WASHINGTON, D.C.—Lisa A. Rickard, president of the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform (ILR), made the following statement about the Arizona legislature’s passage of a… Read More
April 1, 2015
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Lisa A. Rickard, president of the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform (ILR), made the following statement today about West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray… Read More
March 26, 2015
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Lisa A. Rickard, president of the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform (ILR), made the following statement today about West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray… Read More
March 19, 2015
Lisa A. Rickard, president of the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform (ILR), made the following statement today about West Virginia's legislature passing SB 411 to combat "double dip" claims against asbestos bankruptcy trusts and in the tort system and SB 421 to protect against run-away jury awards, as well as urging Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin to sign them: Read More
March 12, 2015
Lisa A. Rickard, president of the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform (ILR), made the following statement about West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin today signing House Bill 2002 into law to reform the state's joint and several liability laws. Read More
March 5, 2015
Lisa A. Rickard, president of the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform (ILR), made the following statement about West Virginia's legislature passing a landmark bill to reform the state's joint and several liability laws, and urging Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin to sign House Bill 2002 into law: Read More
February 25, 2015
New Research Examines Leading Lawsuit Trends, State Supreme Court Decisions Read More
December 5, 2014
This report highlights significant tort law decisions over the past three years that are examples of particularly sound or unsound rulings. Each analysis examines the tort law principles involved, whether the court followed or deviated from these principles, and the court's reasoning in reaching its decision. Read More
December 4, 2014
A new ILR report finds that court rules designed to bring fairness and balance to asbestos litigation in West Virginia have been ignored, contributing to the state's poor legal environment. Read More
January 14, 2014
This report addresses the current state of asbestos litigation in West Virginia, which has become an increasingly critical issue to West Virginia's civil justice system over the past few decades. Read More
January 14, 2014
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Lisa A. Rickard, president of the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform (ILR), issued the following statement today applauding the Wisconsin Senate for passing legislation promoting transparency and limiting contingency fees.. Read More
October 8, 2013
Oklahoma becomes the first state to subject lawsuit lenders to state consumer lending laws. Subsequently, Arkansas, Indiana, Nevada, Tennessee, Vermont, and West Virginia place the consumer lawsuit lending industry under state usury or licensing laws or adopt other safeguards. Read More
September 23, 2013
WASHINGTON, D.C.— Lisa A. Rickard, president of the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform, made the following statement today about West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey’s new proposed procedures and guidelines for hiring outside counsel. “By adopting this policy, West Virginia will take a significant step to curb the troublesome practice of awarding contingency fee contracts to plaintiffs’ lawyers who are also major campaign contributors to the state attorney general, a reform needed for decades. “Such ‘pay-to-play’ schemes enrich lawyers at the expense of taxpayers and raise significant concerns about conflicts of interest, favoritism, the use of a public entity for personal gain, and fairness in prosecutions. Read More
March 21, 2013
Lisa A. Rickard, president of the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform, made the following statement today about West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey's new proposed procedures and guidelines for hiring outside counsel. Read More
March 21, 2013
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A new national survey released today by the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform (ILR) finds that West Virginia’s lawsuit climate is the worst in the country. The survey awards West Virginia this dubious distinction for the fifth consecutive time, and the state has never ranked higher than 49th since the study’s inception in 2002.The significance of a state’s legal climate on business expansion decisions has steadily increased over the last five years. Seven out of ten respondents say a state’s lawsuit environment is likely to impact important business decisions at their company, such as where to locate or expand their businesses, a 13 percent increase from the survey results just five years ago. Read More
September 10, 2012
U.S. Chamber President and CEO Tom Donohue comments on a new national survey -- released by the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform (ILR) - which finds that West Virginia's lawsuit climate is the worst in the country. The survey awards West Virginia this dubious distinction for the fifth consecutive time, and the state has never ranked higher than 49th since the study's inception in 2002. Read More
September 10, 2012
Seven in 10 business leaders say lawsuit climate ‘significant factor' in determining where to expand, grow Read More
September 10, 2012
Sitting in the defendant's chair can be a nightmare scenario for any small business owner. So imagine the toll of sitting in that seat over and over . . . and over.
That's not a hypothetical for the folks at Peachtree Pest Control - it's a terrible reality. Read More
December 22, 2010
In this movie theater trailer, William Smith, the Superintendent of Schools in Cabell County, West Virginia, describes how lawsuits took a school's swing sets away from kids. Learn more at FacesOfLawsuitAbuse.org. Read More
December 17, 2010
Everyone has favorite childhood memories. For many people, those memories include rolling down slides, dangling off of monkey bars and swinging on swing sets at their local neighborhood playground.
But elementary school students in Cabell County, West Virginia, may miss out on some of those childhood pleasures. That is because the county's school system has decided to remove swing sets from all school playgrounds, due to lawsuit fears. Their story is featured as part of the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform's Faces of Lawsuit Abuse campaign. Read More
December 17, 2010