(The Center Square) – Business and tort reform groups are speaking out against legislation headed to the governor they say makes every business registered in Illinois a target of lawsuits.
The measure, an initiative of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, expands Illinois courts’ reach over out-of-state businesses.
An amendment would change Illinois from a “specific jurisdiction” to a “general jurisdiction” state, making any company simply registered to do business here subject to lawsuits that have no connection to Illinois, filed by plaintiffs who may have no ties to Illinois, on matters that occurred elsewhere.
“We see a lot of nuclear verdicts in some jurisdictions within Illinois,” said Katie Reilley, executive director of the Illinois Coalition for Legal Reform. “They’re named judicial hellholes in some cases and we think that would increase the cost to taxpayers by having unnecessary lawsuits filed in Illinois.”
According to the group Illinois Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse, from 2022 through early 2025, the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association Political Action Committee has contributed to only one side of the aisle, sending 100% of its contributions to Democrats in the General Assembly and statewide offices. The top beneficiaries were Illinois House Speaker Chris “Emanuel” Welch, D-Hillside, at $80,000, and Illinois Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, at $75,000, both sponsors of the bill.
The bill mirrors a similar measure vetoed by New York’s governor last year due to its potential to drive businesses away.
“I vetoed substantially similar legislation in 2021 due to concerns that the proposal would represent a massive expansion of New York’s laws governing general jurisdiction, likely deterring out-of-state companies from doing business in New York because it would require them to be subject to lawsuits in the state regardless of any connection to New York,” said Gov. Kathy Hochul. “The bill would cause uncertainty for those businesses and burden the judicial system.”
A spokesperson for the group American Tort Reform Association said it is one of the worst pieces of legislation, nationwide, that they’ve seen this year.
Reilly said Gov. J.B. Pritzker needs to step in and put an end to this piece of legislation that will drive away businesses and raise costs for Illinoisans.
“The Illinois Coalition for Legal Reform will encourage Governor Pritzker to take a page from Governor Hochul in New York to veto a similar measure there and we would ask him to stop this toxic tort amendment before it starts in Illinois,” said Reilly.
