In today’s political climate, there are once again attacks on a citizen’s right to a trial by a jury of his or her peers. Currently, the national politicians in Washington, D.C. as part of the health care reform package are debating whether victims of substandard medical care should have their right to compensation for damages caused by negligent medical care taken away or limited. Similarly, Illinois citizens are waiting to see how the Illinois Supreme Court will rule on whether arbitrary caps placed on medical malpractice cases brought after August 2005, are constitutional. These “caps” provide that regardless of how badly someone is injured due to the fault of another, their non-economic damages are limited. Currently, persons injured by the negligent treatment of a physician are limited to $500,000.00 and $1,000,000.00 in cases where they are injured due to the negligence of a hospital. Proponents of these arbitrary caps refuse to trust their fellow citizens sitting on juries and hearing all of the evidence to follow the law and only award damages supported by the evidence. Proponents of these caps also refuse to trust judges sworn to follow the law to use the doctrine of remittitur to reduce damages not supported by the evidence.
Back in 1995, the Illinois legislature made a similar attack on the jury system and the Constitutional rights on Illinois citizens. In Public Act 89-7, the legislature limited non-economic damages in all cases for personal injury or wrongful death to $500,000.00, regardless of the severity of the injury or nature of the pain and suffering. The legislature also added roadblocks to discourage those injured from defective products from even filing a product liability lawsuit and eliminated longstanding legal doctrines such as joint and several liability. To further discourage meritorious lawsuits, the legislation even tried to force an injured plaintiff to waive all privileged medical information, even if the medical information had nothing to do with the injuries that were subject of the lawsuit. The legislation even went so far as to prevent the court from providing truthful instructions about the law to the jury.
Because of this legislation, many injured through the fault of another were going to be denied full compensation for their injuires. These people included two of our clients. Vernon Best was severely injured as a result of a defective forklift. The family of Steven Kelso lost their son due to a collision with a Union Pacific freight train at an ultrahazardous railroad crossing that lacked flashers and gates. When these cases were filed, our firm, with help from the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, challenged the constiutionality of this legislation in the trial court. After briefing and argument, the trial court declared the legislation unconstitutional on August 20, 1996. In its opinion, the trial court noted:
. . . the public policy of this state does not deprive its citizens of access to the courts when they want to keep their private lives private, does not allow a wrongdoer to avoid accountability for his wrongs by withholding all the information to develop a case against him thereby denying the access of the injured citizen to the courts, does not make it economically unfeasible to go to court for a minor injury while depriving a severely injured person of the right to be compensated beyond a prejudged amount, does not seek to mislead juries or deprive them of the knowledge of the law, and does not allow the question of wrongdoers accountability for his wrong to be decided outside of the courtroom without regard to the facts involved. The public policy of this state is that disputes between citizens are best decided by a jury of other citizens without the interference of an overreaching government.
A copy of the trial court’s order is provided below.
Order Granting Partial Summary Judgment in Best v. Taylor Machine Works and Isbell v. Union Pacific
Subsequently, after the defendants appealed the ruling, the Illinois Supreme Court in a 98 page opinion affirmed the trial court’s order, holding that Public Act 89-7 was unconstitutional in Best v. Taylor Machine Works, 689 N.E.2d 1057, 228 Ill.Dec. 636, 179 Ill.2d 367 (1997). The Illinois Trial Lawyers Association and American Trial Lawyers Association, now the American Association for Justice, were instrumental in helping our firm with this appeal.
If you or a family member have been injured in an automobile or trucking accident, the victim of medical negligence, or injured due to a defective product, contact Carlson & Carlson, P.C. at 800-338-3352 to explore your legal options. Carlson & Carlson handles product liability, personal injury, medical malpractice, and auto accidents in Edwardsville and surrounding towns including, Granite City, Alton, Collinsville, Highland, Troy, Bethalto, Glen Carbon, Wood River, Belleville, O’Fallon, Fairview Heights, Cahokia, East St. Louis and other communities in Madison and St. Clair County, Illinois.
