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There have been some interesting bills and appellate decisions that are going to make things interesting for litigation in the very near future.  I don't know about all of you, but my trial calendar over the next year is getting quite full and with cases from across the country, I can attest that it is not just happening here in Illinois.   The Civil Discovery (Expedited Trial) Senate Bill has some very interesting pieces, but the one that concerns me the most is the "expedited trial".  Will this add additional stress to an already packed court schedule that is still recovering from COVID?  

If you work in personal injury/medical malpractice or insurance defense, the two bills and two appellate decisions that you might find interesting below:

• Civil discovery (Expedited Trial): Senate Bill 1748 (Halpin, D-Rock Island; Williams, D-Chicago) amends the Code of Civil Procedure to do two things: 1) if a defendant seeks a physical or mental examination of the plaintiff during discovery, it allows the plaintiff to have an additional person to be present and video record the examination; and 2) amends the statute giving a preference for a trial setting by lowering the age of a party from 70 to 67 and includes the surviving spouse or next of kin in a wrongful death action. It requires the case to commence within one year of the motion granting the preference unless the court finds that the moving party does not have a substantial interest in the case as a whole. If any new party is added to a lawsuit after the trial setting, any party may move the court to reschedule the trial to commence up to one year after the date a new defendant appeared and answered the complaint or up to one year after the date a plaintiff was added to the lawsuit.
  The court shall (now, may) grant a motion for preference in setting for trial if a party or, in the case of a wrongful death action, the surviving spouse or next of kin, shows substantial physical or financial hardship or alternatively shows good cause that the interests of justice will be served by granting a preference in setting for trial within one year of the hearing on the motion. Allows any party to move for a trial continuance of up to six months for good cause shown. Drop date, Aug. 15, 2023; effective immediately.
• Wrongful death actions and punitive damages: House Bill 219 (Hoffman, D-Belleville; Harmon, D-Oak Park) amends the Wrongful Death Act to allow punitive damages under the Act. It exempts actions against the state or an employee of the state in his or her official capacity, in actions against a unit of local government or an employee of a unit of local government in his or her official capacity, and in actions for healing art malpractice or legal malpractice. Drop date, Aug. 15, 2023; effective immediately.
  
• Post-Judgment Interest  |  1st Dist.: Barnai v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 2023 IL App (1st) 220900 (August 18, 2023) 5th Div./Cook Co. (DELORT) Affirmed in part and reversed in part.
  In a complicated personal injury lawsuit arising out of injuries the plaintiff received while working, the appellate court considered the third appeal filed by the parties. The current appeal was brought by a defendant challenging the circuit court’s order finding that it owed interest on the entire amount of the judgment rather than on the difference between the judgment and the amount of a workers’ compensation lien. The circuit court also denied that defendant’s motion to release judgment as premature. A second defendant filed a cross-appeal. The appellate court affirmed in part and reversed in part, finding that the trial court did not err in its calculation of interest, but finding that the trial court erred when it determined that the accrual of interest stopped on the date that the parties filed and briefed their motions. (LYLE and NAVARRO, concurring)
• 2nd District Opinion RE COVID Immunity: The Second District Appellate Court Opinion was just filed on August 17, 2023 upholding the executive order creating immunity for all but willful and wanton misconduct during the period the order was in place.  This will no doubt be pursued further by ITLA  to the Illinois Supreme Court, but so far a good ruling for those of us with cases where care was provided in this time frame.