From the Madison County Record
While the trial lawyer lobby is likely cheering over passage of a bill that lifts a 10-year statute of repose for the filing of asbestos litigation, critics say the group wielded its influence to rush an unstudied bill through a lame duck session before a tort reform-minded governor takes office next month.
“Even if there is merit to it, it’s not something that is to be rammed down the taxpayers’ throats in the final weeks” of an administration, said Ed Murnane, president of the Illinois Civil Justice League.
Amendments to SB 2221 passed along party lines just one week after they were introduced during the legislature’s six-day fall veto session that ended on Thursday. It now heads to the desk of outgoing Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn for signature.
Jennifer Hammer, associate vice president and legal counsel of government affairs for the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, spoke out against the bill during a hearing before the Illinois Senate Executive Committee on Wednesday.
She discussed the consequences the bill could have on Madison County, the nation’s busiest asbestos court, but was met with negative reaction.
“Senator Don Harmon (committee chair) indicated to me that he didn’t want to hear my testimony on Illinois being a ‘Judicial Hellhole’,” she said.
She said his reaction came despite the fact that she never once mentioned “Hellhole” as she testified.
Madison County has in recent years been labeled as a “Hellhole” by the American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) because of the trial bar’s influence and high dollar settlements.
“The term definitely did not come out of my mouth,” she said.