Facts
- Dr. James Kakos and his wife (plaintiffs) filed a civil action in the Circuit Court of Cook County against multiple medical facilities and several employees, including Dr. Jesse Butler (defendants), alleging medical negligence and a related loss-of-consortium claim.
- While the case was pending, Illinois enacted Public Act 98-1132 (effective June 1, 2015), which amended 735 ILCS 5/2-1105(b) to provide that all civil jury cases “shall be tried by a jury of 6.”
- Before the amendment, Illinois practice allowed a 12-person civil jury when the damages sought exceeded $50,000, and allowed parties in smaller-dollar cases to request and pay for a 12-person jury.
- After the new law took effect, Butler and other defendants sought to demand a 12-person jury; they asserted the clerk would not accept the fee for a 12-person jury demand because the amended statute allowed only six jurors.
- Defendants jointly moved for leave to file a 12-person jury demand and requested a ruling that the six-juror limitation was unconstitutional under article I, section 13 of the Illinois Constitution, which states that “[t]he right of trial by jury as heretofore enjoyed shall remain inviolate.”
- The parties’ dispute centered on whether the Illinois jury-trial clause preserves, as part of the protected civil jury-trial right, a jury composed of 12 persons.
Issues
- Whether Public Act 98-1132’s amendment to 735 ILCS 5/2-1105(b), requiring that all civil jury cases be tried by a six-person jury, violates article I, section 13 of the Illinois Constitution by eliminating the right to a 12-person civil jury.
- If the six-person requirement is unconstitutional, whether the defendants may file a demand for a 12-person jury and pay the fee for a 12-person jury in this case.
Decision
- The circuit court granted defendants leave to file a demand for a 12-person jury.
- The circuit court held that the statutory mandate limiting civil juries to six persons was unconstitutional under article I, section 13 of the Illinois Constitution.
- The circuit court treated the six-person limitation as void and permitted the case to proceed with a 12-person jury demand.
Legal Principles
- Article I, section 13 preserves the right to trial by jury as it existed at common law and as it was understood when the constitutional provision was adopted; legislation may regulate the mode of exercising the right but may not eliminate a defining part of the right.
- In Illinois civil practice, a common-law jury was understood to consist of 12 persons, and that jury size was part of the jury-trial right protected by the Illinois Constitution’s “as heretofore enjoyed” language.
- A statute that removes the option of a 12-person jury in all civil jury trials conflicts with the state constitutional jury-trial guarantee and cannot stand.
Conclusion
In this Cook County circuit court decision, the court ruled that Illinois’s across-the-board six-person civil jury mandate, enacted through Public Act 98-1132’s amendment to section 2-1105(b), violated the Illinois Constitution’s jury-trial clause because it eliminated the historically protected right to a 12-person civil jury, and the court allowed defendants to file and pay for a 12-person jury demand.