We’ve known for a long time that Louisiana is home to one of the worst-rated lawsuit systems in the country. The state’s historically low rankings in ILR’s Lawsuit Climate Survey reflect that. 

But now, Louisianans are telling this story in their own words. Today, ILR’s Faces of Lawsuit Abuse campaign released Louisiana: The Lawsuit Paradise. It’s a multi-part series highlighting how the business of suing is crippling Louisiana’s economy. 

The series is a first-hand account of how a runaway lawsuit system affects businesses and residents. Local business owners from the trucking and logging industries discuss how out-of-control litigation affects their work. Legal experts and economists examine how the state’s lawsuit system is out-of-step with modern times and affects everyday Louisianans. 

The series even pulls back the curtain on the lawsuit business by one of their own. The plaintiff’s lawyer, who only agreed to speak behind a black shade and with a voice changer, gives an inside account of how the trial bar operates in the state, including a peek inside “the client factory”—an entire operation dedicated to finding clients and using cases to take advantage of companies. 

The episodes will focus on issues like excessive trial lawyer advertising, the effect of frivolous litigation on insurance costs, how small businesses are affected, and the long-running legacy and coastal erosion lawsuits. 

All five episodes are now available on our Faces of Lawsuit Abuse website.  

This mini-documentary series should serve as a wake-up call for the policymakers that have slept on Louisiana’s lawsuit system for too long. It’s time to change.