{"id":994,"date":"2023-12-06T12:06:23","date_gmt":"2023-12-06T16:06:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/classactiondefense\/?p=994"},"modified":"2023-12-06T12:06:23","modified_gmt":"2023-12-06T16:06:23","slug":"the-2023-2024-judicial-hellholes-report-from-the-american-tort-reform-association-ranks-the-worst-jurisdictions-for-defendants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/classactiondefense\/2023\/12\/06\/the-2023-2024-judicial-hellholes-report-from-the-american-tort-reform-association-ranks-the-worst-jurisdictions-for-defendants\/","title":{"rendered":"The 2023-2024 Judicial Hellholes Report From The American Tort Reform Association Ranks The Worst Jurisdictions For Defendants"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr. and Jennifer A. Riley<\/strong><\/p>\n

Duane Morris Takeaways<\/em><\/strong>: Annually<\/em> the American Tort Reform Association (\u201cATRA\u201d) publishes its \u201cJudicial Hellholes Report,\u201d focusing on litigation issues and identifying jurisdictions likely to have unfair and biased administration of justice. The ATRA recently published its 2023-2024 Report and <\/em>for the first time in the history of the report, the ATRA ranked two jurisdictions at the top of the list \u2013 both Georgia and Pennsylvania, specifically the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas<\/em> \u2013 as the most challenging<\/em> venues for <\/em>defendants. Readers can find a copy\u00a0<\/em>here\u00a0<\/a><\/em>and the executive summary\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Judicial Hellholes Report is an important read for corporate counsel facing class action litigation because it identifies jurisdictions that are generally unfavorable to defendants. The Report defines a \u201cjudicial hellhole\u201d as a jurisdiction where judges in civil cases systematically apply laws and procedures in an unfair and unbalanced manner, generally to the disadvantage of defendants. The Report is a \u201cmust read\u201d for anyone litigating class actions and making decisions about venue strategy.<\/p>\n

The 2023 Hellholes<\/strong><\/p>\n

In its recently released annual report, the ATRA identified 9 jurisdictions on its 2023 hellholes list \u2013 which, in order, include, tied at number one: (1) Georgia \u2013 (the defending \u201cchampion\u201d from the top of the 2022 list, with massive verdicts bogging down business and more liability expanding decisions issued by the Georgia Supreme Court); and (1) Pennsylvania (especially in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas and the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania); (3) Cook County (as a \u201cno-injury required\u201d hotspot and lawsuits stemming from the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act); (4) California (with Proposition 65 lawsuits thriving and a huge overall volume of lawsuits, in addition to Private Attorney General Act (PAGA) litigation, lemon law litigation, and environmental hotbed); (5) New York (with \u201cno-injury\u201d consumer class action lawsuits and massive verdicts); (6) South Carolina (particularly in asbestos litigation, with problems related to bias against corporate defendants, unwarranted sanctions, low evidentiary requirements, liability expanding rulings, unfair trials, severe verdicts, and a willingness to overturn or modify jury verdicts to benefit plaintiffs); (7) Lansing, Michigan (particularly due to liability-expanding decisions by the Michigan Supreme Court and pro-plaintiff legislative activity); (8) Louisiana (with long-running costal litigation and insurance claim fraud litigation); and (9) St. Louis, Missouri (with focuses on junk science in the courtrooms and nuclear verdicts).<\/p>\n

According to the ATRA\u2019s analysis, these venues are less than optimal for corporate defendants and often attract plaintiffs\u2019 attorneys, particularly for the filing of class action lawsuits. Therefore, corporate counsel should take particular care if they encounter a class action lawsuit filed in one of these venues.<\/p>\n

The 2024 \u201cWatch List\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

The ATRA also included 3 jurisdictions on its \u201cwatch list,\u201d including Kentucky (the ATRA noted that Kentucky, as a newcomer to the list, has been reported as having some lawyers resorting to unethical measures to secure wins); New Jersey (with a powerful trial bar), and Texas (particularly the Court of Appeals for the Fifth District, which the ATRA opined has developed a reputation for being pro-plaintiff and pro-liability expansion).<\/p>\n

In addition, the ATRA recognized that several jurisdictions made significant positive improvements this year, highlighting decisions by the New Hampshire and Delaware Supreme Courts, which rejected no-injury medical monitoring claims, the New Jersey Appellate Court, which discarded improper expert testimony, the Texas Supreme Court, which rejected manipulation of juries, and the West Virginia Supreme Court, which placed reasonable limits on employer liability.<\/p>\n

In addition to court actions, the ATRA also stated that nine state legislatures enacted positive civil justice reforms this year.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Implications For Employers<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Judicial Hellholes Report often mirrors the experience of companies in high-stakes class actions, as Georgia, Pennsylvania, Illinois, California, New York, South Carolina, Michigan, Louisiana, and Missouri are among the leading states where plaintiffs\u2019 lawyers file class actions. These jurisdictions are linked by class certification standards that are more plaintiff-friendly and more generous damages recovery possibilities under state laws.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr. and Jennifer A. Riley Duane Morris Takeaways: Annually the American Tort Reform Association (\u201cATRA\u201d) publishes its \u201cJudicial Hellholes Report,\u201d focusing on litigation issues and identifying jurisdictions likely to have unfair and biased administration of justice. The ATRA recently published its 2023-2024 Report and for the first time in the history … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “The 2023-2024 Judicial Hellholes Report From The American Tort Reform Association Ranks The Worst Jurisdictions For Defendants”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":575,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[7,9],"class_list":["post-994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"authors":[{"term_id":7,"user_id":575,"is_guest":0,"slug":"gmaatman","display_name":"Gerald L. Maatman, Jr.","avatar_url":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/classactiondefense\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/09\/maatmangerald-100x100.jpg","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""},{"term_id":9,"user_id":576,"is_guest":0,"slug":"jariley","display_name":"Jennifer A. Riley","avatar_url":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/classactiondefense\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/08\/rileyjennifer-100x100.jpg","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/classactiondefense\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/classactiondefense\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/classactiondefense\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/classactiondefense\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/575"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/classactiondefense\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=994"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/classactiondefense\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/994\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/classactiondefense\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/classactiondefense\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/classactiondefense\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=994"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/classactiondefense\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}