New York: Good, Bad & Ugly
The latest news out of once-and-future judicial hellhole New York, aka “Sue York,” can be described as good, bad and ugly
Judicial Hellholes, Points of Light‘Astronomically High’ Nursing Home Verdict Maintains West Virginia’s ‘Hellhole’ Reputation
A Charleston Daily Mail editorial rightly criticizes a $90.5 million verdict in a lawsuit against a nursing home that alleged negligence in the wrongful death of an 87-year-old woman who suffered from dementia
Judicial HellholesWill Surging Patent Litigation Make Eastern Texas the First Federal Court District to Be Declared a ‘Judicial Hellhole’?
Echoing growing concerns voiced by the high-tech and finanacial service sectors, ATRA president Tiger Joyce’s August 24 letter to the editor in the Wall Street Journal criticizes the patent troll-friendly federal courts in the Eastern District of Texas
Judicial HellholesPunitive Damages Ruling All But Guarantees California Will Repeat As a ‘Judicial Hellhole’
Brushing aside precedents from both the U.S. Supreme Court and its own state supreme court, a California appeals court has affirmed a trial court’s punitive damages award that is 16 times larger than the compensatory damages awarded in a tobacco case
Judicial Hellholes‘Phantom Damages’ Case Pending in California Will Influence State’s ‘Hellhole’ Reputation
California’s high court is expected to render its decision soon in a key “phantom damages” case, and Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters succinctly asseses the importance of the pending decsion
Judicial HellholesTrial Lawyers Plaguing California Small Businesses
If it’s not with phony wheelchair access claims or absurd consumer protection lawsuits, California plaintiffs lawyers also extort money from small businessmen and women by exploiting an environmental law that’s ripe for reform
Judicial HellholesCalifornia Judges Bemoan Court Budget Cuts
A recent Los Angeles Times story reports that judges there are bemoaning sharp budget cuts. Pardon our lack empathy
Judicial HellholesState High Court Puts Mississippi’s ‘Automatic Hellhole’ Case on Hold
Mississippi’s Supreme Court has ordered a stop to all proceedings in an asbestos case that resulted in a record $322 million verdict last May.
Judicial HellholesCalifornia Class Actions May Be Hazardous to Workers’ Health
Reacting to an Associated Press story that circulated over the weekend, the American Tort Reform Association is pointing to health research reported by NPR last week that suggests “California’s latest wave of shameless class actions might enrich lawyers while actaully endangering the health of retail employees”
Judicial HellholesPersonal Injury Lawyers Love New York
Having defeated Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s modest medical liability reform proposals — including a $250,000 limit on noneconomic damages — earlier this year, New York’s trial lawyer-dominated legislature in Albany is now trying to take the already high-liability state’s law in the opposite direction
Judicial HellholesMaryland Lawyer Emulated South Florida Counterparts, Now Faces up to 20 Years in Prison
Borrowing from the playbook of parasitic personal injury lawyers who have made South Florida the auto accident insurance-fraud capital of America, an attorney from Bethesda, Maryland, got in over his head and has been popped in a sting operation
Judicial HellholesKings & Queens of Slip-and-Fall Take Manhattan
For those who keep an eye on the parasitic personal injury bar, it comes as no surprise that the kings and queens of slip-and-fall will gather this July 9-13 for their annual convention in New York City, aka “Sue” York City
Judicial HellholesPA Biz Council Video Urges Enactment of Tort Reforms
As the General Assembly in Harrisburg considers a variety of civil justice reforms, the Pennsylvania Business Council has produced a persuasive YouTube video in support of those reforms
Judicial HellholesAutomatic ‘Hellhole’
By virtue of a single verdict, rural Smith County, Mississippi has vaulted itself into contention for being named a Judicial Hellhole
Judicial HellholesFour ‘Judicial Hellholes’ States Ranked as Worst for Business
No one will be surprised to learn that four states notorious for their Judicial Hellholes and Watch List jurisdictions — California, New York, Illinois and New Jersey — have been ranked by corporate CEOs as the worst in the nation for doing business
Judicial HellholesWheelchair-Bound Woman in Texas Aids and Abets ADA Scam Artist Based in Florida
Past Judicial Hellholes reporting has documented ADA scam artists in California, Florida and elsewhere. But now Dallas-Fort Worth’s WFAA-TV reports that the scourge has spread to the Lone Star State, with help from a camera-shy shyster in the Sunshine State
Judicial Hellholes‘Gold’ Medal for Chutzpah: DUI Defense Lawyer Sues Miami Strip Club, Says He Was Too Drunk to Be Responsible for Huge Tab
South Florida drunk-driver defense lawyer Mark Gold is suing a strip club, claiming to have been too drunk one evening last November to be held legally responsible for the nearly $19,000 tab he rang up
Judicial HellholesRuling by Thin-Skinned Judge Furthers Madison County’s Reputation As a ‘Judicial Hellhole’
A thin-skinned Madison County judge has been baited by a crafty plaintiffs’ lawyer into ordering into evidence irrelevant but plaintiff-friendly “evidence” in an important Illinois environmental case, further cementing the rural county’s reputation among the least fair jurisdictions in the nation
Judicial HellholesFlorida Lawyer Featured in ‘Rogues Gallery’ Suspended for Three Years
The Florida Supreme Court has suspended for three years the license of a plaintiff’s attorney featured in the Rogues Gallery section of the latest Judicial Hellholes report
Judicial HellholesClass Action Targeting Taco Bell Withers Like Shredded Lettuce under a Heat Lamp
The Alabama law firm headed by tort kingpin Jere Beasley has withdrawn its would-be class action against Taco Bell filed in California last January.
Judicial HellholesJudge Dempsey’s Home-Cookin’ Has Rural Alabama County Poised for Judicial Hellholes Ignominy
With his recent home-job handling of a specious lawsuit brought by a local manufacturer against an out-of-state software company, Franklin County Circuit Court Judge Terry Dempsey appears singlehandedly determined to qualify his rural Alabama jurisdiction as the next notorious Judicial Hellhole
Judicial Hellholes