In Rod We Trust? Family Members of Illinois Wrongful Death Victims Certainly Hope So!
A measure that would challenge a 2005 law putting caps on wrongful death lawsuit judgments and allow juries to consider the suffering of deceased victims' family members in these types of personal injury cases is waiting for a signature from Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.
Juries in Illinois can not currently consider the emotional suffering of family members during wrongful death cases; a notion which struck a nerve with Senator Kwame Raoul, who thus sponsored this proposed personal injury law. Under Raoul's measure, juries would be able to consider the "grief, sorrow, and mental suffering" of the family members of the deceased person in a wrongful death case.
Raoul opinioned in a Chicago Sun-Times story that is not fair for juries of Illinois wrongful death cases to be unable to consider the feelings of families who have lost a loved one. The president-elect of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association agreed. Specifically, Bruce Kohen said in the story that such a measure would fix a "horribly antiquated law."
Republican lawmakers in Illinois are not so thrilled with this proposed wrongful death law. The story detailed how these legislators helped passed an Illinois personal injury law in 2005 that limited the amount of damages that doctors and hospitals could be hit with during wrongful death lawsuits. Specifically, that law set the Illinois wrongful death caps to $500,000 for doctors and $1 million for hospitals.
At that time, these lawmakers said that having no caps was driving up the costs of insurance premiums for Illinois doctors and thus forcing them to leave the state. With that said, these Republican legislators have opposed Raoul's proposed Illinois personal injury law concerning wrongful death cases out of a fear that it undermines the 2005 statute.
These lawmakers have cited the antiquated argument that such a law for wrongful death cases would line up the pockets of Illinois personal injury attorneys rather than looking at the reality that such a law would fix the injustice with the current law banning the recognition of emotional suffering. The story added that officials with the Illinois State Medical Society oppose this bill out of a similar fear that it would increase the factors considered when juries award money in wrongful death cases and thus drive up the cost of health insurance.
With that said, the final decision on this bill comes down to the right hand of Rod, Blagojevich that is. A Blagojevich spokesman said that the Governor has yet to decide whether he will sign the bill after it passed the Democratic-controlled House last week and the Illinois Senate in April.
Frequent The Injury Blog and of course, Total Injury, for the latest updated on this proposed Illinois personal injury law. And if you have any questions about the personal injury laws in your state for wrongful death or other types of cases, get in touch with a local personal injury attorney as soon as possible.
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