Comparative fault system ready to topple over

For the Defense

By Donald P. Eckler and David Warnick

Donald “Pat” Eckler is a partner at Pretzel & Stouffer focusing on professional liability defense, insurance coverage litigation, and general tort defense. He is the legislative chair of the Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel. David Warnick is an attorney at Johnson & Bell focusing on transportation, product liability, and general tort defense. He is a member of the Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel civil practice committee. His views are his own and not those of his firm or its clients.

Posted July 21, 2021 12:14 PM

Like the game of Jenga referred to by Chief Justice John Roberts in the oral argument before the Supreme Court of the United States in Alston v. NCAA, since Alvis v. Ribar, 85 Ill.2d 1 (1981), Illinois’ comparative fault system, block by block has been tinkered with both by the General Assembly and the Illinois Supreme Court to such an extent that the entire system has come crashing down.The current state of the Contribution Act has effectively left some minimally culpable defendants wondering what year it is. On the other …

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