High Court Slots Won By Judges Insurers Favor

By Matt Brady, Washington Bureau

NU Online News Service, Nov. 3, 4:05 p.m. EDT, Washington?Republicans, who had the support of the insurance industry, appeared to have won several victories in state supreme court races Tuesday, and forced a runoff in others?including many of the more closely watched races. [@@]

Mark Behrens, a lawyer with the firm of Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P. in Washington, which tracks state litigation issues for the insurance industry, said the importance of these elections, in which the industry's preferred candidate won nearly every race, was in showing that the industry, if focused, can improve a bad legal landscape.

In Ohio, incomplete returns showed Republican Toledo Appeals Court Judge Judith Lanzinger leading in her race against Democratic Common Pleas Judge Nancy A. Fuerst of Cuyahoga County. The two were vying for an open seat created by the mandatory retirement of Justice Francis E. Sweeney, a Democrat.

The Ohio court is expected to decide the fate of the state's recently enacted asbestos and silica/mixed dust law, and a victory by Judge Lanzinger would give Republicans six of the seven seats on the court.

In another closely watched race in Illinois, Republican Lloyd Karmeier appeared to have defeated Democrat Gordon Maag in the hotly contested race for the Illinois Supreme Court from the 5th District.

The race set a national record for campaign contributions for a judicial election, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, with Mr. Karmeier a Washington County circuit judge and tort reform proponent supported by insurers, collecting over $4 million in contributions.

Mr. Karmeier's opponent, 5th District Judge Maag reported almost $3.5 million in contributions, and outside groups added nearly $2 million of their own spending to the fray. During the campaign, Mr. Karmeier called on voters to help bring balance to the Illinois Supreme Court, currently dominated by Democrats by a five to two margin, by electing him.

Illinois has become a focus of calls for legal reform in recent years, as the insurance industry and others have labeled parts of the state as plaintiff friendly jurisdictions. Mr. Karmeier promised to bring about a change in the state's reputation as a lawsuit haven controlled by Democratic judges.

Another area known, at least until recently, as being plaintiff friendly is Mississippi, where incumbent Justice James Graves Jr., whom the Business & Industry Political Education Committee, a group of 35 trade associations and companies, list as the third worst justice on the court, is facing a runoff election against Samac Richardson, a Rankin County Circuit judge, after failing to win over fifty percent of the vote.

Despite an influx of out-of-state money supporting Mr. Richardson, Mr. Graves was leading in the state's central region, but not by enough to stave off a runoff election in two weeks. Three other incumbent justices in the state all won lopsided victories.

Attorney Behrens commented, "No matter how bad things are, they can be improved." In the case of Mississippi, where the state Supreme Court has already undertaken some efforts to improve the legal climate, Mr. Behren's noted that, "a place that was bad and has improved can continue to get better."

West Virginia was the scene of a major upset, with Republican Brent Benjamin beating incumbent Justice Warren McGraw. The race was considered by many to be the nastiest in the nation, with both camps, as well as outside groups, launching negative ads.

A major factor in the campaign was a controversial 3-2 decision granting probation to a convicted child sex offender, which Mr. Benjamin said showed that Justice McGraw, who signed the majority opinion, was too radical for the state and soft on crime.

In Texas, Republican Scott Brister, a midterm appointee of Republican Gov. Rick Perry, beat Democratic challenger David Van Os. According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Brister received over 59 percent of the vote.

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High Court Slots Won By Judges Insurers Favor

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