Lawsuit Climate 2007: Rating the States
2007 U.S. Chamber of Commerce State Liability Systems Ranking Study
Executive Summary
The 2007 State Liability Systems Ranking Study was conducted for the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform among a national sample of in-house general counsel or other senior corporate litigators to explore how reasonable and balanced the tort liability system is perceived to be by U.S. business. The 2007 ranking builds on previous years' work where each year all 50 states are ranked by those familiar with the litigation environment in that state. Prior to these rankings, information regarding the attitudes of the business world towards the legal systems in each of the states had been largely anecdotal. The State Liability Systems Ranking Study aims to quantify how corporate attorneys view the state systems. While we can look to the past 5 years' rankings to see general movement, a direct trend can only be made from the previous year (2006). The reason for this is that in 2006 we changed the survey design slightly, adding two elements - having and enforcing meaningful venue requirements and non-economic damages.
There has been an improvement in how the senior attorneys surveyed view the state court liability system, with a net increase of 25 percentage points between 2003 and 2007 in those indicating the system is excellent or pretty good. Further, a majority (57%) report that the litigation environment in a state is likely to impact important business decisions at their company, such as where to locate or do business.
Respondents were first screened for their familiarity with states, and those who were very or somewhat familiar with the litigation environment in a given state were then asked to evaluate that state. It is important to remember that courts and localities within a state may vary a great deal in fairness and efficiency. However, respondents had to evaluate the state as a whole. To explore the detailed nuances within each state would have required extensive questioning for each state and was beyond the scope and purpose of this study. However, other studies have demonstrated this variability within a state. For example, several studies have documented very high litigation activity in certain county courts such as Madison County, Illinois and Jefferson County, Texas, revealing that these counties have "magnet courts" that are extremely hospitable to plaintiffs. Thus, it is possible that some states received low grades due to the negative reputation of one or two of their counties or jurisdictions.