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Category: Judicial Hellholes

ATRA Disappointed Again by Alabama High Court's Unprecedented ‘Innovator Liability’ Decision

As the Supreme Court of Alabama on Friday reaffirmed its earlier, first-and-only-in-the-nation state high court embrace of an expansive theory of civil liability known as “innovator liability,” the American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) condemned the 6-3 decision, saying “the court majority denies the broader and dangerous implications of this decision, but it’s as disappointing as the first”

Judicial Hellholes

7th Circuit Serves Harsh Ethics Lesson on Chicago Shyster, Father-in-Law

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit tossed out a “scandalous” settlement stemming from a Pella window consumer protection class action suit that would have paid the plaintiffs’ attorneys $11 million up front, with $2 million going to the ethically-challenged lead counsel. It’s just one more example of how state Consumer Protection Acts are abused

Judicial Hellholes

Cowardly NY Governor Admits Political Impotence, Calls Trial Lawyers 'Most Powerful' Force in State

After spending millions of taxpayer dollars on a delusional national advertising campaign aimed at bringing start-up businesses to a dying state controlled by personal injury lawyers (who in their right mind would bring a business to such a state?), New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has now admitted that those lawyers dominate state politics and he is powerless to push through a popular reform bill that actually could boost redevelopment efforts

Judicial Hellholes

Louisiana’s Buddy System Suffers a Loss: State High Court Overturns $331M Judgment

Louisiana’s Supreme Court this week landed a solid blow against the state’s notorious “Buddy System,” wherein state Attorney General James “Buddy” Caldwell hires his friends among the personal injury bar to sue deep-pocket corporate defendants on behalf of the state so they can collect big fees and, in turn, generously contribute to his next political campaign.

Judicial Hellholes, Points of Light

PA High Court Embraces Negligent Design Defect; Invites New Run on Reforming Philly Courts

Perhaps inviting a new stampede of speculative and opportunistic litgation on the courts of the former #1 Judicial Hellhole, Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court last week ruled in Lance v. Wyeth that pharmaceutical companies can now be held liable for “negligent design defect” — a theory of liability not previously available to plaintiffs in the Keystone State

Judicial Hellholes, Uncategorized

2019 Judicial Hellhole Report

Every year we shine a light on the worst of the worst. Since its inception in 2002, the American Tort Reform Foundation’s Judicial Hellholes® program has documented in annually published reports various abuses within the civil justice system, focusing primarily on jurisdictions where courts have been radically out of balance.

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