In Palos Community Hospital v. Humana, Inc., 2021 IL 126008, the Illinois Supreme Court eliminated the common-law doctrine that a party cannot exercise its statutory right to move to substitute a judge after the party has “tested the waters” to see how the judge might rule.

Having found that the trial court improperly relied on the doctrine to deny a motion to substitute a judge, the Supreme Court vacated all orders after the motion was denied, including the judgment entered after a jury verdict.