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Lawsuit Climate 2008 Fast Facts

2008 Top Ten States		2008 Bottom Ten States
1.	Delaware	50.	West Virginia
2.	Nebraska	49.	Louisiana
3.	Maine	48.	Mississippi
4.	Indiana	47.	Alabama
5.	Utah	46.	Illinois
6.	Virginia	45.	Hawaii
7.	Iowa	44.	California
8.	Vermont	43.	South Carolina
9.	Colorado	42.	Florida
10.	Kansas	41.	Texas

• Lawsuit Climate 2008: Ranking the States is the result of an annual assessment of state liability systems conducted by Harris Interactive, a leading nonpartisan market research firm, for the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform. Now in its seventh year, the report explores how reasonable and fair the tort liability system is perceived to be by U.S. business based on survey of 957 senior litigators at America's largest employers. It is the preeminent standard by which companies, policymakers and the media measure the lawsuit climate in the states.
• Delaware retains the top-ranked spot, a position it has held since the inception of the survey, but other states are closing in, reflecting a growing concern in the national business community about the migration of out-of-state asbestos lawsuits into the First State.
• For the third year in a row, West Virginia is ranked dead last – 50th – in part because of the state legislature's repeated failure to enact meaningful and comprehensive legal reform legislation, and in part because West Virginia courts are among the most anti-business in the country. However, West Virginia's improving scores acknowledge incremental legal reforms backed by Governor Manchin.
• Nearly two-thirds (63%) of those surveyed report that the litigation environment in a state is likely to impact important business decisions at their company, such as where to locate or expand their business.
• Survey respondents were asked which five local jurisdictions have the least fair and reasonable litigation environments. The five worst local jurisdictions are: Los Angeles; Chicago/Cook County, IL; Texas (other mentions), New York Greater Metropolitan Region and Madison County, IL.
• Respondents reported that the most important legal reform issues that state policymakers should focus on to improve economic development are: speeding up the trial process (12% of respondents); reform of punitive damages (10%); eliminate unnecessary lawsuits (9%); timeliness of decisions (9%); tort reform issues in general (8%); and caps/limits on damages, settlements and jury awards (7%).
• Respondents were asked to give states a grade ("A", "B", "C", "D" or "F") in each of the following areas: having and enforcing meaningful venue requirements; overall treatment of tort and contract litigation; treatment of class action suits and mass consolidation suits,; punitive damages; timeliness of summary judgment or dismissal; discovery; scientific and technical evidence; non-economic damages; judges' impartiality and competence; and juries' predictability and fairness.