(The Center Square) – In a state infamous for massive jury awards, a new Illinois law will now allow punitive damages in wrongful death cases.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker recently signed into law an amendment to the Wrongful Death Act that allows civil litigants to receive punitive damages. The legislation was uniformly opposed by business and trade groups, including the Illinois Retail Merchants Association and the Illinois Chamber of Commerce.
“Lawmakers should not upend decades of legal precedent in order to tilt the playing field even more in favor of wealthy trial attorneys. This will further solidify Illinois’ reputation as a poor place to do business and make job creators take a second look at expanding or investing in Illinois,” the group said in a statement.
Attorney Patrick Salvi testified in support of the legislation and said the bill was being mislabeled.
“The manufacturers’ association sent out an email that said this is jackpot justice. None of my clients who lost family members think they won the jackpot,” Salvi said.
Punitive damages are recoverable in wrongful death claims on cases filed on or after Aug. 11, 2023, and punitive damages may be sought on cases existing on the effective date.
State Rep. Dan Ugaste, R-Geneva, said without a monetary cap, some companies may go under due to a large jury award.
“The plaintiff has to be considered, absolutely, but there’s a company there and maybe there are some bad actors within that company, but there’s probably a whole lot of employees relying on that company to feed their families and everything else that may be adversely impacted by this as well,” Ugaste said.
Many states that do allow for punitive damages also limit both punitive and non-economic damages in some way, which Illinois does not. Iowa recently capped pain and suffering damages resulting from truck crashes.
An analysis by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform found that Illinois is ranked sixth in the nation for massive jury awards, which are classified as being $10 million or more.
