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2024-2025 Dishonorable Mentions

This report’s Dishonorable Mentions generally comprise singularly unsound court decisions, abusive practices or other actions that erode the fairness of a state’s civil justice system and are not otherwise detailed in other sections of the report.

Madison and St. Clair Counties are Plaintiffs’ Preferred Jurisdictions for Asbestos Claims

Two Illinois counties – Madison and St. Clair, in addition to Cook County – have remained hotspots for asbestos claims, attracting plaintiffs from across the country due to their favorable litigation environments.

Plaintiffs’ firms continue to choose this trio of counties as their preferred destination while defendants bear the burden of fighting what are often unsubstantiated claims.

Madison County

Madison County remains the top jurisdiction for asbestos claims nationwide with 905 lawsuits filed in 2023. Through the first seven months of 2024, there were 483 lawsuit filings and the county held onto the top spot.

St. Clair County

St. Clair County has experienced a significant increase in asbestos claims over the last two years. St. Clair County was the second most popular jurisdiction for plaintiffs’ attorneys to file asbestos lawsuits, following Madison County, with 591 filings in 2023 – a 10.5% increase from 2022. St. Clair’s increase in asbestos lawsuits filed in 2024 was even more pronounced. Through July 31, 2024, plaintiffs’ lawyers filed 389 asbestos claims in St. Clair County, marking a 39.4% increase (294 filings) year over year. This is the most significant increase in the nation’s top-10 jurisdictions.

St. Clair County is the most popular county in the country for claims alleging a person’s lung cancer stemmed from asbestos exposure. In 2023, plaintiffs’ lawyers filed 39% of these lung cancer claims in St. Clair County.

Maryland High Court Rejects Proposed Rule 702 Amendment

The Maryland Supreme Court rejected amendments to Rule 5-702, the state’s expert evidence rule, that would have brought Maryland in line with the federal rule. The newly amended federal Rule 702 reinforces the critical role judges serve as gatekeepers that prevent junk science from serving as the basis for litigation. This disappointing development stands in stark contrast to other state courts, as mentioned in the Points of Light section.

Tennessee: A New Hotspot for Abusive Americans with Disabilities Act Litigation

Tennessee has become a hotspot for claims alleging that some aspect of a business, such as a restaurant or retailer, fails to meet accessibility standards under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In 2023, Tennessee ranked 7th in the country for these claims with 134 lawsuits filed. Midway through 2024, plaintiffs’ lawyers had filed 40 more of these lawsuits in Tennessee, placing it on track to remain in the top 10.

According to a recent report compiled by the Tennessee Fuel & Convenience Store Association, a handful of plaintiffs and a single law firm are the driving force behind the significant activity. Wampler, Carroll, Wilson, and Sanderson, a Tennessee plaintiffs’ firm, has partnered with five serial plaintiffs and filed nearly 200 ADA lawsuits in Tennessee over the past few years.

The law firm is reportedly implementing a “shakedown business model” whereby it hires disabled potential plaintiffs to visit businesses in multiple states across the country, including Tennessee. The lawyers then send those targeted businesses with any level of noncompliance a demand letter with a boilerplate complaint and threatens to sue. These demand letters ask for $10,000 in attorney’s fees in exchange for not filing a legal complaint. According to a recent investigative news story, B.J. Wade of Memphis, an attorney for Wample, texted an associate, “We have pursued over 4,000 of these cases across the country and in 90% of cases, we have been successful in requiring the property owners to get in compliance with the ADA.”

If this statement is accurate, these lawyers have brought in as much as $40 million in attorneys’ fees while their clients receive about $200 for each location they visit.