The following letter to the editor by ITLA President Kathy C. Byrne was published in the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin on April 4, 2024.

It is first urgent to correct Patrick Eckler’s statement that the use of asbestos “ceased decades ago.” It did not. In 2022 asbestos was being used in brake linings, pads, and gaskets.  Deadly misinformation about current asbestos usage puts people at risk of cancer because they wrongly believe that products bought at a local shop are asbestos-free. I don’t doubt Mr. Eckler’s sincerity. The EPA ban on asbestos was overturned by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in 1991, leaving the asbestos product market wide-open. Asbestos injuries continue to mount and families continue to lose beloved ones. Most, like Mr. Eckler, assumed ‘they took the asbestos out decades ago.’

March Madness. 

I don’t mean basketball, I’m referring to the generally crazy state brought to us by social media, click-based journalism, and the reckless blathering of he-who-shall-not-be-named.  The mass hysteria over Kate Middleton’s family photo is a great example of how patterns of normal behavior have altered.

I am writing this column on President’s Day, sort of appropriate for something called The President’s Page, is it not? In modern times we celebrate all the U.S. Presidents on this one day, but as a child I remember we had Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday on February 12th and George Washington’s birthday on February 22nd. Through the celebrations of these two heroes’ birthdays, I learned about the Civil War, the American Revolution, and of course, to never tell a lie about chopping down a cherry tree. I’m sure you have similar memories.

Unless you are a glutton for punishment or are lucky enough to have generous friends with tropical guesthouses, you’ve likely been stuck inside during our polar conditions. I realized I had plumbed the depths of Netflix once I found myself watching “Dynasty--the next generation.” Time to turn off the tv and play with the laptop.

I’ve been meaning to check out some of the AI apps since their rocky launch last May. I downloaded an AI app and asked it to write this column, noting the seasonal aspect. Let me know what you think!

Happy New Year! 

Don’t you love the New Year, with all the anticipation and hope that it brings? I admit that I am biased toward New Year’s. My birthday is New Year’s Eve, and I spent my first 10 years thinking all the hoopla was in my honor. OK, maybe I still secretly think that, but I’m willing to share.

Why doesn’t ITLA……...?

I admit I am a regular lurker on the list-serve. It’s often the quickest way to hear about a great verdict, a new opinion, get the scoop on our new judges, and pick up practice tips. It’s also tremendously reassuring to read a series of posts that tells me I’m not the only one who doesn’t understand something.  

For nearly 8 years, rideshare companies such as Uber and Lyft operating in Illinois have benefitted from a unique loophole in the law that has exempted those companies and their agents from the “common carrier doctrine”, which applies to all other carriers (buses, airplanes, trains, taxis and others) that provide for-hire livery services to passengers. The common carrier doctrine holds that these operators and their agents owe passengers the “highest duty of care” in ensuring safety of their operation and is grounded in the recognition that passengers surrender control of their safety to such operators when they utilize these transportation services.

This important law will help deter reckless decisions and conduct that puts the lives of Illinoisans in danger and make Illinois a safer place to live and work.

For decades, Illinois law has allowed living plaintiffs to seek punitive damages in cases where a defendant’s reprehensible conduct causes injury. Punitive damages, while rare, serve to punish defendants for their reckless or intentional conduct, and deter others from engaging in similar conduct. It is up to the courts, on a case-by-case basis, to determine whether the misconduct warrants jury consideration of punitive damages.

The following letter to the editor by ITLA President Kathy C. Byrne was published in the Daily Herald on June 26, 2023.

The June 7 guest column from Wade Keats (“The cost of doing business in Illinois has reached critical mass”) makes much of the “stacked costs” of businesses. But stacking layers of misinformation to impugn laws intended to help protect citizens from corporate malfeasance does a great disservice to the public’s understanding of these issues.

Mr. Keats complains about the state’s recent adoption of pre-judgment interest for personal injury cases. Rather than making us an outlier, this new law brings Illinois in line with the 46 other states which already have some form of prejudgment interest on the books.

The following letter to the editor by ITLA Third Vice-President Michael T. Mertz was published in the Daily Herald on Monday, June 19, 2023.

Illinois’ civil justice system is a model for the nation in protecting the rights of citizens to hold wrongdoers accountable, contrary to the claims of Phil Melin and his fake “grassroots” organization called Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse.

In his criticism of the General Assembly’s recent session, Melin employs the sentimental affection we feel for mom-and-pop small businesses as a smokescreen to obscure his organization’s true mission of protecting the profits of big corporations, insurers, tobacco companies and gun manufacturers.