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Thursday, September 15, 2011

Courts - "Illinois court asked to review alleged bias by justice "

A March 22, 2008 ILB entry quoted a WSJ opinion piece headed "Justice for Sale." A sample:

Lloyd Karmeier, the winner of a $9.3 million campaign for the Illinois Supreme Court in 2004, was supported by $350,000 in direct contributions from employees, lawyers and others directly involved with the insurer State Farm and/or its then pending appeal, and by an additional $1 million from larger groups of which State Farm was a member, or to which it contributed. Almost immediately upon taking the bench, he cast a vote ending proceedings on a $456 million claim against State Farm. A St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial put it this way: "Although Mr. Karmeier is an intelligent and no doubt honest man, the manner of his election will cast doubt over every vote he casts in a business case."
In today's Chicago Sun-Times Abdon M. Pallasch reports:
Some Tennessee lawyers, including former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson, are asking the Supreme Court of Illinois to take a new look at whether one of its own was too biased to rule in a 2005 case that overturned a billion-dollar verdict against State Farm Insurance.

The state supreme court and even the U.S. Supreme Court both considered and rejected the argument that Judge Lloyd Karmeier was biased because of the $4.5 million he raised in his campaign, about $350,000 came from people linked to State Farm.

What’s different now?

Research from a former FBI agent shows State Farm raised $2.4 million to $4 million of Karmeier’s $4.5 million budget, according to the petition the attorneys have filed with the state supreme court on behalf of State Farm customers.

How Appealing has collated links to several additional stories.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 15, 2011 01:33 PM
Posted to Courts in general