12/29/2013
The American Tort Reform Association recently issued its 2013-14 Judicial Hellholes report. As before, the report lists the worst places in the country to be sued, according to submissions made to ATRA during the year from those who have experienced those troubles first-hand.
The entire states of California and West Virginia come in first and second as the very worst, followed by New York City and Albany, Madison County, Illinois, and Baltimore. Baltimore is new to the list, and appears because of its expanding asbestos class action docket. Philadelphia, which led the worst for two years, has fallen to ATRA’s Watch List, since it has improved some of its venue rules to deter plaintiffs whose claims have nothing to do with the city. ATRA takes credit for prompting these changes, and its publicizing Philadelphia as a Hellhole seems to have made a real difference. Others on the Watch List have been on it before: South Florida, Nevada, Louisiana, New Jersey, and Cook County, Illinois. ATRA goes out of its way to praise state supreme court decisions in a handful of states and adds a list this year of the best and worst federal appellate court decisions in civil litigation.
Here is a link to the latest report: http://www.judicialhellholes.org/2013-2014/