Lawsuit Climate 2010 Fast Facts
| 2008 Top Ten States | 2008 Bottom Ten States | ||
|---|---|---|---|
|
1. |
Delaware |
50. |
West Virginia |
|
2. |
North Dakota |
49. |
Louisiana |
|
3. |
Nebraska |
48. |
Mississippi |
|
4. |
Indiana |
47. |
Alabama |
|
5. |
Iowa |
46. |
California |
|
6. |
Virginia |
45. |
Illinois |
|
7. |
Utah |
44. |
Arkansas |
|
8. |
Colorado |
43. |
Montana |
|
9. |
Massachusetts |
42. |
Florida |
|
10. |
South Dakota |
41. |
New Mexico |
- Lawsuit Climate 2010: Ranking the States is the result of an 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 its eighth edition, the report explores how reasonable and fair the tort liability system is perceived to be by U.S. business based on survey of 1,482 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, and increased its overall score by 5.7 points from the previous survey (77.2 in 2010 from 71.5 in 2008).
- For the fourth survey 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 because state courts are among the most anti-business in the country.
- California’s lawsuit climate was ranked 46th due to its treatment of class action lawsuits, tort or personal injury lawsuits, damages and contract litigation. Los Angeles’ legal climate was ranked as the second worst in the nation among municipalities after Chicago, Ill. San Francisco’s legal climate was the sixth worst.
- Demonstrating how a state’s legal environment can significantly influence a company’s strategic planning, two-thirds (67%) of those surveyed report that the litigation environment in a state is likely to impact decisions at their company, such as where to locate or expand their business.
- Respondents were asked which five jurisdictions have the least fair and reasonable litigation environments. The five worst jurisdictions were Chicago/Cook County, Ill.; Los Angeles, Ca.; California (other mentions); Texas (other mentions); and Madison County, Ill.
- More than a third (37%) of respondents mentioned that the reason why a jurisdiction has the least fair and reasonable litigation environment is because of biased or partial juries/judges.
- Since the inception of the survey, there has been a general increase in the overall average score of state liability systems. This year’s data, however, may suggest a leveling off of attitudes and perceptions. Additionally, an examination of individual state evaluations reveals wide disparity among those states that are doing the best job and those states that are doing the worst job, with the highest performing state scoring 77 out of a possible 100 and the poorest performing state scoring only 35 out of 100.
- Respondents reported that the most important legal reform issues that state policymakers should focus on to improve economic development were: tort reform issues in general (9%); caps/limits on damages (9%, up significantly from 3% in 2008); timeliness of decisions (8%); elimination of unnecessary lawsuits (7%); limits on discovery (7%); and speeding up of the trial process (5%).
- 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; damages; timeliness of summary judgment or dismissal; discovery; scientific and technical evidence; judges’ impartiality; judges’ competence; and juries’ fairness. They were also asked to give the state an overall grade for creating a fair and reasonable litigation environment. These elements were then combined to create an overall ranking of state liability systems.
