<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"<p>Many local lawyers and judges reject a \"Judicial Hellhole\" designation that the American Tort Reform Association first branded on Madison County in 2003.</p><p>Whether the label is fair or not depends on who you ask. But how was it derived?</p><p>When the Record first began publishing in September 2004, class action lawyers at the Madison County courthouse were developing consumer actions out of a wide range of transactions from across the nation.</p><p>Thomas Maag of the Lakin firm, son of appellate judge Gordon Maag, sued multiple retailers for refusing to make change on gift card purchases. One suit involved a grievance of less than a dollar.</p><p>Lakin lawyers sued dozens of mortgage lenders, claiming each one charged a few too many dollars for a fax, a courier, a record search, or some other service.</p><p>Lakin lawyers also sued health insurers and claim handlers over adjustments of a few dollars.</p><p>Stephen Tillery, who had won a $10 billion class action judgment in Madison County in 2003, sued mutual funds over microscopic variations in timing of transactions.</p><p>Lanny Darr sued his auto insurer on behalf of himself, for renting him a low class vehicle while he awaited repair of his high class vehicle.</p><p>The lawyers may not have recognized that their extraordinary claims which reaped mammoth successes for them and very little for plaintiffs helped destroy public faith in class actions across America.</p><p>The Manhattan Institute for Policy Research had turned a spotlight on Madison County in 2001, to make a case for federal jurisdiction over all class actions.</p><p>The institute found that the county ranked third in class action filings nationally, behind Cook County and Los Angeles County.</p><p>It also found that:</p><p>- 63 percent of the named plaintiffs were county residents;</p><p>- Lawyers filed &ldquo;cut and paste&rdquo; complaints against nine auto insurers in one week, claiming each one committed fraud in calculations of total losses;</p><p>- The impetus for class actions generally came from lawyers \"eager\" for substantial fees, not from individual consumers seeking redress for grievances;</p><p>- A firm boasted on its website that it had brought 24 nationwide class actions in Madison County;</p><p>- A suit against Sprint on behalf of everyone who ever got disconnected on a cell phone;</p><p>- Defendants removed some cases to federal courts for consolidation into multi district proceedings, but that lawyers went to great lengths to avoid removal; and</p><p>- This strategy pitted federal and state judges against each other on the appropriateness of class certification or proposed settlements.</p><p>In 2002, the New York Times panned Madison County justice.</p><p>Boston University ethics teacher Susan Koniak told the Times that judges approved settlements that might benefit plaintiff lawyers and defendants more than plaintiffs.</p><p>\"Madison County judges are infamous for approving anything put before them, however unfair to the class or suggestive of collusion that is,\" Koniak said.</p><p>The paper found a settlement providing television owners with $25 and $50 coupons on future purchases, while providing $22 million to lawyers.</p><p>Washington lawyer John Beisner told the Times that, \"It's a capital transfer from defendants to plaintiffs' lawyers.\"</p><p>The Times reported an angry outburst from Madison County circuit judge Nicholas Byron.</p><p>\"This court will not be affected by any public relations output in this case or any other case,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;This court will not be intimidated.\"</p><p>In those days assignment of a case to Byron or judge Philip Kardis meant almost certain success for the plaintiff, and assignment to judges Andy Matoesian and Dan Stack meant likely success.</p><p>No plaintiff got a judge he or she didn&rsquo;t want. When assignments fell to circuit judge George Moran, plaintiffs moved for substitution.</p><p>Byron most notably found in 2003 that Philip Morris owed $10 billion for tricking smokers into expecting health benefits from light and low tar cigarettes.</p><p>Plaintiffs filed 106 class actions in Madison that year.</p><p>President George Bush showed up in Madison County in 2005, and after his visit Congress passed a law that would direct most new class actions to federal courts.</p><p>The law didn&rsquo;t ruin class litigation in Madison County, for lawyers there had piled up more than 200 pending cases that they could develop for years.</p><p>The ruin of class actions in state court came to pass anyway, when the Illinois Supreme Court reversed Byron&rsquo;s judgment and a billion dollar Williamson County judgment against State Farm.</p><p>The State Farm decision barred courts from applying Illinois consumer laws in other states, effectively ending all nationwide class actions in Illinois courts.</p><p>The Court decision hit Tom Lakin hardest because his firm pursued the most class actions.</p><p>The firm further weakened when federal prosecutors charged high profile lawyer Gary Peel with bankruptcy fraud, obstruction of justice and child pornography.</p><p>Federal prosecutors then charged Lakin with drug and sex crimes.</p><p>Jurors would convict Peel, and Lakin would bargain a guilty plea only on the drugs.</p><p>Tom&rsquo;s son Brad Lakin carried on the class action practice, but the tide had turned.</p><p>When a defendant in federal court pleaded that class certification would bankrupt it, Chief Judge David Herndon told Lakin lawyers it wasn&rsquo;t a judge&rsquo;s job to bankrupt companies.</p><p>A Lakin lawyer said the defendant deserved it, but Herndon ruled otherwise.</p><p>When a Lakin lawyer in Madison County called for class certification no matter how small the claim, he stuck to the argument even when the judge whittled it down to a penny.</p><p>Byron retired in 2006. Stack certified three class actions on his way out, in 2007, but his actions did not survive appeals.</p><p>All stayed quiet on the class action front for years, but the losers of the Supreme Court decisions currently pursue second chances to win their cases.</p><p>Losers in the Philip Morris case seek reinstatement of their judgment at the Supreme Court, and losers in the State Farm case seek recovery under federal racketeering law.</p><p>The cases have intertwined, as lawyers suing State Farm and those suing Philip Morris both assert privilege over documents subject to a State Farm subpoena.</p><p>Brad Lakin joined Tillery in objecting to production of a researcher&rsquo;s documents on Philip Morris, revealing for the first time the Lakin firm&rsquo;s connection to the case.</p>"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://madisonrecord.com/stories/510556685-madison-county-circuit-court-served-as-class-action-mecca-until-cafa-president-bush-called-for-reform-in-collinsville>