Watchdog Calls out Illinois County for ‘Keeping up with the Joneses’

Illinois watchdog Travis Akin, executive director of Illinois Lawsuit Abuse Watch and Project Lawsuit Abuse Contributor took to the Southern Illinoisan recently to call out St. Clair County personal injury lawyers, who seem to be too caught up in “keeping up with the Joneses” these days.

Akin says that in St. Clair County personal injury lawyers have been busy filing cases in an effort not to be outdone by neighboring Madison County, which Akin calls a “national destination jurisdiction for asbestos-related cases.”

Here’s the situation, according to Akin:

A day before his retirement last December, former Circuit Judge Patrick Young accepted four mesothelioma cases from Missouri, Indiana, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Now Fifth District appellate justices are in the process of making a decision on whether or not the cases will remain in St. Clair County.

If the cases are allowed to stay in St. Clair County, Associate Judge Andrew Gleeson will hear the cases now that Young has re-tired.

Madison County already is a destination jurisdiction for asbestos cases from all across the country. If the Fifth District Appellate Court decides to allow St. Clair County to keep these cases, St. Clair County will be well on its way toward becoming another destination jurisdiction for mesothelioma cases - just like Madison County.

This year’s Judicial Hellholes report included both Madison and St. Clair Counties as court jurisdictions to watch. Is this really the time to let St. Clair’s courts spin further out of control?