I-LAW executive director Lance Trover in front of a traveling billboard.
Illinois Lawsuit Abuse Watch (I-LAW) is traveling across southern Illinois this week with a billboard bearing the message, "Let's keep personal injury lawyers' hands out of our pockets."
The message is directed at a proposal making its way through the state legislature. Senate Bill 1296, among other things, would shift the burden of compensation in tort cases to the party with the most money rather than the most responsibility.
The bill easily passed in the state senate last month. The vote came down along party lines, 34-23-1. Metro-East Senators James Clayborne (D-East St. Louis) and Bill Haine (D-Alton) voted in favor of the measure.
"If the trial lawyers' bill passes the Illinois House and is signed by the governor, it will put Illinois further out of step with its neighbors, out of step with fairness, out of step with common sense and drop Illinois deeper into the 'judicial hellhole' category that drives businesses and jobs out of Illinois," said Lance Trover, I-LAW executive director.
"House members need to hear from their constituents that making our state's notoriously unfair civil justice system even more unfair is outrageous and unacceptable," he said.