WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform this week unveiled the latest public awareness advertising campaign for its Faces of Lawsuit Abuse program, featuring two stories that show the devastating effects of lawsuit abuse on small businesses and communities. Read More
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Lisa A. Rickard, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Institute for Legal Reform (ILR), made the following statement regarding the Revised Rules of Appellate Procedure that were unveiled earlier today by West Virginia Chief Justice Robin Jean Davis: Read More
WASHINGTON, DC—West Virginia’s lawsuit climate is once again ranked worst in the nation, according to Lawsuit Climate 2010: Ranking the States, a study released today by the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform (ILR). The corporate lawyers familiar with the current litigation environment in West Virginia gave the state a last place ranking of each of the ten key elements used to determine a state’s overall position. Read More
LOS ANGELES, CA—A new national survey finds that California’s lawsuit climate is among the worst in the country and on par with states including Alabama, Louisiana, and West Virginia. Among local jurisdictions, Los Angeles’ courts were mentioned as the second worst in the nation for legal fairness after Chicago, Illinois. San Francisco’s courts were named as the sixth worst. Read More
WASHINGTON, DC—A new national survey ranks Delaware’s litigation environment number one in the country for fairness. The survey, Lawsuit Climate 2010: Ranking the States, released today by the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform (ILR) shows that Delaware has led the other 49 states since the survey was first conducted in 2002. Read More
WASHINGTON, DC—A new national survey finds that Louisiana’s lawsuit climate is ranked 49th out of 50 compared with other states. In the survey, released today by the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform (ILR), respondents also named New Orleans as one of the worst court systems in the nation, tied for tenth. Read More
The U.S. Chamber's Institute for Legal Reform (ILR) today released its survey ranking the states with the best and worst legal climates in the country. According to the survey, the states with the worst legal climates are California (46th), Alabama (47th), Mississippi (48th), Louisiana (49th), and West Virginia (50th). The states with the best legal climates are Delaware (1st), North Dakota (2nd), Nebraska (3rd), Indiana (4th), and Iowa (5th). Read More
WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Chamber of Commerce today released a letter sent to Attorney General Eric Holder highlighting widespread evidence of asbestos litigation fraud and the necessity of immediate and serious intervention. Read More
The Institute for Legal Reform's seventh annual ranking of the 50 state lawsuit systems is out. Each year, the immediate curiosity is always, "who's on top? Who's at the bottom?" For the record, Delaware is again number one, although by the slimmest of margins. For the third year running, West Virginia is number fifty, though showing some signs of improvement. Read More
WASHINGTON, DC – West Virginia’s legal climate is once again ranked as the worst in the country, according to Lawsuit Climate 2008: Ranking the States, the annual assessment of state liability systems conducted by Harris Interactive, a leading national market research firm, and released today by the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform (ILR).
West Virginia’s legal climate ranked last among the fifty states for the third straight year, although its raw score in the study has improved over the last several years. Read More
WASHINGTON, DC - Senior attorneys at America's largest employers say state court liability systems have steadily improved over the last several years, but less than half of them rate the state courts as "excellent" or "pretty good." These lawyers say Delaware still has the best legal climate in the country, and West Virginia remains the worst. Read More
WASHINGTON, D.C.-U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform President Lisa A. Rickard issued the following statement on the Judicial Hellholes 2007 report released today by the American Tort Reform Foundation (ATRF) Read More
When West Virginia Attorney General Darrell McGraw sued drug maker PurduePharma over misrepresentation of its pain killer OxyContin, he petitioned the court saying, "This action involves the impact of State action against one of the most vulnerable and dependant sections of West Virginia society, the elderly and disabled."
McGraw was able to extract a $10 million settlement, but instead of reimbursing the state Medicaid program for its share of the lawsuit settlement, the Attorney General has been distributing this money to his favorite projects and institutions across the state: a pharmacy school, a day laborer center, a drug rehab facility and dozens of other places.
Meanwhile the state Medicaid program has seen a grand total of: zero dollars. Read More
Last year, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America decided that a few among their ranks had brought disrepute to the trial lawyers' reputation. So they decided to take a stand against the bad actors in their ranks and call for reforms to reduce outrageous lawsuits.
If only.
At last year's meeting, the trial lawyers instead decided the easier solution was a new name: the American Association for Justice, a moniker created to be, in their words, "about what we do, not who we are." Read More
WASHINGTON, D.C.-The U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform (ILR) has launched a new public awareness campaign highlighting the recent name change by West Virginia's trial lawyer organization and the motives behind the coordinated effort now happening in at least 11 states. The SameLeopardNewSpots.com Web site criticizes the West Virginia Trial Lawyers Association, now calling itself the West Virginia Association for Justice, for trying to conceal its identity from the public by changing its name. Read More
CHARLESTON, WV.-Sixty percent of West Virginia small business owners say they are very or somewhat concerned about the impact of frivolous lawsuits on their businesses, and many alter business decisions as a result, according to a study by the nonpartisan market research firm Harris Interactive. Read More
Is your state a good one in which to do business?
How you answer that question could be affected by a number of factors, but in our increasingly lawsuit-happy society, many companies are looking at the fairness of a state's court system when deciding where to do business. Their decision affects jobs, tax revenue, and other economic development opportunities.
Each year, the Institute for Legal Reform joins with Harris Interactive to survey practicing corporate attorneys and general counsel, asking them a comprehensive battery of questions to determine what they think of each state's lawsuit climate. And once again this year the majority of our respondents affirmed that the litigation environment in a state is likely to impact their important business decisions, such as where to do business or locate their facilities. Read More
WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform (ILR) released a study today showing that Delaware has the best legal climate in the country, and West Virginia has the worst. Those are among the findings of Lawsuit Climate 2007: Ranking the States, an annual assessment of state liability systems conducted by the nonpartisan polling firm Harris Interactive. Read More
WASHINGTON, D.C.-U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform President Lisa A. Rickard issued the following statement on the Judicial Hellholes 2006 report released today by the American Tort Reform Foundation (ATRF): Read More
WASHINGTON, DC - The U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform (ILR) today announced that West Virginia's legal climate has fallen to last place out of the 50 states in the 2006 Harris State Liability Systems Ranking Study. In addition, various West Virginia jurisdictions were named among the least fair and reasonable jurisdictions in the country. Read More