Illinois was named a Judicial Hellhole for the ninth consecutive year in 2024. The systemic legal abuse in Cook County’s court system has created an environment that is detrimental for our businesses, contributing to rampant lawsuit abuse, driving up costs, and stifling economic growth. Cook County’s designation as the sixth worst legal climate in the country in the American Tort Reform Foundation’s latest report must be a wake-up call for lawmakers in Springfield that reform is needed.
According to the Administrative Office of Illinois Courts, trial lawyers filed a whopping 54,544 new civil cases in the past year alone, seeking thousands of dollars in rewards at the expense of vulnerable small businesses. The prevalence of lawsuits in Illinois is astounding. Pro-plaintiff lawyers filed one lawsuit for every 94 Cook County residents, and that is just for cases seeking rewards over $50,000.
Not only are lawsuits becoming more frequent, but trial lawyers continue to pour millions into state political campaigns. The Illinois Trial Lawyers Association PAC raised over $616,000 in the past year and over $11 million since 1994.
Most notably, the rise in no-injury litigation under the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) and the surge in lawsuits targeting the food and beverage industry are two key reasons Illinois has yet again earned its Judicial Hellhole status.
BIPA was originally passed to shield individuals from illegal use of private biometric data. However, over time, it has been exploited and become a hotbed for abusive litigation. Trial lawyers use BIPA as a scapegoat or reason to file a lawsuit. For example, the expanded five-year statute of limitations has led to a surge in class action lawsuits as plaintiff attorneys take advantage of its ambiguity. Broad interpretations of potential violations further fuel this trend, often leading to costly settlements for small businesses, a burden they should never have to shoulder. Another example of no-injury litigation that has been on the rise in Illinois is in the food and beverage sector. In 2023, Illinois ranked in the top four states for the highest food and beverage class action suits. This industry’s lenient consumer protection laws cultivate a community that encourages frivolous lawsuits and ultimately hurts small business owners and their consumers.
Along with a surge in lawsuits in consumer industries, a study on the economic impact of lawsuit abuse reveals that Illinois residents pay an annual $1,857 in “tort taxes” to compensate for excessive litigation. Not only did that number rise from the 2023 yearly analysis, creating an additional financial burden on Illinoisans, but it also led to significant job loss. Illinois lost over 215,000 jobs across 13 different industries in the last year as a result of skyrocketing lawsuit abuse.
As a small business owner and advocate for legal reform in Illinois, I’ve seen how our state’s broken legal system hurts our business community. While these statistics alone are concerning enough, it’s even more important to remember that the Judicial Hellholes report isn’t just numbers – it reflects real challenges small businesses and communities face every day. Additionally, the excessive litigation brought about by trial lawyers drives up costs and creates uncertainty.
In closing, Illinois’s position on the Judicial Hellholes must signal to our elected officials that legal reform is an immediate necessity. 2025 presents a pivotal opportunity for our lawmakers in Springfield to prioritize legal reform in the upcoming legislative session. The impact of lawsuit abuse on the economy and job market has burdened hardworking Illinoisans for far too long, making it more crucial now than ever to take decisive action.
