EDWARDSVILLE • the slots at the Madison CountyCourthouse can lead to big-dollar payouts that rival anything at acasino.

These so-called slots aren’t machines with flashing lights buthundreds of entries on a docket, a legal word for a court schedule.they reserve trial dates for asbestos damage cases that may noteven have been filed yet.

In theory, a court date can be waiting for someone who hasn’tfiled suit or hasn’t even learned he’s sick.

A political fundraising controversy last month led to thereplacement of the judge in charge of the docket. It also drewattention to a unique asbestos litigation fast-track process thatis lauded for rushing millions of dollars into the pockets of thedying but criticized for rushing millions into the pockets of theirlawyers.

Ordinarily, someone claiming damages files a lawsuit in hisname, and the case is put on a civil trial docket as the first stepon the road to trial. Often, both sides eventually agree to afinancial settlement rather than risk the uncertainties of averdict.

But Madison County attracts so many asbestos-related cases thatyears ago its courts devised a special process to manage them. Lawfirms with that specialty are assigned blocks of trial dates intheir own name, and lawsuits are filled in as they’re filed.

Proponents say it’s efficient. Opponents say it’s unfairlyefficient, providing plaintiffs’ firms with a hammer to forcedefendants — invariably asbestos manufacturers or businesses thatused the product — into acquiescence on what effectively is ajudicial assembly line.

The issue smoldered for years among legal and businessinterests. But it burst into full flame after Circuit Judge BarbaraCrowder’s retention election campaign fund accepted $30,000 incontributions from plaintiffs’ firm lawyers in December, just daysafter she allotted the slots for 2013.

She denied any connection, calling the order “one of thosestraightforward, innocuous things every judge does” that fallswithin long-established standards.

But the timing looked bad enough that Chief Judge Ann Callismoved her off asbestos cases last month, County Board Chairman AlanDunstan called for an investigation and Crowder returned themoney.

Madison County is a logical asbestos lawsuit hub. its heavyindustries used the material for fireproofing for many years —before doctors determined that if inhaled, its fibers can causedeadly lung complications. the area’s heavily unionized residentsfilled juries perceived as worker-friendly. the local legalcommunity already developed a specialty in personal injury law bypursuing cases for rail and barge workers injured around thecountry, a cottage industry that drew its own controversy ageneration ago.

In the 1980s, Madison County saw hundreds of asbestos casesfiled by workers exposed to the material at workplaces includingGranite City Steel, Laclede Steel co. in Alton, the Shell Oilrefinery in Roxana, the Amoco refinery in Wood River and the Clarkrefinery in Hartford.

Dan Stack, a retired judge who handed the asbestos duties overto Crowder in 2010, said the dedicated docket was created more than25 years ago so one judge could specialize in the complicatedlitigation and ease its burden on the courts. the slot reservationsystem was added as an improvement, he noted.

Critics such as Lisa A. Rickard, president of the U.S. ChamberInstitute for Legal Reform, say the setup allows law firms to”harvest” clients from throughout the country and “extort”high-dollar settlements in a fast-paced environment that cripples adefendant’s ability to prepare for trial.

Asbestos cases have spawned defense specialty firms as well, butthey have been hesitant to criticize or praise the system,privately citing a fear of retribution from judges or thecorporations they defend. several declined to comment for thisstory.

Rickard noted that defense firms profit from the system aswell.

She said Madison County’s asbestos docket appears to be the onlyone of its kind in the nation.

John Leubsdorf, a Rutgers University law professor whospecializes in ethics, said, “It doesn’t make much sense” to builda system on law firms rather than plaintiffs. “It reminds me ofback in the 18th century, when judges used to hear cases fromlawyers in the order of (the lawyer’s) seniority.” that way, hesaid, “The senior lawyers would end up getting all of thecases.”

He added, “Obviously, we don’t do that anymore.”

Last year, a group of corporations contested the reservationsystem in court, complaining that the trial slots exceeded localdemand.

“This oversupply of trial dates attracts out-of-state plaintiffswho have the incentive to forum shop, file with a local plaintiffs’firm with empty future trial slots, and guarantee themselves atrial date within 8, 9, or 10 months of filing,” said a motion,signed by law firms representing corporations, including Ford,General Electric and CBS.

Crowder kept the system in place.

