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"Best"From: Fred Smythe (fsmythe@hotmail.com)Thu Dec 18 17:30:57 1997
>From the Illinois Suprmem Court: Best v. Taylor Machine Works, Inc., Nos. 81890, 81891, 81892, 81893 cons. Direct Appeal from the Circuit Court of Madison County. Opinion by McMORROW, J. HEIPLE, J., took no part. BILANDIC, J., specially concurring. MILLER, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part. In this opinion, arising from two consolidated personal injury actions which are at the pleading stage in the circuit court of Madison County, the Illinois Supreme Court held that the tort reform act enacted by the legislature in 1995 is invalid as contrary to the Illinois Constitution. Specifically, the court invalidated the $500,000 limit on the amount a plaintiff may recover in one action for "compensatory noneconomic damages," which are damages for the intangibles of pain and suffering, disability, disfigurement, loss of consortium, and loss of society. (This damage cap does not deal with punitive damages or with compensatory economic damages for tangible losses such as medical expenses, lost earnings, and property losses.) The court held that the damage cap violates the prohibition on special legislation because it discriminates against the most seriously injured plaintiffs, precluding them from being made whole, while benefitting the corresponding class of tortfeasors who cause the most serious injuries. The damage cap also violates separation of powers by infringing on the unique authority of the judiciary to reduce excessive damages. The supreme court also held unconstitutional the provisions of the 1995 act replacing joint and severable liability with proportionate several liability, giving credit to a third-party tortfeasor based on the liability of plaintiff's employer, and requiring plaintiffs to disclose all their medical information. This latter disclosure provision has already been held invalid in an earlier supreme court opinion filed November 20, 1997, in the case of Kunkel v. Walton, summarized below. Other provisions in the tort reform law deal with jury instructions and product liability. The supreme court did not reach the merits of these sections, but found that all the provisions are so interrelated that the entire 1995 enactment has to be declared invalid.
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