A strong economy requires freedom from anti-business legal rules. The "Lipke Rule" was the worst of the worst, wreaking havoc on some Illinois businesses for 22 years. In April the Illinois Supreme Court stunned the trial attorneys by eliminating this rule by a vote of 5 to 1. Nolan v. Weil-McLain, 2009 Ill. LEXIS 381 (Apr. 16, 2009).

The Lipke Rule made asbestos lawsuits nearly indefensible, and helped make Madison County, Illinois, a paradise for trial attorneys. Asbestos is a remarkable natural substance that is extraordinarily durable and resilient to fire. It is pervasive in nature; the City of San Francisco is built on it. But trial attorneys have looted good businesses to the tune of many billions of dollars, particularly in Illinois and Mississippi, by claiming injury from asbestos in workers who typically also smoked cigarettes. In lawsuits alleging injury from asbestos, the Lipke Rule prevented businesses from presenting evidence that the plaintiff also smoked deadly cigarettes.

The Lipke Rule resulted in the ravaging of Illinois businesses. An article in the Madison St. Clair Record describes how this rule prevented businesses from defending themselves in asbestos cases, costing them exorbitant amounts of money: "In 2003, plaintiff Luke Lindau won a reported $4 million settlement from Union Carbide. The company wanted to go to trial, but demurred because of Lipke. Defense lawyers said the company wouldn't be able to present its best evidence that it wasn't to blame for Lindau's sickness. The evidence included his exposures to other products made by other companies during his 13-year work history and that the plaintiff smoked Kent cigarettes, which periodically used filters containing asbestos."

Union Carbide was one of countless companies which found themselves helpless against asbestos lawsuits because of the Lipke Rule. One attorney, whose clients are frequently involved in asbestos cases, blames the destructive rule for causing one of his client corporations to go bankrupt. The Lipke Rule prevented these businesses from presenting their best evidence in court, effectively crippling them. "For years legal professionals, insurance companies and asbestos defendants argued the Lipke Rule robbed defendants in asbestos lawsuits fundamental points of law to defend their case," explained one article in the Madison St. Clair Record.

The Lipke Rule was outdated and unfair. It was adopted in 1987, but much has been learned since then about different types of asbestos and the harm - or lack of harm - that each type causes. Yet application of the Lipke Rule did not keep up with the new knowledge, and prevented defendants from introducing more scientifically up-to-date evidence.

Businesses focused on electing new justices to the Illinois Supreme Court, and it mercifully ended the injustice of the Lipke Rule in Nolan v. Weil-McLain. The Court ruled that lower courts have misinterpreted and overextended the Lipke rule, improperly presuming wrongdoing defendants. Attorney Edward McCambridge commented, "This is the most significant decision in the history of Illinois asbestos litigation. It brings Illinois in line with the rest of the country as to the defendant's ability to challenge causation."