WASHINGTON, DC, December 14, 2006 – Naming the entire state of West Virginia, South Florida, Southeast Texas and three notoriously plaintiff-friendly counties in Illinois, the American Tort Reform Foundation (ATRF) today released its annual Judicial Hellholes ® report, shining a bright spotlight on “America’s worst jurisdictions in which to face a lawsuit.”

 

American Tort Reform Association president Sherman Joyce explained to a gathering of reporters in Washington that “Judicial Hellholes are places where judges systematically apply laws and court procedures in an unfair and unbalanced manner, generally against defendants, in civil lawsuits.

 

“What many will find interesting about this year’s report is that the top six Hellholes are in states that recently enacted significant tort reforms, yet a handful of judges are either ignoring those reforms or otherwise abusing their discretion to distort cases in favor of plaintiffs.”

 

Joyce acknowledged that the Judicial Hellholes 2006 report “cites some repeat offenders, but we also single out some first-timers on our ‘Watch List’ and among the ‘Dishonorable Mentions.’ And the report’s ‘Points of Light’ include several jurisdictions that have considerably improved civil justice, particularly when it comes to containing scandalous asbestos litigation.”

 

ATRA general counsel Victor Schwartz noted that the fifth annual Hellholes report highlights several important trends. “Overall, the type of extraordinary and blatant unfairness that sparked the Judicial Hellholes project and characterized the report over the past few years has decreased across-the-board,” Schwartz said. “This improvement is a shared result of shining the spotlight on litigation abuse and the wise corrections by both the judicial and legislative branches of state governments.

 

“Thanks to actions by some local judges and rulings by the Illinois Supreme Court,” continued Schwartz, “perhaps the most encouraging improvement can be found in perennial Hellhole Madison County, Illinois.”

 

“But make no mistake, the danger of regression persists and is very real,” Schwartz cautioned. “New leadership at the organization formerly known as the Association of Trial Lawyers of America has pledged to undertake a massive political and public relations campaign. We’re already seeing a post-election effort to rollback reasonable reforms and undermine the fairness and predictability of our civil justice system. Expect personal injury lawyers to fight for expansions of liability with so-called ‘consumer protection’ lawsuits and public nuisance actions, among other troubling tactics.”

 

Joyce and Schwartz went on to discuss in detail the report’s rationale for citing the various jurisdictions as it does. All those details are available in the full Judicial Hellholes 2006 report posted at www.atra.org.

 

Hellholes

1. West Virginia

2. South Florida

3. Rio Grande Valley and Gulf Coast of Texas

4. Cook County, Illinois

5. Madison County, Illinois

6. St. Clair County, Illinois

Watch List

• Miller County, Arkansas

• Los Angeles County, California

• San Francisco, California

• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

• Orleans Parish, Louisiana

• Delaware

Dishonorable Mentions

• Providence, Rhode Island

• Massachusetts Supreme Court

• Louisiana Supreme Court

• New Jersey

• Nebraska Supreme Court

• California Legislature

Points of Light

• Illinois Supreme Court

• California Appellate Court

• Florida Legislature

• Various State Legislatures and Courts

• Oregon Trial Court

 

“By issuing this report each year, ATRF hopes to educate the public and the media who, in turn, will persuade Hellholes courts to provide equal justice under the law,” Joyce concluded.

 

Click Here to Hear an Audio Interview with Tiger Joyce

 

Click Here to Download Judicial Hellholes 2006