Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker
As business groups in Illinois and beyond await Gov. JB Pritzker's decision on whether to veto new legislation which could open Illinois' courts to a flood of out-of-state lawsuits, Illinois' powerful trial lawyers have also mounted a marketing blitz of their own downplaying the warnings about harm to the state and its economy in a bid to persuade Illinois' billionaire progressive governor to sign the measure into law.
Business groups and legal reformers, however, continue to urge a veto, saying, if the legislation becomes law, it could threaten to undo Illinois' progress in improving its reputation for business friendliness.
Under the Illinois state constitution, Pritzker has 60 calendar days from that date to either sign or veto the measure. Should he take no action, SB328 would automatically become law.
SB328 was rammed through Illinois' General Assembly in the closing hours of the month of May and the spring legislative session.
The legislation would rewrite the so-called venue rules for Illinois state courts, which govern who can be sued, where, and for what causes.
SB328 specifically would create a new "consent-by-registration" system in Illinois, under which companies from throughout the U.S. and the world could be dragged into courts in Illinois for certain kinds of claims, whether or not the company has any real presence in Illinois or if the alleged injury occurred in Illinois or can be traced back to conduct in the state.
Many billions of dollars could be at stake, riding on Pritzker's pen.
Should Illinois adopt the new venue law, it would line Illinois' court system up with that of Pennsylvania, one of the country's starkest legal system outliers.
Under Pennsylvania's system, trial lawyers are allowed to sue any company that has registered to do business there - a clerical act mandated by law in all 50 states, whether or not a company is headquartered in that state or operates in the state in any significant way.
The system has led to courts in Philadelphia, in particular, becoming a haven for thousands of out-of-state claims against a host of companies over alleged toxic exposures. According to May 28 report published by Mealy's Litigation Report, only 7 percent of more than 1,100 lawsuits against the makers of the pesticide Paraquat involve "a plaintiff who is either a Pennsylvania resident or alleges exposure within the state."
Such real-world examples have led business groups and other critics of the legislation to warn that SB328 would produce similar imbalances in Illinois' notoriously plaintiff-friendly courts in Cook County, Madison and St. Clair counties, and elsewhere in the Prairie State.
Katie Reilly, executive director of the Illinois Coalition for Legal Reform, noted that business and finance news network CNBC recently rated Illinois No. 13 among U.S. states for its business environment.
Pritzker also touted that ranking in recent social media posts, saying: "Our progress is a clear indication of what Illinois is capable of."
But Reilly warned such progress could be easily undone by "one significant change in policy."
"The bill on the governor’s desk, SB328, would walk back some of the progress that Illinois has made on economic development and would also send a message to prospective employers about whether or not to expand their business operations to Illinois," Reilly said.
"That’s why we and other stakeholders representing nearly every major industry in Illinois are strongly urging the governor to veto this measure to protect our recent economic successes and maintain our hard-fought momentum. This legislation is opposed by the employers who are the backbone of our state - including manufacturing, retail, transportation, rail among others - for the simple reason it would make it incredibly difficult to attract and retain new businesses in Illinois," Reilly said.
However, in recent weeks, Illinois' trial lawyers have attempted to push back on those assertions.
In social media posts, online advertisements and letters to the editor, among other placements, the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, which represents the interests of the lawyers who would stand to profit from the passage of SB328, have said the claims are exaggerated or misleading, at best.
Under their campaign, titled "SB328: Separating Lies From Truth," ITLA claims SB328 is far more narrow than critics have alleged.
For instance, ITLA has claimed SB328 would:
Only apply "when corporations engage in the use of toxic substances that result in injury or death to workers or consumers;
Require "at least one named co-defendant to have established proper jurisdiction in Illinois;" and
"Applies only to injuries or deaths that result from substances defined in the Illinois Uniform Hazardous Substances Act."
However, lawsuits over toxic substance exposure already commonly include numerous corporate defendants.
And the Illinois Uniform Hazardous Substances Act includes myriad potential target products for lawsuits, including pesticides, such as in the Paraquat litigation embroiling Philadelphia's courts.
ITLA further has stated SB328 wouldn't harm Illinois or cause employers and others to turn down the opportunity to profit from the state's large and diverse economy.
And in one of ITLA's most recent takes, ITLA President Timothy J. Cavanagh sought to paint the legislation as a piece of campaign to allegedly resist the administration of President Donald Trump, as the president allegedly "rolls back environmental protections" and "weakens worker rights."
In a letter to the editor published in the Chicago Sun-Times on July 6, Cavanagh asserted SB328 is needed to allow trial lawyers to use lawsuits to "pursue full accountability" against corporations, who employ millions of Americans, "including from out-of-state companies that do business in Illinois."
"The bill offers an additional measure of protection for people exposed to toxic substances like asbestos, benzyne or vinyl chloride and suffer serious illness or death," Cavanagh wrote. "They deserve the opportunity to seek justice in our courts from the businesses responsible, no matter where those companies are located. Under current state law, businesses that aren’t headquartered here can evade responsibility for their negligence."
The trial lawyers' marketing blitz geared to urge Pritzker to sign SB328 is perhaps most notable when viewed against the backdrop of the group's relative political power in Springfield.
Trial lawyers, for instance, count among their dependable allies the state's two most powerful Democratic lawmakers, House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch and State Senate President Don Harmon.
Indeed, an analysis of campaign donation activity shows many of those same trial lawyers who could stand to gain the most from SB328 were among the most prodigious of all donors to the campaign funds of Welch and Harmon, accounting for more than one-third of all contributions to their primary campaign funds in the final six months of 2024.
In that span, Welch's campaign fund reported at least $967,000 in campaign donations from personal injury law firms, individual attorneys and other trial lawyers who could stand to directly benefit from the jurisdictional rule changes spelled out in SB328.
During that same time frame, Welch's Senate counterpart, Harmon, reported $809,000 in campaign donations from trial lawyers.
Trial lawyers have not donated a single dollar to Republican candidates or committees in the state in recent years.
That alliance between trial lawyers and state Democrats was cemented under former Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan.
Madigan was convicted for using the power of his office to win favor for friends and allies in exchange for pushing through legislation favorable to electrical utility, ComEd.
Madigan, who raked in many millions of dollars in campaign donations from personal injury attorneys through his decades as House Speaker, also notably pushed through legislation sought by trial lawyers to make Illinois' courts even more lawsuit friendly.
In one of his final acts in office, for instance, Madigan rammed through legislation sought by trial lawyers to impose steep "prejudgment interest" on nearly all jury verdicts secured by plaintiffs in Illinois state court, jacking up the costs faced by businesses targeted by trial lawyers in the state.
Business groups have long urged legal reforms in Illinois to remove what they say is a heavy burden imposed on the state's economy by the heavy and persistent threat of lawsuits.
Reilly said the trial lawyers' claims concerning the actual effects of SB328 to be misleading.
"This initiative by trial lawyers doesn’t have the best interest of Illinoisians at heart," Reilly said. "Toxic tort can apply to any product digested, absorbed or inhaled, and there is specific language about toys.
"Which is why SB328 is opposed by life science companies who make life saving medicines, food companies including manufacturers of baby formula, and restaurants and retail. This has broad applicability.
"This law does not benefit Illinois families or businesses who already have court access. It only benefits wealthy trial lawyers who are seeking jackpot verdicts in cases that are often underwritten by foreign funders with no transparency."
