WASHINGTON – Louisiana's move up to the No. 4 spot in the nation on this year's American Tort Reform Association's Judicial Hellholes list, blamed largely on re-elected Gov. John Bel Edwards, wasn't a surprise to a tort reform advocate earlier today.
Edwards isn't the only problem that keeps Louisiana on the annual list, Louisiana Lawsuit Abuse Watch Executive Director Lana Sonnier Venable said in an email statement.
"The report highlights the worst local courts and states for abuses of the civil justice system, with the top 10 Judicial Hellholes filled with widespread civil lawsuits, legislative loopholes that create more ways for lawyers to sue, and judges who allow junk science into evidence in trials," Venable said. "Judicial Hellholes have civil justice climates that allow abuse and starkly contrast the rest of the nation. Judicial Hellholes swing open the door for trial lawyers to sue for more money over more issues."
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, with his dog "Bandit" in a September photo
| twitter.com/louisianagov
This year, Louisiana placed behind No. 1 Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas and its "astounding $8 billion product liability verdict in 2019," No. 2 California and its "burdensome" Proposition 65 law that "is exploited by the plaintiffs' bar" and No. 3 New York. New York's ranking came as its tort-reform minded "Scaffold-Law" continued to stall, ATRA said in the executive summary for its rankings this year.
ATRA issued its first Judicial Hellholes list in 2002 to annually publish various abuses within the civil justice system, then largely focusing on jurisdictions where courts have been radically out of balance. The report has since expanded to include the growing influence of legislative and executive branches of government on the courts and areas where a lack of tort reform is creating huge payouts for venue shopping trial and plaintiff's attorneys.
Louisiana was on ATRA's "watch list" in 2011 and rose to the top of ATRA's national rankings in 2013. The state fell to the No. 2 the following year and was No. 8 in the nation on the 2017 ranking but rose to No. 5 last year:
Louisiana's continued high ranking on the ATRA Judicial Hellhole list could be viewed as a simply statement of the obvious in a state widely viewed as the most corrupt state in the nation.
ATRA placed the blame for Louisiana's place as a judicial hellhole this year squarely on Edwards, who last month won a second term despite a Wall Street Journal report a few weeks prior that blamed the governor for his part in turning Louisiana into a "trial lawyer state."
"The state of Louisiana, led by Governor John Bel Edwards, has developed a propensity to hire former campaign donors to represent the state in litigation," ATRA said about the state's ranking on this year's report. "Rampant lawsuit abuse is driving up the cost of auto insurance. The legislature has failed to address these problems. Judicial misconduct by Louisiana judges also dominated the news cycles in 2019."
The impact in Louisiana is easy to measure, Venable said.
"Lawsuit abuse harms average, hardworking Americans by clogging our court system with meritless and frivolous cases, taking dollars away from research and development of new consumer products, driving up insurance costs, and driving away jobs," she said.