Jurisdiction in a libel case

[gfrideric]

What is the name of your state? Illinois

I am a Canadian resident who has been libelled in an academic quarterly published in Illinois. I have already filed a Notice of Action here, but I am wondering whether it
might be advantageous or possible to pursue it in Illinois instead. One advantage of pursuing libel actions here is that Ontario law is more favourable to the plaintiff than US law, but I believe that the libel is so blatant that it would count as libel in any jurisdiction (the libeller repeatedly misquotes me in a manner that makes it appear that I am incompetent, unprofessional, pursuing a hidden agenda and possibly a Holocaust denier. I am not a public figure, unless having published a book makes me one, and even then - there is practically not a true statement in the review, so I think "reckless diregard" would be easy to demonstrate.)

Taking that as given, I need to know:
(1) what is the statute of limitations for such actions in Illinois? (In Ontario it is two years, and I am about a month short of the deadline)
(2) since the libel appeared, I have repeatedly been turned down for jobs for which I was obviously qualified, and sales of my book (of which the libellous article was a review) have plummeted from 1300 in the year before the libel appeared to 74 in the first full year after. I am presently unemployed and seem unlikely to be able to find work in my profession again. In the academic world, unemployment is a self-perpetuating condition: once you have not been working for a while, your references become stale, it's hard to keep up with your field, etc.

The libellous review is the only negative review that had been published within the relevant time-frame: all other reviews have been highly positive and the book has won two prizes, so I don't know what else could be responsible for my lack of success.

Is that sufficient to prove damages, or do I have to prove some direct link between the libel and the consequences, e.g. find someone on an academic hiring committee who will say they didn't hire me because they read the review? In Ontario, damages are automatic when someone's professional competence has been attacked, but the awards tend to be much smaller than in the US.

I am thinking of $2 million, which is the approximate present value of my earnings from 2004 until my expected age of death, plus punitive and exemplary damages. (The editor of the journal behaved badly as well, and no retraction or even response was ever published.)

That would probably be infeasible in Ontario - I would expect to end up with $100,000 plus costs, at most. Would it be considered a reasonable award in Illinois?

Finally, I have limited means, although I might be able to borrow from friends. Another solution would be to find an attorney who would be prepared to take the case on a contingency basis, which here is archaically considered unethical: would anyone in Illinois be prepared to do it on that basis?

US Law Only - WHEN POSTING A QUESTION, YOU MUST INCLUDE THE NAME OF YOUR STATE