Operating Engineers Local 318 sued to stop Illinois Lawsuit Abuse Watch from broadcasting the following ad about the Illinois Supreme Court race (Sep. 13, Mar. 20):
“We’ve all seen the headlines about how the flood of frivolous lawsuits in the Metro East is closing doctors’ offices and driving many of our finest physicians away. Greedy personal injury lawyers have turned the Metro East into a haven for bad lawsuits. But lawsuit abuse doesn’t just hurt doctors – it hurts all of us. Frivolous lawsuits, many without scientific merit, limit access to health care and drive up prescription drug costs. And lawsuit abuse slows down the development of new lifesaving medical devices.
“Now we all have a chance to cure the lawsuit epidemic. Personal injury lawyers have given over $2 million to Illinois Supreme Court candidates because they want their friends on our court. But we want our justices to be unbiased and fair. To find out if your state Supreme Court candidate takes money from personal injury lawyers, contact Illinois Lawsuit Abuse Watch at www.I-LAW.org. Together we can make sure justice is no longer for sale in the Metro East. Paid for by Illinois Lawsuit Abuse Watch.”
Circuit Judge Phillip Palmer of Williamson County issued a temporary restraining order to forbid the broadcast of the ad, even though it doesn’t mention any candidates by name, as a supposed violation of Illinois campaign finance law. Once again, “campaign finance reform” Oct. 17) becomes speech regulation and censorship. (Paul Hampel, “Tort reform group is ordered to pull ad”, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Oct. 19).
Both candidates for the Illinois Supreme Court seat have been reprimanded by the Illinois State Bar Association for misleading attack ads criticizing each other’s records in individual criminal cases: Maag attacked Karmeier for giving probation to a mentally-impaired man (after a higher court ordered him to do so) and Karmeier attacked Maag for joining an opinion reversing a conviction for a violation of the Confrontation Clause. (Georgina Gustin, “Bar association asks judicial candidates to pull attack ads”, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Oct. 21; Brian Brueggemann, “Bar Association to speak today on advertisements for high court race”, Belleville News-Democrat, Oct. 21).
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