State Farm funds Supreme Court Justice who later voted to overturn judgment against the insurance giant

State Farm was slapped with a billion dollar judgment in a lawsuit that alleged the insurance giant allowed the use of non-original parts in repairing vehicles it insured. It was upheld by the Appellate Court in 2001 but to show you how important this case is, it began in 1997 14 years ago and has been fought vigorously by State Farm Insurance. The $1 billion award included the jury finding of $465 million to the defendants and the judge ruled that State Farm should pay another $730 million, bringing the judgment to more than $1.1 billion.

The Illinois Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the case in May 2003. In November 2004, a new judge was elected to a seat on the Illinois Supreme Court, Lloyd Karmeier. State Farm later claimed to the Illinois Supreme Court they had given Karmeier only $350,000 in campaign contributions but a new lawsuit says that State Farm actually funded Karmeier to the tune of between $2.5 million and $4 million. Karmeier only raised $4.5 million.

In 2005, the ruling by the Appellate Court was overturned. Karmeier was among the judges voting to overturn the ruling against the people even though he was asked to recuse himself from the case. Karmeier was recruited to run for the seat by a State Farm lawyer and lobbyist.

Shame on State Farm. No wonder your premiums are so high, spending millions to get a friendly judge elected to the Illinois Supreme Court in order to impact an important ruling. Karmeier should be forced to step down as a justice.

A lawsuit has been filed to force State Farm to be honest to the public and to review Karmeier's bias.

Read the story in the Tribune by clicking here.
Read the story in the Sun-Times by clicking here.