Media Guide Fifth Judicial District
Issues Expected To Play A Role In The Election:
Despite the limitations on what candidates themselves can say
(for more information, see the section on campaign conduct), several
issues are likely to motivate interest groups and campaign contributors.
Partisanship
One of these is expected to be partisanship. Justices are elected
in partisan elections. Throughout the 1990’s, the Democrats
had a 4-3 majority on the Court. In the 2000 election in the Third
Judicial District, however, Democrat Thomas Kilbride defeated Republican
Carl Hawkinson, expanding the Democratic majority to 5-2. The Third
Judicial District had been viewed as a Republican district, and
Kilbride, who, like Hawkinson had never served as a judge before,
won with unprecedented financial support from the Democratic Party
of Illinois. The 2004 race in the Fifth Judicial District is the
first open Democratic seat since the 2000 race in the Third Judicial
District.
Tort reform
Another issue in the 2004 Fifth Judicial District race is expected
to be tort reform. Business and consumer advocates have been battling
over this issue in the legislature for years. The most recent legislative
result of that conflict was the Civil Justice Amendment Act of 1995,
which restricted jury verdicts in personal injury cases and barred
some plaintiffs from filing lawsuits. That law was challenged in
court, and a 1997 Illinois Supreme Court ruling struck down the
law as unconstitutional. Decrying both the ruling and the role of
plaintiffs’ attorneys in electing judges, tort reform advocates
have taken a growing interest in the election of judges.
Chicago-based tort reform advocate Ed Murnane, President of the
Illinois Civil Justice League, predicts that class action and personal
injury lawsuits will put the Fifth Judicial District on the national
map. “The Fifth Judicial District includes Madison and St.
Clair counties, and has been a national magnet for class action
lawsuits. The role of class action suits, and of the trial lawyers
influence in the Madison County bar, will draw attention from across
the country.” He cites the recent billion-dollar Philip Morris
verdict and another verdict against State Farm Insurance as examples
of the problems with tort rulings from the region.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys are also expected to join the fray.
Jim Collins, Executive Director of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association,
notes that “only people in the District can vote in the election,
but Supreme Court rulings affect people across the state; all Illinoisans
should pay attention to this race.” Collins denies that tort
verdicts have any adverse impact on the economy. “There is
no limit to the damages that wrongdoers can inflict on victims;”
he notes. “Why should there be limits on the verdicts that
wrongdoers must pay to victims?”
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