SERVING DYING PLAINTIFFS

Most Madison County asbestos cases involve mesothelioma, adeadly cancer that can form after even a minimal exposure. all ofIllinois had 137 mesothelioma diagnoses in 2007, the most recentyear with statistics available. in 2010, court papers show, 506mesothelioma-related cases filled in the reserved slots in MadisonCounty.

Stack, the retired judge, noted, “These cases are going to befiled somewhere.” he said it’s easier for corporations to defendthemselves in one common venue than in courts scattered across thenation.

He said the reserved slots cut through bureaucracy to rushrelief to injured workers who are often in their last days.

“These plaintiffs are dying, and it allows them to get intocourt quickly,” he explained. “If they get the money six monthsbefore they die, it gives them peace of mind and resolution thattheir family will be okay.”

Michael Angelides, of the Alton-based plaintiffs’ firm SimmonsBrowder Gianaris Angelides & Barnerd, called the system “thebest in the country,” getting cases to the trial stage in six to 12months . he said most of his own cases are on file with realplaintiffs before the slots are given. “I can’t speak for anyoneelse,” he added.

The firm’s website says it has recovered more than $4 billion inclaims, although it’s unclear how much was in Madison County.

The other firms represented in the donations were GoldenbergHeller Antognoli & Rowland, and Gori Julian & Associates,which both have offices in Edwardsville.

A 93-page standing court order controls operation of theasbestos docket. the judge schedules 28 trial weeks a year with 19slots per week. at the beginning of the trial week, a judge canconsolidate some of the cases based on various factors, includingcommonality of work site, trade union and disease. Most cases aresettled, so trials are rare.

“It’s like an army budgeting its supply,” Stack said. “You lookat past performance. You know certain firms have more business thanothers. without this, it leaves the defendant without anyanticipation of what is to come in the following year.”

He noted that with this efficiency, “one-fourth of all asbestoscases filed in the U.S. get resolved in Madison County everyyear.”

Rickard claims that most defendants don’t know which of those 19cases will actually go to trial until the start of the week,putting them at a disadvantage.

When big asbestos cases have gone to trial, results went to bothextremes. in 2003, a jury awarded a then-U.S. record $250 millionto an Indiana man who had sued U.S. Steel. But when Ford MotorCompany made a rare move and contested an asbestos claim at trialin 2010, it won.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE JUDGE

Crowder, who was elected circuit judge in 2006, quietly handledfamily court matters for years before being assigned to replace thedeparting Stack.

She is up for a retention vote in the Nov. 6 election, needingapproval of 60 percent to keep her job.

Under an Illinois Supreme Court rule, her campaign was allowedto begin fundraising Nov. 6. Crowder preliminarily assigned theasbestos docket earlier than in previous years. on Dec. 1, shepreliminarily assigned about 500, mostly to three large firms.

That also was the day her husband, lawyer Lawrence Taliana,signed paperwork as campaign chairman to organize her politicalcommittee. It received donations of $5,000 each from four of thosefirms’ lawyers on Dec. 5, and donations of $1,000 each from 10others the next day.

One contributing lawyer told a reporter that Taliana solicitedthe money and specified the $10,000 per firm that was received. Thedonation became public on routine financial disclosure forms andlit a firestorm in the courthouse.

Callis, the chief judge, quickly reassigned Crowder, citingconcerns for “the public trust in a fair and unbiased judiciary.”Others, including Dunstan, the county board chairman, demanded aprobe. the state Judicial Inquiry Board, which operates in secret,is presumed to be investigating.

Last week, state Reps. Dwight Kay, R-Glen Carbon, and PaulEvans, R-O’Fallon, introduced legislation that would require judgesto recuse themselves if an attorney in a case has contributed morethan $500 over five years and if the other side files anobjection.

Callis referred all questions about the reservation system tojudges directly involved in it.

Judge Clarence W. Harrison, whom Callis named to take over thedocket, said he is still trying to understand its nuances, andplans a hearing in March to review Crowder’s order and takecomments.

Illinois judges are barred from personally solicitingcontributions, but their committees can. A Supreme Court rule saysjudges ‘shall encourage members of the candidate’s family to adhereto the same standards of political conduct in support of thecandidate as apply to the candidate.”

Crowder removed her husband as campaign manager and returned themoney.

