Personal injury lawyers and their clients have made millions thanks to a thriving industry amid the rolling hills of two south-western Illinois counties, one that has existed for the last 20 years. In St Clair County, you will find a couple of quiet courthouses and expensive lawyers who won hundreds of millions of dollars in awards and settlements from several corporate giants. During the clean-up of a toxic spill at Sturgeon, Missouri in January 1979, forty seven workers from one of the huge companies ended up being injured and they won nearly $58 million in settlements. In this case, this was the first verdict issued where dioxin led to permanent injuries for people.

Thanks to the jury, 32 of the 47 workers who filed suit, more than the total number of reported million dollar injury verdicts in any state, were instant millionaires. According to an East St Louis attorney who won a $15.65 million verdict against a big company in St Clair County this year, the legal community is an industry. Here is where they go to the grocery stores, live, buy houses, and hire union people. With regard to the counties’ jurors, they are known for big rewards and come from a largely blue collar pool.

Considering the entire New York state, the latest verdicts would top the total number of million dollar awards based from what the research director of a jury verdict research company predicted. For the lawyers, about a third of the award in personal injury cases and about a quarter of what they win for their clients in railroad and barge injury cases is what they receive. What has allowed the injured railroad and barge workers to have access to the talented, high powered lawyers whose specialized offices dot the southern Illinois countryside are twp federal laws.

With the help of the Federal Employees Liability Act of 1910, it is possible wherever the railroad does business for the injured railroad workers to file personal injury claims. What crisscrosses Madison and St Clair counties are the tracks of a dozen rail lines. Another one is the Jones Act of 1915 where like what the crewmen injured on the Mississippi River from Minneapolis to New Orleans do, barge and towboat workers can also file personal injury claims in the area. 33 months is the time that you need to wait to get a trial on a personal injury suit in Madison or St Clair counties but in Chicago it is usually five to six years.

As mentioned by the St Clair County Circuit Judge, for every case that is won, 20 percent is kept, 75 percent goes to the plaintiff, and 5 percent was donated to the union’s legal defense fund. This is more commonly known as the ticket system and this is where a lawyer to whom union officials would steer their members was said to have a ticket. Standing up on appeal were the awards according to the judge who has been either a judge or lawyer in the area for years. Having worked for the railroad and steel mills for two or three generations were the people here.

Financially, the Madison County government and the lawyers and business people in the area have been blessed by the suits. The Madison County Circuit Clerk said that the Madison County Circuit Clerk’s office was able to operate with a surplus of close to $500,000 for each of the past three years thanks to filing fees of close to $100 a case for civil suits greater than $15,000. It was in the fiscal year ending June 30 when 15,294 civil suits were filed excluding traffic violations.

Even if this is a multi-million dollar business, most people do not know this according to a personal injury lawyer. Not only are they paying for corporate personal property tax but other taxes too. It is common for them to put their money from these judgments into the local banks and rent buildings.

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