Ready to rumble

SPRINGFIELD — Gov. Bruce Rauner described the agenda he presented Wednesday as “bold, aggressive and comprehensive.”

His opponents called it a “declaration of war.”

During his State of the State remarks on the House floor and in documents he gave to lawmakers, the Republican called for laws capping “unreasonable” civil judgments, restricting venue-shopping and preventing trial lawyers from making campaign donations to judicial candidates.

Saying it would “take another step towards trustworthy government,” Rauner also threw his support behind an appointment process for judges.

“This is our last, best chance to get our house in order, to restore good government,” Rauner said. “Let’s approach our 200th year as the great state of Illinois as a proud people, standing tall, with eyes focused on the future.”

Specifics on those ideas — whether they could withstand potential legal challenges or even pass a Democrat-controlled legislature — are unclear.

There’s little doubt how the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association feels about them.

The plaintiff-lawyer group blasted Rauner in a statement after the speech, calling it a “declaration of war” on middle- and lower-income citizens and saying the idea to ban trial lawyer contributions in particular would erode constitutional rights.

“It’s really startling to hear a sitting governor say that some particular class of people cannot participate. What’s next? Nurses can’t participate? Or firemen? Or members of a particular race or religion?” ITLA President John D. Cooney, a partner at Cooney and Conway, said after the speech.

“It isn’t possible that this particular governor is not aware of how unconstitutional or illegal that suggestion is.”

Asked for additional details on the proposals, a spokeswoman for the governor said today that Illinois has “one of the worst legal climates in the country and is in desperate need of reform, including capping unreasonable judgments, which the governor proposed doing through a constitutional amendment.”

“Additionally,” Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly said in an e-mail, “trial lawyers donating to judicial campaigns is a clear conflict of interest and should be restricted. The best way to ensure faith in the judiciary is to move toward a merit selection process as supported by the American Bar Association.”

The contributions idea comes on the heels of an expensive, bitter campaign fight in which Illinois Supreme Court Justice Lloyd A. Karmeier was narrowly retained in November over a cascade of donations by plaintiff lawyers who called for his ouster.

Some of the lawyers who donated have high-stakes cases still before the court. The incident has rekindled discussion about money and ethics in judicial elections 10 years after Karmeier was initially elected to the court in a battle between businesses and trial lawyers in which more than $9 million was spent.

David H. Levitt, president of the Illinois Association of Defense Counsel and a partner at Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP, said he’s pleased Rauner is talking about changing judicial elections.

He’s not certain limiting who can donate or moving to a system of appointed judges is the best route to take. But at least there are ideas on the table, he said.

“I don’t pretend to know what the right answer is. But I know what the wrong answer is. And the wrong answer is what’s currently happening,” Levitt said.

Rauner’s call for regulations on venue-shopping also resonated with advocacy groups such as Illinois Lawsuit Abuse Watch, which tracks courthouse filings and says it’s too easy for plaintiffs to get favorable verdicts in the Metro East area near St. Louis.

“The goal with this type of legislation is to prevent a lot of cases that have very little to do with Illinois from finding their way into Illinois courtrooms,” said the group’s executive director, Travis Akin.

“Right now, if a lawyer makes a case that says why this lawsuit should be filed in this particular venue and the judge goes along with it, there’s really not a lot of recourse there for the defendant.”

Caps on various types of civil jury awards have been struck down as unconstitutional in Illinois “three different times by three different courts,” Cooney said.

“I doubt (Rauner) is seriously interested in wasting any more dollars to be told the same thing again.”

Benjamin K. Miller, of counsel at Jenner & Block LLP and a former Illinois Supreme Court justice, authored the dissenting opinion in 1997 in one of the cases in which caps were struck down — Best v. Taylor Machine Works.

He said he still believes in his dissent, which essentially argued that the court overruled the legislature “by judicial fiat” in striking down medical-malpractice caps.

But he acknowledged that the procedural history of the idea makes it tricky to approach now.

“It’s been struck down a couple of times, so you have to be very careful with what you say the plan is,” Miller said.

Republicans in the legislature have previously criticized Democratic colleagues, saying they kowtow to ITLA, most recently by passing a law to expedite settlement pay schedules and, in December, reducing the number of civil-trial jurors from 12 to six.

Democratic leaders still wield vetoproof majorities in both the House and Senate, so Rauner’s trial-lawyer reforms face a high hurdle.

Senate President John J. Cullerton, a Chicago Democrat, said in a statement that Rauner’s speech was an opportunity to give an objective assessment of the state.

“Unfortunately, too much of the governor’s opportunity was squandered with campaign rhetoric that denigrates the reputation of the state,” he said.

But House Speaker Michael J. Madigan, also a Chicago Democrat, pledged to work with Rauner and said after the speech that he wouldn’t describe any of the proposals the Republican executive laid out as a “non-starter.”

He said legislators would likely introduce bills on items such as verdict caps and changes for labor unions, but they would have to be negotiated.

“I don’t plan to prejudice any of the governor’s ideas,” Madigan said.

Rauner is slated to give a speech specifically addressing the state’s budget on Feb. 18.