Op-Ed: Lawsuit Abuse Awareness Week: Time to protect Illinois jobs, family businesses

By Bob Goray
The Center Square

This week is Lawsuit Abuse Awareness Week, a time dedicated to bringing attention to how Illinois’s unfair legal system drains the economy, hurts consumers and families, and makes it harder for small businesses to survive. Our state has now spent nine straight years on the American Tort Reform Foundation’s Judicial Hellholes® List – and this summer was even branded a “Lawsuit Inferno.” That reputation is indicative of the systemic issue that plagues our state: trial bar influence.

Trial lawyers have funneled millions into the pockets of our elected officials, buying influence and using the legislature to build a regulatory and legal environment that encourages frivolous lawsuits, dishes out bigger payouts, and stifles innovation at every turn – all while Illinois families and business owners like me are left to pick up the tab.

The numbers tell the story. Each year, tens of thousands of new civil cases are filed in Illinois, many seeking large damage awards. Last year in McHenry County, 51,184 civil cases were introduced. Put another way, that’s nearly six lawsuits for every resident, a staggering statistic that shows just how saturated our legal system has become.

McHenry County is not alone; across Illinois, the seemingly endless number of frivolous lawsuits drives up insurance costs and forces small business owners to divert resources away from growing their business toward fighting meritless claims. For small business owners, this isn’t just a number on a page – they represent an ongoing financial burden that, in too many cases, pushes family businesses to the brink of closing their doors for good.

And the impact doesn’t stop there. When hard-working small business owners are forced to divert their resources into the courtroom, workers, families, and business owners pay the price. Every year, Illinoisians pay a hidden “tort tax” of $1,920 to compensate for excessive lawsuits. That’s money that could instead go toward everyday needs like groceries, childcare, or investment in local businesses. Even worse, lawsuit abuse has cost our state more than 200,000 jobs across multiple industries, as employers can’t afford to grow in such a hostile legal climate.

If Illinois wants to retain its workforce and stimulate economic growth, lawmakers in Springfield must implement reforms that limit frivolous lawsuits and introduce balance into our civil justice system. Unfortunately, this session was yet another disappointment and marked a step in the wrong direction.

With the support of many lawmakers, last month, Gov. J.B. Pritzker exacerbated the issue by signing Senate Bill 328 into law, tilting the playing field even further in favor of trial lawyers.

This law allows trial lawyers to import cases from other jurisdictions into Illinois courts, even when those cases have little or nothing to do with our state. Laws like this don’t solve the problem – they make it worse. They drive up costs for small businesses, weaken our state’s competitive edge, and push good-paying jobs across state lines.

Fortunately, Illinois doesn’t have to accept this broken system. Our state should follow the lead of other states like Florida and Georgia, which have enacted meaningful legal reform that has given small businesses the confidence to grow and helped lower the burden of high insurance costs. Illinois can do the same, but only if our leaders are willing to put people and jobs ahead of the trial lawyers’ donations.

During Lawsuit Abuse Awareness Week, we must make it clear that common-sense legal reform has the ability to ensure our courts serve the interests of justice rather than abuse. But change won’t happen unless we speak up. I hope small business owners, workers and families who have felt the strain of lawsuit abuse can make their voices heard. Together, we can push Springfield to prioritize Illinois hard workers and finally make our state a fair place to do business.