A Williamson County jury agreed, and a judge in 1999 awarded the plaintiffs $456.6 million in damages for breach of contract, $600 million in punitive damages for violating the Illinois Consumer Fraud Act and disgorgement damages of $130 million.

An appeals court later tossed out the disgorgement damages.

While the company’s appeal was pending in front of the Illinois Supreme Court, the lawsuit claims State Farm “exerted financial and political influence” to elect Lloyd Karmeier to that court.

The suit claims State Farm, acting through the Illinois Civil Justice League, recruited Karmeier and funneled as much as $4 million to his campaign, and later lied about the effort.

Nine months after his 2004 election, Karmeier voted to overturn the judgment. Clifford said that Karmeier denied both knowing about his contributors and voting based on them. He sat for a deposition and was scheduled to testify this week, which Clifford called unprecedented.