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After winning the World Series in 2006, the St. Louis Cardinals stumbled for four seasons before righting the ship and recapturing the crown this past season. A similar pattern has occurred across the river from Busch Stadium, though unfortunately this news from the metro-east will provoke hand wringing. not hand clapping.

The year 2006 was the last time Madison and St. Clair counties were infamously ranked among the nation’s worst “judicial hellholes.” But after four years of relative improvements in the fairness of the judicial systems, the counties have landed back on the list of the nation’s worst “judicial hellholes” in the latest annual rankings by the American Tort Reform Foundation.

Madison and St. Clair counties were jointly ranked as the nation’s fifth worst “judicial hellhole.” ATRF defines a “judicial hellhole” as “a place where judges systematically apply laws and court procedures in an unfair and unbalanced manner.”

We saw a good example of this unfairness and imbalance earlier this month. The asbestos trial docket for Madison County for 2013 was set on Dec. 1 by Judge Barbara Crowder, and she awarded a whopping 82 percent of those future trial slots to three personal injury lawyer firms. On Dec. 5 and 6, those three firms gave Crowder’s campaign committee a total of $30,000.

It’s bad enough that this looks like a quid pro quo, but it’s just as bad that Crowder reserved all those 2013 trial slots for cases that haven’t even been filed.

This kind of questionable behavior encourages personal injury lawyers to file lawsuits in Madison County — even lawsuits that have nothing to do with the metro-east. The “judicial hellholes” report found that only about one in 10 of Madison County’s asbestos cases have any connection to the area, with most plaintiffs living in other states.

Being ranked as one of the worst places in the country for legal fairness may encourage personal injury lawyers to flock here, but it will just as likely keep new employers away. Businesses expand or relocate in places where the legal system is considered fair and balanced, so returning to “judicial hellhole” status will undoubtedly impede job growth efforts at a time when new jobs are desperately needed.

After the lawyers’ campaign contributions to Crowder were revealed, she was removed from overseeing the asbestos docket. Very soon, voters will have a chance to render their own verdicts on Madison and St. Clair County judges who have allowed metro-east courts to relapse into “judicial hellholes.”

Judges as well as judicial candidates on the ballot in 2012 will be pressed to spell out what they will do to strengthen reforms and restore fairness to metro-east courts. Good judges matter, and making the metro-east a more attractive place for job growth depends on a fair judiciary.

Down-ballot judicial elections often get overlooked, but climbing back out of the “judicial hellhole” and bringing jobs and opportunities back to the metro-east depends on voters placing a high priority on these elections.

Though we may all wish for a World Series repeat, let’s hope a “judicial hellholes” repeat is not in the cards.

Travis Akin is executive director of Illinois Lawsuit Abuse Watch (I-LAW), a grass-roots watchdog group dedicated to educating the public about the widespread costs of lawsuit abuse.