Lana Sonnier Venable of Louisiana Lawsuit Abuse Watch (LLAW) examined lawsuit abuse in Louisiana in a recent report published on DailyCaller website.
The article said the cost of the legal system to American families is approximately $3,329 per household yet only about 57 percent of expenditures are being spent on plaintiff expenditures.
Venable said Louisiana is one of the worst judicial hellholes in the country, having been voted in the top five worst in the American Tort Reform Foundation's report for 2018-19. A study published by LLAW in October said the civil justice system in Louisiana was costing $1.1 billion in annual direct costs a year.
Tyler Gray, president LMOGA
| Courtesy of LMOGA
Additionally, over 40 judges in Louisiana have been publicly disciplined after they were found to have violated oaths and abused authority and at least 10 have been removed or have resigned from their appointments because of judicial misconduct since 2000.
Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association President Tyler Gray recently discussed the issue with the Louisiana Record and talked about what needs to be done to revive the broken judicial system.
“The LLAW report reiterates what Louisiana’s oil and gas industry has experienced first-hand," Gray said.
For companies closely tied to the energy industries, these lawsuits are costing more than just money as attorneys have begun to prey on the oil and gas industry, resulting in potential damages to some of the biggest job providers in the state. As part of a well-established energy industry-related association, Gray said the industry has had to face threats of lawsuits from lawyers alleging that the operations of the companies is harming the environment.
"For Louisiana to be successful, our state needs policies that will improve our broken legal climate and create a better environment for all businesses to operate," Gray said.