Personal Injury Law

Madison County Adopts Rule Requiring Mediation

By Hurley, McKenna & Mertz

As a Chicago medical malpractice lawyer I would be happy to see a similar rule in Cook County. Too often cases that should settle do not even come close to settling until the eve of trial. Madison County has addressed this:

"The Illinois Supreme Court has approved rules adopted this year by the Madison County court for handling medical malpractice cases, Chief Judge Ann Callis said Wednesday. Those rules require people claiming injuries and the doctors they sue to meet and at least talk of settling any time a medical malpractice case is filed. Doctors saw their insurance premiums skyrocket a few years ago, and dozens closed shop in the area. Insurance companies blamed the aggressive Metro East trial bar. Most lawyers contended that the courts were not at fault. In recent years, the issue has spawned battles in the Illinois Legislature. It was in Madison County that Gov. Rod Blagojevich in 2005 signed compromise legislation limiting the amount of money for pain and suffering that any doctor or hospital could be forced to pay in a lawsuit while also reforming the physician insurance industry."

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 9/27/07
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/illinoisnews/story/
6F6FBF9BA4B9967A86257363000CD882?OpenDocument

Full post as published by Chicago Medical Malpractice Lawyer Blog on October 16, 2007 (boomark / email).