Governor JB Pritzker has a May 31 deadline to take action on a bill that would allow plaintiffs in lawsuits accusing hospitals, health care providers and other businesses and defendants of personal injuries or wrongful death to collect interest calculated from the time the lawsuit was filed, not just from the time judgment was entered.
He can either veto Senate Bill 72, sign it or take no action, in which case the legislation would automatically become law.
As reported in March, the state legislature approved a replacement for an earlier bill described as a “gift” for trial lawyers, that would have allowed plaintiffs to collect 9% interest on judgments, using a clock that would begin ticking when an alleged wrongdoer has notice of the injury before a lawsuit is filed.
The original proposal, House Bill 3360, drew blistering opposition from virtually all Illinois business groups and trade associations, as well as from legal reform advocates. They said it would have ballooned the amount of money that plaintiffs and their lawyers could collect from defendants, as it would allow interest to be collected over a time period that could stretch potentially years before a plaintiff filed suit and could defend themselves in court.
Opponents say the compromise bill would still hammer hospitals, doctors, manufacturers and other Illinois businesses with potentially massive added costs from lawsuits, hindering Illinois' economy.
Supporters of the legislation, including Illinois trial lawyers and Democratic state lawmakers, said the measure was needed to help encourage settlements of lawsuits, rather than protracted court fights, they said are waged by large corporate defendants and other well-capitalized defendants to wear plaintiffs down and discourage injury claims.
Opponents noted that HB3360 was passed as one of the final acts before Illinois’ powerful and long-serving House Speaker, Michael Madigan, was replaced. Madigan, a lawyer by profession, and the Illinois Democratic Party, have long benefited from millions of dollars in steady campaign donations from Illinois’ trial lawyers.
John Pastuovic, president of the Illinois Civil Justice League, and Tiger Joyce, president of the American Tort Reform Association, urged Pritzker to veto the bill.
They argued in a Sun-Times op-ed that excessive litigation already costs jobs and imposes "tort taxes" on businesses and individuals. The controversial bill in front of Pritzker raises interest from 5% to 9%, at a time in which mortgage rates are under 3% and the 30-year Treasury rate is 1.25%, they say.
"A 9% interest rate is clearly off-base and bears no relationship to current economic conditions," Pastuovic and Joyce wrote. "One estimate projects interest on the state’s Top 10 verdicts in 2019 would explode from $51 million to nearly $96 million under the proposed law."
The Illinois State Medical Society, which speaks on behalf of many of the state’s doctors, was outspoken in its criticism of the bill.
“This is a wholly new form of 'punitive' damages not previously allowed in Illinois. Prejudgment interest will drive up the cost of medical liability insurance, force doctors away from our state and increase the cost of health care,” said ISMS President Robert W. Panton, in a released statement.
“Bottom line, patients will suffer.”
The bill was among a few controversial proposals rammed through just before the legislature's lame duck session ended Jan. 13 and just before members elected in November were seated.
It was sponsored by Rep. Jay Hoffman (D-Belleville) and Rep. Marcus Evans, Jr. (D-Chicago), and amended in the final hours of veto session by Senate President Don Harmon (D-Oak Park).