Louisiana had the sixth highest share of personal injury lawsuits per capita among the 50 states during the year ending March 31, with 16.71 lawsuits being filed per 100,000 residents, according to a Florida law firm.
The Law Offices of Anidjar & Levine, a personal injury law firm, reported that Florida posted the most personal injury lawsuits per capita. Floridians filed 28,342 personal injury suits during the 12 months ending March 31, or 127.41 cases per 100,000 residents.
In Louisiana, 767 personal injury lawsuits were filed over that time period. The study found that such lawsuits make up only a small proportion of all civil filings in Louisiana – 6.16%. In comparison, Florida’s personal injury lawsuits make up 62.1% of all the civil complaints filed in the state, according to the law firm’s report.
The states occupying the No. 2 and No. 3 spots in the study were Ohio and New Jersey. Among all 10 states with the highest proportions of personal injury lawsuits, those cases comprised more than 33% of all civil litigation, the report states.
Lana Venable, executive director of Louisiana Lawsuit Abuse Watch (LLAW), a nonprofit group that advocates for civil justice reforms in the state, said she was not familiar with the firm that published the study but that the results come as no surprise.
“Having been named a Judicial Hellhole by the American Tort Reform Foundation for the last 13 years, lawsuit abuse is clearly a problem in Louisiana,” Venable told the Louisiana Record in an email. “For this to change, ‘jackpot justice’ must become a ballot box issue, with the election of policymakers who are willing to address the concerns of their constituents versus the trial bar.”
LLAW is urging Louisiana voters to make civil justice reform a priority issue in the fall elections, she said.
“Lawsuits are no replacement for real, sustainable economic development in every corner of the state,” Venable said.
In the metric of the percentage of personal injury lawsuits compared to all civil litigation, Louisiana came in 34th in the nation, according to the Anidjar & Levine report.