Louisiana finished seventh on the American Tort Reform Foundation’s new Judicial Hellholes report, a slight improvement over last year’s report but an indication to tort reform supporters that more reforms are necessary.
The 2022-23 report from ATRF ranks what it considers to be the most unjust local courts and state civil justice systems in the nation. This year’s report marks the 13th year that Louisiana jurisdictions have been named.
“Despite some recent legal reform successes at the state level, Louisiana is down only one spot from last year, ranking as the seventh-worst Judicial Hellhole in the U.S. in 2022-23,” Lana Venable, executive director of Louisiana Lawsuit Abuse Watch (LLAW), said in an email to the Louisiana Record.
As a result of excessive costs associated with civil litigation, Louisianans pay a “tort tax” exceeding $1,000 annually, and the state loses $4.7 billion in economic activity and 46,302 jobs each year, LLAW said in a statement.
Among the criticisms of Louisiana court decisions cited by ATRF is a state appeals court’s ruling that allowed a plaintiff to receive business-interruption compensation from an insurer as a result of restaurant shutdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal decided in August that Oceana Grill in New Orleans should see its coronavirus losses covered through its business-interruption policy from Underwriters at Lloyds.
Similar pandemic-losses lawsuits around the nation have been tossed out, according to ATRF.
“Obviously, requiring insurers to pay for widespread shutdowns that were not contemplated by the policy would lead to higher insurance rates for all,” the report says.
The state’s Judiciary Commission was another target of ATRF criticism. Louisiana continues to have a problem with a lack of transparency about judicial misconduct, according to ATRF, which noted that as a result of current rules, the public remains unaware of allegations of judicial misconduct unless the commission decides to take formal actions.
Ongoing coastal erosion lawsuits by parishes continue to bog down the state’s energy industry, ATRF reported. The parishes’ litigation is directed at more than 200 energy companies in Louisiana, with potential damages reaching into the billions of dollars.
The lawsuits are bankrupting marine service companies, killing jobs and reducing the tax revenues the state receives on energy production, the report states.