FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—April 25, 2007
Contact: Larry Akey/Eric Wohlschlegel
(202)580-9313
U.S. Chamber Ranks Arkansas’s Lawsuit Climate
WASHINGTON, DC – Arkansas ranks forty-first among all fifty states in the fairness of its litigation environment, according to Lawsuit Climate 2007: Rating the States, an annual assessment of state liability systems conducted by Harris Interactive and released today by the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform (ILR). West Virginia ranked last among the fifty states and, for the sixth year in a row, Delaware is ranked number one.
“The best thing a state can do to attract business is to have a balanced legal system,” said Tom Donohue, President and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “An unfair legal system sucks the life out of a state’s economy. It affects business expansion, it affects jobs and it takes money out of consumers’ pockets.”
The ILR/Harris Interactive survey of 1,599 senior attorneys is the preeminent standard by which companies, policymakers and the media measure the legal environment of states. Respondents to the survey assign grades to 12 distinct factors shaping a state’s lawsuit climate.
While Arkansas’s rank remained the same overall, the state showed slight improvements in some areas of the survey; however, the state dropped 10 places in its handling of punitive damages and also dropped into or remained in the bottom quarter of states in all areas of the survey except for two.
A recent actuarial study estimated the annual cost of the tort system in America to be $261 billion, or $880 per citizen. Following those estimates, the price tag of tort litigation for the entire population of Arkansas is more than $2.4 billion.
To highlight the results of the study and the need for comprehensive legal reform, ILR is launching a national advertising campaign, spotlighting the cost the average family pays as a result of lawsuits.
ILR's mission is to make America's legal system simpler, fairer, and faster for everyone. It seeks to promote civil justice reform through legislative, political, judicial, and educational activities at the national, state, and local levels. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world's largest business federation, representing more than 3 million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region.