Experts say bill would allow out-of-state lawsuits in Illinois courts, threaten 208,000 jobs, and spark constitutional challenge
Today, the American Tort Reform Association called on Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker to veto Senate Bill 328, warning the bill would create unprecedented liability for businesses across the country.
In a letter to Gov. Pritzker, ATRA said the bill would undermine the Pritzker administration’s “Open for Business” economic growth plan. The letter also points out the bill’s “extraordinarily broad” language, with its definition of “toxic” roping in everything from dangerous chemicals to lifesaving medications, food and baby formula.
“This is one of the single worst bills we have seen this year, nationwide,” said Tiger Joyce, president of ATRA. “If this bill becomes law, Illinois is likely to see a mass exodus of businesses leaving and a sharp decline in new business investments.”
S.B. 328 would change the law so that out-of-state businesses can be sued by out-of-state plaintiffs in Illinois courts for incidents with no connection to the state.
“No other state — except Pennsylvania, which is home to the nation’s worst Judicial Hellhole® — has adopted such an extreme approach,” Joyce said. “Even New York’s governor has twice vetoed similar legislation for being too anti-business for her state.”
The bill mirrors a measure New York Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoed twice, citing its sweeping overreach and the risk of driving businesses out of the state.
This new influx of litigation likely will be filed in Illinois counties with “Judicial Hellhole®” reputations, like Cook County, which hosts 91% of the state’s high-value civil cases despite having only 40% of its population. Madison and St. Clair Counties also are notorious for attracting asbestos litigation, earning them “Dishonorable Mentions.”
More than 208,000 jobs are lost annually in Illinois due to excessive tort costs, while each resident pays $1,919 annually in a hidden “tort tax” — one of the highest in the nation. In Chicago, that figure jumps to nearly $2,500 per person.
“This won’t just hurt businesses — it will hurt Illinois families and small businesses, whose taxes fund the courts,” Joyce said. “As more out-of-state lawsuits flood the system, it will become harder for the people who actually live here to have their own cases heard quickly and fairly.”
S.B. 328 was pushed through at the last-minute is a new iteration of S.B. 26, an amended bill that ATRA previously flagged for concern.
“We cannot understate just how detrimental this liability expansion would be for the Illinois economy,” Joyce said. “If this is signed, you might as well post ‘Closed for Business’ signs along the state lines because that is the exact chilling message job creators across the country will receive.”
ATRA’s letter also highlights significant constitutional concerns, citing the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in a unanimous opinion for the U.S. Supreme Court that states cannot drag companies into court for cases that have nothing to do with their actions in that state. Doing so, she wrote, would go against the basic principles of fairness and justice required by the Constitution.
S.B. 328 ignores these important limits and puts Illinois at risk of becoming the worst Judicial Hellhole® in the country.
