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Year: 2018-2019

2018-2019 Executive Summary

The 2018 – 2019 Judicial Hellholes report shines its brightest spotlight on nine jurisdictions, courts or legislatures that have earned reputations as Judicial Hellholes. Some are known for welcoming litigation tourism or as hotbeds for asbestos litigation, and in all of them state leadership seems eager to expand civil liability.

Twin Cities, Minnesota

Troubling trends in Twin Cities courtrooms, unprincipled actions by Minnesota’s attorney general and multiple vetoes of commonsense reforms by Governor

New Jersey Legislature

In 2018, the New Jersey legislature distinguished itself as the most plaintiff-friendly legislature in the country. It immediately looked to

Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas

The Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas continues to be a national epicenter for product liability litigation. The court’s Complex Litigation

Louisiana

The Pelican State once again appears on this year’s Judicial Hellholes list largely due to former plaintiffs’ attorney and now

#4 The City of St. Louis, Missouri

The optimism for restoring balance in the City of St. Louis’s legal environment described in last year’s report quickly evaporated in 2018

New York City

Since 2013, the Judicial Hellholes report has focused on the brazenly plaintiff-favoring ways of the New York City Asbestos Litigation court

Florida

Florida has not only experienced a series of devastating hurricanes over the past year, but also a storm of unsound

California

A perennial Judicial Hellhole, California has once again regained its position atop the Judicial Hellholes list after a two-year hiatus.

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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