Rising to the challenge of the trial backlog in Cook County

For the Defense

By Donald P. Eckler

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. His views are his own and not those of his firm or its clients.

Posted January 6, 2021 10:19 AM

The chief challenge of the coming year is how to move cases forward toward resolution and to clear the backlog of cases that were to be tried in the last nine months but have not been. Fortunately for civil law practitioners, the requirements of the Fifth and Sixth Amendments do not apply, but the obstacles to addressing this problem, which is increasing daily unabated, are nonetheless daunting and of a no less constitutional dimension in view of the Seventh Amendment and Art. I, Sec. 13 of the Illinois Constitution.With …

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