Illinois’s Judicial Hellhole® status expanded this year to a troubling trio: Cook County is joined by Madison and St. Clair counties, together ranked as the nation’s seventh-worst Judicial Hellhole® in the American Tort Reform Foundation’s annual report.
“These counties are magnets for out-of-state cases based on agenda-driven science, including the surge of litigation targeting baby formula manufacturers,” said Tiger Joyce, president of the American Tort Reform Association. “Between local courts rolling out the red carpet for meritless claims and the legislature and governor opening the door to unchecked litigation tourism, Illinois’s civil justice system is in crisis.”
Madison and St. Clair counties are ground zero for litigation based on junk science that targets baby formula manufacturers, with one St. Clair County case resulting in a nuclear verdict® last year. The Illinois Supreme Court is currently weighing whether thousands of these lawsuits can proceed in Madison County, many with minimal ties to the county itself. Nearby, in fellow Judicial Hellhole® St. Louis, a judge overturned a jury verdict in favor of the formula manufacturers.
Out-of-state cases will continue to be a problem for the courts thanks to a new law signed this summer by Gov. JB Pritzker (D) that will make Illinois an epicenter for litigation tourism. The new law allows out-of-state businesses to be sued by out-of-state plaintiffs in Illinois courts for incidents with no connection to the state. ATRA named the legislature a “Lawsuit Inferno” over the summer due to the bill’s passage.
“Gov. Pritzker might as well post ‘Closed for Business’ signs at the state borders,” Joyce said. “Dragging defendants into Illinois courts over unrelated harms sends a chilling message to job creators and puts local families on the hook for rising court costs. It’s unfortunate for Illinois families and small businesses whose taxes underwrite the courts.”
ATRF notes that only fellow Judicial Hellhole® Pennsylvania has adopted such an extreme approach. New York lawmakers have pushed similar legislation, but Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) has vetoed the effort twice. Gov. Hochul warned that the jurisdictional expansion is too anti-business for New York and that such sweeping overreach risks driving businesses out of the state.
“It’s unfortunate that Gov. Pritzker failed to follow the lead of his fellow Democratic governor who was wise enough to block this jurisdiction expansion,” Joyce said. “Thanks to Gov. Pritzker, Illinois is likely to see a mass exodus of businesses and a sharp decline in new business investments.”
No-injury lawsuits related to data privacy clog Illinois’s courts with suits brought under the Biometric Information Privacy Act that don’t actually claim any injury. ATRF says Illinois’s small businesses have been targeted by an increasing number of BIPA lawsuits. The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals is weighing whether a new law, which limits BIPA violations to a single instance, applies retroactively or only in BIPA cases filed since the new law went into effect.
Excessive litigation costs result in a $2,158 “tort tax” paid by Chicago residents annually, while in Madison and St. Clair counties, residents pay roughly $1,027 per year. Statewide, lawsuit abuse further contributes to a loss of more than 208,000 jobs annually.
While Madison and St. Clair counties took a brief, three-year hiatus from official Judicial Hellhole® status, the counties still received “Dishonorable Mentions” as hotspots for asbestos litigation during that time. Last year, the full trio accounted for nearly half of all asbestos filings nationwide, with filings in St. Clair County alone jumping 22%. Data through July includes each of three counties in the Top 5 courts nationwide for asbestos filings, with Madison and St. Clair counties topping the list.
The full 2025-2026 rankings and report are available at JudicialHellholes.org.
