Chicago Sun-Times, December 9, 2009

In his December 4th letter, Travis Akin, spokesperson for an anti-consumer group, once again demonstrates his remarkable ability to add disconnected issues to unreliable data, and come up with a conclusion that fits his bias.

This time, Akin uses his own organization's slanted "study" to conclude that all injury lawsuits filed against Cook County are "frivolous." He then uses the figure for all legal costs incurred by the county ($70 million) in such a way as to lead readers to believe that was the amount paid by the county in injury lawsuit settlements.

Not so, and Mr. Akin knows it. However, such tactics and sweeping generalizations come as no surprise to anyone who has followed Akin and his big business donors - they fundamentally oppose your right to seek redress through the courts. Akin, and the business interests he represents, sees any attempt to ensure the average person has rights as horribly unfair, and they have worked for years to protect their interests over the health and safety of the citizens of Illinois.

No business or employer is exempt from concerns over the safety of their workplaces or their public spheres, and that includes municipalities and counties. To conclude otherwise, as Akin has done, is just plain wrong.

The truth is the court system provides the citizens of Illinois with a method of seeking redress from those who have injured them - and innocent, hardworking people are injured on the job every day. To claim these victims' injuries are "frivolous" is callous and elitist, but unfortunately all part of the anti-consumer rhetoric.

The court system is there to protect us; don't let special interests weaken it.

Peter J. Flowers
President
Illinois Trial Lawyers Association
St. Charles