SPRINGFIELD - As the Madison-St. Clair Record reported yesterday, only 1% of contributions from the $1+ million that has abruptly poured into Justice Kilbride’s campaign account comes from within his judicial district. That’s not surprising when almost all of the cash has come from high powered trial-law firms in Chicago and the infamous “judicial hellholes” of St. Clair and Madison counties (Metro East).
“We all understand the return Mike Madigan has received from Kilbride after spending millions to elect Justice Thomas Kilbride in 2000 and retain him in 2010. Much less understood is the incestuous relationship between trial lawyers who also send boatloads of cash to Kilbride and then arguec cases in front of the man at the Illinois Supreme Court.
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Just as Kilbride, in return for Madigan millions, has blocked term limits and struck down Fair Maps in an effort to protect the Speaker’s power - so too has Kilbride returned the favor for his trial lawyer cronies.” - ILGOP Chairman Tim Schneider
In 2011, the Brennan Center for Justice reported that the state’s major plaintiffs’ law firms laundered $1.4 million through Madigan’s Democratic Party of Illinois to support Kilbride’s retention:
“[T]he $1.5 million donated to the Democratic Party by major plaintiffs’ law firms almost identically matched the $1.4 million that the party gave to Kilbride. Because of this apparent conduit, Kilbride’s own contributions showed almost no money from plaintiffs’ lawyers, enabling him to avoid direct links to special-interest money.” (Adam Skaggs, Maria da Silva, Linda Casey and Charles Hall, “The New Politics Of Judicial Elections 2009–10,” Brennan Center for Justice, 10/2011)
This year, Kilbride is taking all the money directly from these firms, even though they argue cases before Kilbride. These firms are so willing to give to Kilbride because their 2010 investment in Kilbride has clearly paid off.
Don’t believe us? Let’s look at the record…
- Kilbride was the only justice to support allowing a man to sue an ambulance driver that he hit. A six-justice majority ruled that a hospital was not liable under the Local Governmental And Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act and set aside the jury verdict, but Kilbride was the only justice to agree with the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association (ITLA) – which had submitted an amicus brief – that a man should be allowed to sue after he was injured when he hit an ambulance responding to an emergency call. (Opinion, Harris v. Thompson, Illinois Supreme Court, Docket #112525, 6/21/12)
- Kilbride was the only justice to argue a Mississippi man who was injured in Mississippi and never worked in Illinois should be allowed to sue in Illinois. A six-justice majority ruled that St. Clair County was not an appropriate venue for an asbestos exposure case where the plaintiff lived in Mississippi, had worked in Mississippi, and had never been to Illinois beyond one month of engineering school in Homewood. Kilbride was the only justice to agree with an amicus brief filed by the ITLA that the plaintiff’s choice of forum should be given deference. (Opinion, Fennell v. Illinois Central R.R. Co., Illinois Supreme Court, Docket #113812, 12/28/12)
- Kilbride was the only justice to support giving workers compensation to a man who was injured on his own time driving to work. A six-justice majority ruled that a plumber who had taken a job 200 miles from his permanent residence was not entitled to workers compensation for injuries he sustained while commuting to work. Kilbride was the only justice to agree with an amicus brief by the ITLA that the plumber should be considered a traveling employee even though the employer did not direct his travel in any way or reimburse him for travel expenses. (Opinion, The Venture—Newberg-Perini, Stone & Webster v. Illinois Workers’ Compensation Comm’n, Illinois Supreme Court, Docket #115728 12/19/13)
- Kilbride was the only justice to agree that CSX railroad could be sued after a child trespassed on CSX’s railyard and injured himself while trying to jump onto a moving train. The Court initially unanimously ruled that a moving train was indeed an obvious danger and thus the railroads did not owe the plaintiff a duty of reasonable care, but Kilbride later changed his mind and said the railroad owed a duty of reasonable care to the child. (Opinion, Choate v. Indiana Harbor Belt R.R. Co., Illinois Supreme Court, Docket #112948, 11/26/12)
- Kilbride was the only justice to support allowing a personal injury suit against a dead man to proceed, despite the plaintiff failing to notify the decedent’s estate of her lawsuit and instead having her lawyer’s secretary appointed as a “special representative” for the estate. A six-justice majority ruled the lawsuit was time-barred because it was filed after the statute of limitations period, but Kilbride was the only justice to agree with an amicus brief by the ITLA that the plaintiff should be permitted to continue her lawsuit. (Opinion, Relf v. Shatayeva, Illinois Supreme Court, Docket #114925, 10/18/13)
Justice Thomas Kilbride proves that one can be bought and paid for by more than one special interest. Kilbride is the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association’s Best Friend in addition to being Madigan’s Favorite Judge.
