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Year: 2017-2018

2017-2018 Executive Summary

The 2017-2018 Judicial Hellholes report shines its brightest spotlight on eight jurisdictions or courts that have earned reputations as Judicial Hellholes. Some are known for welcoming litigation tourism or as hotbeds for asbestos litigation, and in all of them too many judges seem more eager to expand civil liability than to respect precedent and the policy-making authority of duly elected lawmakers.

Louisiana

The Pelican State’s legal climate has suffered at the hands of powerful trial attorneys and the politicians they have controlled

Madison and Cook Counties, Illinois

Madison and Cook counties have become perennial Judicial Hellholes known for disproportionate volumes of litigation and large verdicts. Plaintiff-friendly judges

New Jersey

In Roman mythology, Janus was a two-faced god that controlled transitions and time, at once looking forward while also reflecting on the

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas has long been a national center for product liability litigation. The court’s Complex Litigation

NYCAL

Since 2013 the Judicial Hellholes report has faithfully if discouragingly reported on the brazenly plaintiff-favoring ways of New York City’s Asbestos Litigation

St. Louis, Missouri

As Bloomberg has reported, City of St. Louis courts are known for “fast trials, favorable rulings, and big awards.” But by virtue of

California

If most lawmakers in Sacramento and the reliably generous plaintiffs’ lawyers who write campaign checks to keep them there can

Florida

The Florida Supreme Court’s liability-expanding decisions and barely contained contempt for the lawmaking authority of legislators and the governor have

2019 Judicial Hellhole Report

Every year we shine a light on the worst of the worst. Since its inception in 2002, the American Tort Reform Foundation’s Judicial Hellholes® program has documented in annually published reports various abuses within the civil justice system, focusing primarily on jurisdictions where courts have been radically out of balance.

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