Madison, St. Clair and Cook counties have collectively been ranked No. 8 "Judicial Hellholes," as part of the American Tort Reform Association's annual ranking of the most "unjust" court systems in the country, down one spot from 2019.
The dubious distinction was achieved in part due to the amount of lawsuits that fail to claim "any actual injury," specifically in the area of data privacy - a reference to alleged violations of the Biometric Privacy Act (BIPA).
“Illinois is ground zero for lawsuit filings where the person suing doesn’t actually claim they suffered any injury, what we call no-injury lawsuits,” ATRA president Tiger Joyce stated in a release. “Entrepreneurial trial lawyers saw an opening for business and immediately sought to cash in by targeting businesses, and courts allowed it to happen.”
The state's BIPA law is unique in that it allows people to seek damages if they aren’t informed or given a release when a company uses biometric data, like facial scans to unlock phones, ATRA explains in its release.
In a 2019 ruling, the Illinois Supreme Court also broadly interpreted the law such that actual injury is not required: plaintiffs don’t need to prove they were ever really harmed by technical violations of the BIPA law before being allowed to press lawsuits that could be worth billions of dollars.
Biometric privacy lawsuits arise after plaintiff lawyers find a business that didn’t follow a small portion of the law, then use that as a basis for what are often class actions, even though the claimant didn’t suffer any harm or injury. And the court’s broad interpretation leaves Illinois businesses - big and small - vulnerable to potentially massive lawsuits.
By contrast, ATRA points out that polling data shows 64.3% of Illinois survey respondents do not believe consumers should sue local businesses over personal data and more than half believe there should be real harm proven in lawsuits related to data privacy.
Hundreds of BIPA privacy lawsuits have flooded the three major hubs for civil litigation in recent years.
Just last month in St. Clair County, for instance, a class action lawsuit was filed against the majority of McDonald's restaurants in the state of Illinois claiming in part that workers' biometiic identifiers were collected without informed written consent. In September, a former adult nightclub worker at Scarlett's in Washington Park filed a class action in St. Clair County claiming fingerprint scans expose the class to privacy risks.
Lawsuits against Illinois nursing homes abound in St. Clair and Madison County.
In a BIPA lawsuit that originated in Cook County Circuit Court, defendant Kronos, one of the country’s largest providers of employee timekeeping technology, is currently fighting an attempt by a group of plaintiffs’ lawyers to force the company to turn over their entire list of customers, saying the information is being sought to identify a host of other employers to target with class action lawsuits using Illinois’ stringent biometrics privacy law.
In its brief, Kronos noted it has alone analyzed more than 760 such class action lawsuits filed against employers in the state under the BIPA law.
The 'Hellholes' report also notes that the three Illinois counties are in the top 10 jurisdictions in the country for highest number of asbestos lawsuits filed.
Madison County has for nearly two decades been the top filing location, boasting more than 32% of all new asbestos lawsuit filings nationwide. St. Clair County is the second-most popular with 11% of filings. Cook County looks to be in the top 6 this year, according to mid-year data.
“Lawsuit abuse harms everyone by clogging our court system with meritless and frivolous cases, taking dollars away from researching and developing life-saving drugs, while driving up insurance costs, and driving away jobs,” Joyce said.
John Pastuovic, president of the Illinois Civil Justice League, said it comes as no surprise that the state's three most litigious counties are on the ATRA's 'Hellholes' list. He also said he expects to see more COVID-19-related lawsuits against businesses, and healthcare providers.
"What is disheartening is the reaction of some trial attorneys, at a time when small businesses and employers are struggling from the effects of COVID-19," Pastuovic said.
"It has already become apparent that some personal injury lawyers view individuals exposed to COVID-19 as a large new pool of plaintiffs, and view health care providers and businesses that aid in the response effort or provide essential services as defendants on which to cast blame. The first lawsuits targeting health care providers, employers, retailers and other businesses for COVID-related injuries have been filed. Many more are to come.
As for the Illinois state legislature, ATRA says it "continues to look for innovative ways Illinois businesses can be sued."
Before adjourning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Illinois lawmakers were poised to consider bills that would further expand BIPA and increase data privacy litigation, according to ATRA.
Liability expanding policies are expected to be considered again once the legislature resumes normal activity, even though polling data shows 80% of Illinois residents do not believe lawmakers are doing enough to combat lawsuit abuse, ATRA also says.
“Trial lawyers and their clients know Madison, St. Clair and Cook Counties’ courts are sympathetic to their causes, have low standards for evidence, and that the judges are willing to allow meritless claims to survive,” Joyce stated.
He also stated, "At a time when business is reeling from the economic impact of COVID-19, we would hope to see attempts to ease the economic burden caused by abuses of the state’s civil justice system."
The full 2020-2021 Judicial Hellholes rankings are:
- Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas and the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
- New York City
- California
- South Carolina’s Asbestos Litigation (New in 2020)
- Louisiana
- Georgia
- City of St. Louis
- Cook, Madison and St. Clair Counties
- Minnesota