Election of Judge to Illinois Supreme Court Bodes Well for Judicial Reform

This past election day, voters in the southern portion of Illinois (the Fifth Appellate District) cast ballots for a new Illinois Supreme Court justice to represent that District. The bitterly contested election between Lloyd Karmeier (R), a circuit court judge from Washington County, and Gordon Maag, an appellate court justice from well-known Madison County was the single most expensive judicial election in the history of the United States. Maag is a well-known promoter of plaintiffs' rights, frequently issuing opinions that benefit plaintiffs’ class action attorneys, which have led to Madison County gaining national prominence as the class action capital of the country. Karmeier, on the other hand, is a conservative judge who strongly favors restrictions on the ability to bring far reaching national class actions. The Plaintiffs' bar donated millions to Maag and justice reform groups donated millions to Karmeier. In he end, Karmeier defeated Maag and will soon join the Court representing the Fifth District.

Notably, Maag was the author of the opinion upholding the $1.2B nationwide class action judgment in Avery v. State Farm, which is now on appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court. The oral argument was in May of 2003 but there is no decision yet. One of the crucial issues in that case was whether Illinois courts can apply the Illinois Consumer Fraud Act universally to parties from other states in nationwide class actions, so called extra-territorial application. This issue was previously before the Court in Oliveira v. Amoco Oil Co., 776 N.E.2d 151 (Ill. 2002), but the Court avoided the issue by deciding that case on other grounds. Because consumer fraud laws vary quite materially from state to state, unless Illinois courts can apply the Illinois act uniformly to parties from all 50 states, it becomes very difficult to certify a nationwide class for consumer fraud claims. One of our attorneys, Kevin Clancy, drafted an amicus curiae brief to the Court arguing against the nationwide application of the Act on behalf of a major insurance carrier. Though it remains to be seen how the Court will rule in the Avery decision, the addition of Justice Karmeier to the Court bodes well for some expectation of reform and limits on widespread litigation not just in Southern Illinois but also throughout the State.

If you have any questions or concerns about claims under the Illinois Consumer Fraud Act, or how those claims may affect your business, please feel free to contact either Gerald Haberkorn (312) 456-2701, Kevin J. Clancy (312) 628-7855, or Joan M. Kubalanza (312) 628-7194. We would be happy to discuss those matters with you.