WASHINGTON, D.C., December 13, 2012 – With a sizeable majority of Americans concerned that an unbalanced civil justice system and excessive liability hurt economic growth, job creation and U.S. competitiveness, the American Tort Reform Association today released its 11th annual Judicial Hellholes® Report, documenting abuses of the civil justice system in jurisdictions it says are among the most unfair and out-of-balance in the nation, including several along the Gulf Coast.
Civil courts in California top the 2012-2013 rankings of Judicial Hellholes, replacing courts in Philadelphia that, after previously ranking #1 for two consecutive years, have undertaken encouraging reforms.
“Reforms in Tallahassee also have improved the situation in South Florida,” began ATRA president Tiger Joyce, “the latest being needed changes to the state’s no-fault auto insurance coverage law, which had previously enabled certain personal injury lawyers and questionable clinics to defraud the system and make Florida’s insurance rates among highest in the country.
“But Florida still has its problems,” Joyce continued, “such as gamesmanship of the state’s bad faith law. And the outcome of a pending challenge to the state’s limit on noneconomic damages in medical liability cases, which has particularly improved access to healthcare in South Florida, will influence how this jurisdiction is cited in next year’s Judicial Hellholes report.”
Another state working to reform its historically plaintiff-friendly ways, says Joyce, is Louisiana. “‘Legacy’ lawsuit abuse that has so damaged the Pelican State’s important onshore energy production industry was finally reined in this year with compromise legislation, and a modest venue reform also was enacted.”
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