State Lawsuit Climate Report

ILR’s Lawsuit Climate report explores how reasonable and balanced the states’ tort liability systems are perceived to be by U.S. business.

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News & Insights

Angelos Plan to Combine Asbestos Suits Fails

A Baltimore judge rejected a plan by the Angelos law firm that would have consolidated more than 10,000 asbestos-related claims, calling the proposal "entirely too vague and unsupported to inspire confidence." Read More »

 
 

Featured Resources

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  • Economic Consequences: The Real Costs of U.S. Securities Class Action Litigation

    The recent decision of the U.S. Supreme Court to hear an appeal in Halliburton v. Erica P. John Fund has revived the questions about the societal utility of securities fraud class action lawsuits. Since the passage of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (PSLRA) in 1995, thousands of such class action lawsuits have been filed alleging trillions in shareholder damages. The principal argument in support of the current system of private securities class action litigation, typically advanced by the securities class action plaintiffs' attorneys whose fees are contingent on the size of any recovery, is that this type of litigation provides a significant benefit to their clients by winning billions of dollars in settlements from companies to be distributed back to allegedly harmed investors....Read More

  • Frequent Filers: The Problems of Shareholder Lawsuits and the Path to Reform

    Frequent filers - professional plaintiff investors who file lawsuit after lawsuit - have been a long-standing phenomenon in shareholder litigation in both state and federal courts. Nearly twenty years ago, Congress attempted to remove professional plaintiffs from federal securities class actions by adopting the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (PSLRA) of 1995. Yet, this legislation fell short of achieving its goal of eliminating professional plaintiffs....Read More

  • What's Wrong with Securities Class Action Lawsuits?

    The Halliburton v. Erica P. John Fund case now before the Supreme Court involves the validity of the "fraud on the market" principle, which relieves a plaintiff of the obligation to prove reliance on a false statement - a legally required element of securities fraud - by creating a presumption of reliance based on economic theories regarding the assumed efficiency of securities markets....Read More

 

legal reform summit 201314th Annual Legal Reform Summit


October 23, 2013 | Washington DC.

The US Chamber Institute for Legal Reform held our signature Annual Legal Reform Summit on October, 23, 2013, ‘Healing the U.S. Lawsuit System’. We had a steller line-up of experts providing remedies to help heal the U.S. lawsuit system.

Some of the topics discussed included False Claims Act reforms, closing class action loopholes, emerging litigation trends, improving the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the effect of U.S. – style litigation across the globe, and privacy in the digital age. Click here to view the summits related videos and topical research materials.

                                                                                                           Save the Date: The 15th Annual Legal Reform Summit will be held on October 21st, 2014.