In an interview for this story, Crowder would not sayspecifically what and when she knew of the donations. “Clearly Iheard about it later,” she said.

She insisted she did nothing wrong, and that the donations,which are legal, had no impact on her judicial performance. “Whenyou walk into a courtroom, you’re a judge and you do it fairly,”Crowder said.

She also said she had sought input from lawyers on both sidesand that, “In my personal opinion, nobody got exactly what theywanted.”

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce seized on the incident tocharacterize the system as “a type of asbestos lawsuit futuresmarket of immense value to those plaintiffs’ firms who have beenassigned court slots.” the chamber said, “It is this compromisedsystem that is the root of the cash-for-trials scandal which causedJudge Crowder’s reassignment.”

Ex-judge Stack acknowledged that the circumstances don’t lookgood, but steadfastly defended the system.

“The dates aren’t sold,” Stack insisted. “Never have been. Thisrecent ignorant act by Judge Crowder and her husband m—ade it lookhorrible. But that’s not what they were doing. I don’t believethat.”

It remains unclear how long the supply of asbestos plaintiffs —and the special docket here — will last. much of its use has beenbanned in the U.S. since the 1970s. But symptoms may not set in for30 to 50 years after exposure, according to the National Institutesof Health.

Lawyers may someday have to look abroad for business. A 2011study said Asia now accounts for 64 percent of the world’s asbestosuse.

Author name: Farina C.H. Mcclees

The main hazard by asbestos is usually from taking in asbestos fibers on the lungs. Asbestos airborne debris is very easily breathed on the lungs, considering the fact that asbestos fabric are tiny and consistent. once inhaled, some asbestos fibers will continue to be elsewhere in the body perpetually. Over extended time frames, these fabric can bring about lethal illnesses like mesothelioma, various asbestos types of cancer and asbestosis.

Researchers have never settled for the safe degree of contact through asbestos. Yet, scientists not to mention doctors have figured the much larger and more time the connection with asbestos, slightly more the prospect of experiencing asbestos-connected illnesses.

The mesothelioma customer has be to reconsider that in the past other mesothelioma lawsuits are already filed but still have wrapped up with mesothelioma afflicted people receiving heaps of cash (thousands) asbestos cancer compensation with the diagnosis in to mesothelioma. Of late, mesothelioma suits have become an significant help for everyone persons who have developed this unique disease permitting them to benefit using this compensation.

Lawsuits are already filed by people have treated asbestos throughout their field with labor and of course employing providers are asked to deliver this compensation regarding ex-employees since they haven’t shared the threats of touching this terminal material.

Mesothelioma is often a particularly nasty version of lung tumor, and mesothelioma suit is increasingly utilised as an approach of finding cash to get asbestos lung tumor palliative care and attention. without them, many families wouldn’t normally be capable to afford professional attend to themselves, and have to tend to deal with themselves asbestos litigation worst attainable time to deal with and with the patient.

Prevalence of mesothelioma asbestos lung tumor are gradually increasing, which indicates the way insidious this unique disease is usually. Caused as a result of inhalation with asbestos fabric, the symptoms normally requires upwards with 40 decades after contact with appear, and may also people who seem to suffer you should never even remember exposure to a substance. This doesn’t take substantially exposure, and lots of cannot comprehend the diagnosis only when it’s available since they cannot do not forget ever exposure to asbestos.

Regarded for a miraculous material willing to withstand many uses, asbestos uncovered its option into an array of products gradually does not about 1980. Aspects such as felt, devices, and perhaps even weatherproof jackets have contained asbestos. Often them appeared inside products made use of in construction, for example firebrick, conditioning towers, roofs, masonry stuff, and generators. Today, asbestos may nevertheless be present inside homes not to mention workplaces as drywall, warmth, and confident household supplements, if we were looking at produced asbestos siding shingles 1970s.

A key element difficulty in avoiding asbestos publicity is that should be not accessible when airborne. The right defense is usually understanding the varieties products at which asbestos may nevertheless be present. some supplements are seen to have provided asbestos, for example roofing not to mention shingles created using asbestos concrete, and gas and fossil fuel furnaces. Homes crafted between 1930 not to mention 1950 tend to be particular threat, as lots of contain asbestos warmth, as properly as trouble and water vapor pipes which might be affected.