disclosures, regulations, and consumer protections as conventional lenders and banks.

“We are hopeful that following your investigation and review of this potential violation you will communicate this point to the Commissioners, Arbitrators, claimants and potential claimants practicing before the Commission.”

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July 15, 2014

July 15, 2014, 5:51 am
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Study: Corruption In Illinois Costs $1,308 Per Person
From the Chicago Sun-Times
It's no secret that Illinois is filled with corruption, so much so that an overwhelming 89 percent said it's common here.
And now we can put a dollar amount on how much all those misdeeds by elected officials are costing taxpayers, thanks to John Mikesell, Indiana University professor of public and environmental affairs, and Cheol Liu, assistant professor of public policy at City University of Hong Kong
According to The Times of Northwest Indiana, the two determined that the 10 most corrupt states in the U.S. — yes, Illinois is on that list — would have spent 5.2 percent less from 1997 to 2008 if those states only had the average amount of corruption.
After crunching the numbers, that comes to an average of $1,308 per person in those states, or as they put it, a "corruption tax."
Mikesell and Liu reviewed more than 25,000 federal corruption convictions of state and local officials between 1976 and 2008. They found most official misdeeds, and the associated excess spending, were concentrated in large construction projects, police and corrections, wages and borrowing.
They said those areas are not inherently corrupt, but the big money at stake and often hidden long-term costs make it easier for politicians to seek a personal sweetener from deals they oversee.
"The empirical results show that states with higher levels of corruption tend to spend more on items on which corrupt officials may levy larger bribes at the expense of others," they said.
In 2013, Illinois spent $932.47 per person more than Indiana, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers. At the same time, Indiana spent more than twice as much from its general fund on education than Illinois.
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July 16, 2014

July 16, 2014, 5:53 am
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GM Class Actions Transferred To Multidistrict Litigation Court
From Legal Newsline
The multiple class action lawsuits that were brought against General Motors for its allegedly defective key systems have been transferred to multidistrict litigation court.
The more than 40 lawsuits – which were previously filed in the districts in California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Texas – have been transferred to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, according to the transfer order filed June 9.
“The parties have suggested a number of able transferee districts and judges,” the order states. “We have settled upon the Southern District of New York as the most appropriate choice. The Southern District of New York is the site of the bankruptcies of both General Motors and Delphi.”
The Southern District of New York Bankruptcy Court already has been called upon by both General Motors and certain plaintiffs to determine whether the 2009 General Motors bankruptcy Sale Order prohibits plaintiffs’ ignition switch defect lawsuits, according to the order.
“Several judges in this district, including Judge Jesse M. Furman, have heard appeals related to General Motors’ bankruptcy and, therefore, have some familiarity with the common defendant and its prior bankruptcy proceedings,” the order states. “Judge Furman is an experienced transferee judge with the ability to handle these complex proceedings expeditiously.”
A motion for centralization and coordination into MDL was first filed on March 24.
“The common questions of fact and law between the pending overlapping proposed class actions, the efficiencies to be gained through centralized discovery and motion practice and the alleviation of the risk of inconsistent pretrial rulings all favor centralization of these related cases concerning the alleged ignition switch defect," the motion stated.
One lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on March 24 by owners and lease-holders of GM cars, claimed GM concealed the problem for a decade.
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July 17, 2014

July 17, 2014, 6:11 am
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Inquiry Into Quinn Program Marked By No-Shows
From the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin
A politically tinged inquiry today into a troubled anti-violence program initiated by Gov. Patrick J. Quinn largely revolved around one particular question: What exactly does a subpoena require?
That question was considered by the state Legislative Audit Commission — a 12-member bipartisan panel of House and Senate members — as only one of seven witnesses called to appear actually showed up to today’s meeting. It’s the first of two hearings this week that are part of the group’s ongoing effort to dig deeper into how the program went wrong.
Amidst concerns about interfering with a federal criminal investigation, Republican legislators argued that witnesses connected to the program were disobeying subpoenas that commanded them to appear at the hearing and produce relevant documents.
Democrats on the panel countered that the witnesses were within their purview to stay home and hold off on bringing forth any documents, especially after the U.S. attorney’s office in Springfield on Tuesday requested legislators delay their examination.
The election-year controversy comes on the heels of an auditor general report earlier this year that knocked the governor’s program for excessive mismanagement.
Only one of the seven witnesses who was subpoenaed by the Legislative Audit Commission — former alderman and Quinn adviser Billy Ocasio — appeared in person at the panel’s hearing in the Bilandic Building.
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July 18, 2014

July 18, 2014, 9:39 am
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Illinois High Court Declines To Hear Term Limits Appeal
From the Chicago Tribune
The Illinois Supreme Court Thursday refused to hear a direct appeal of a lower court ruling that found a plan to impose legislative term limits through a proposed change in the state constitution was unconstitutional.
The proposal to ask voters on the Nov. 4 general election ballot whether to limit lawmakers to eight years of service is backed by the Committee for Legislative Reform and Term Limits, a group formed by Republican governor candidate Bruce Rauner.
The state Supreme Court ruling means the group must go through the normal appellate court process, which could take some time.
The committee said it will file a motion for a speedy ruling by the appellate court in order have a chance to make August deadlines for ballot certification.
“We fully expect that whoever loses at the appellate level will then appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court, at which time they will make a final determination,” Mark Campbell, the group’s executive director, said in a statement.
Late last month, Cook County Circuit Judge Mary Mikva ruled the term limit proposal went beyond the limited window that constitutional drafters allowed for petition driven amendments to the state constitution.
Mikva ruled that “any term limits initiative appears to be outside what is permissible” under the state constitution and previous court rulings.
Under the state constitution, citizen-driven amendments are limited to those affecting both the structure and procedure of the General Assembly.
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Asbestos Cases Down In First Half Of 2014; Simmons Firm Filed Most And Mostly Meso

July 19, 2014, 9:42 am
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From the Madison County Record

A national asbestos docket that doubled in four years and tripled in the last seven may be contracting a bit. At mid-year, a total of 656 asbestos cases have been filed in Madison County.

If the pace of cases filed through June 30 continues through the year, the nation’s busiest asbestos docket will be down by approximately 20 percent over last year’s record-setting figure of 1,678.

In a review of the new cases, the vast majority of new claimants – 90 percent or 590 total – come from states other than Illinois, which is consistent with Madison County’s well-established pattern. Of the 66 Illinois claimants, three reside within Madison County.

Also of note, the incidence of lung cancer claims – which has been the driver of the docket’s significant increase in recent years – has decreased. So far this year, lung cancer cases represent just 30 percent of the total, or 194 new cases.

Until last year, the vast majority of asbestos claims brought in Madison County were on behalf of victims of mesothelioma, a deadly asbestos-related disease. But last year the number of lung cancer cases spiked, making up approximately 45 percent of the caseload.

The increase in lung cancer cases came after an advance trial setting system that provided advantage to the three largest asbestos firms – Simmons, Gori and Julian and Goldenberg – was eliminated. That change provided opportunity for other firms, local and national.

The New York-based Napoli firm, which in recent years established an office in Madison County, dominated the 2013 docket, representing 32 percent, or approximately 525 plaintiffs. More than 90 percent of those cases were on behalf of lung cancer claimants.

At mid-year, the Napoli firm has filed 124 of the 656 cases, or 19 percent of the total.

View the entire article at the Madison County Record.

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