Will caps on non-economic damages in personal injury cases be declared unconstitutional by the Illinois Supreme Court? Chicago injury attorney Antonio Romanucci discussed tort reform last Saturday with veteran political reporter Dick Kay on WCPT radio. To hear the interview in its entirety, click here: http://www.doogiesplace.com/podcast.html
The New York Times (12/22, A40) editorializes that in "a lamentable 5-to-4 decision earlier this year" in Ashcroft v. Iqbal, "the Supreme Court discarded 50 years of legal precedent to make it significantly harder for Americans to assert their legal rights in federal court." The case "involved a Muslim man swept up on immigrations charges after the Sept. 11 attacks," but the "damage went beyond the case or the national security sphere. The court altered the procedural rules for initiating a lawsuit, raising the bar in a fashion destined to make it far harder to bring valid actions and to allow wrongdoers to avoid accountability." The Times notes that Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) "has introduced corrective legislation in the House" and Sen. Arlen Specter, (D-PA) "has introduced another bill targeting the problem. It is the responsibility of Congress to reopen the courthouse doors."
