Med Mal News

In December 2007, the American Tort Reform Foundation released its annual report, Judicial Hellholes', which added some new jurisdictions to the foundation's list of the worst places for defendants to defend a tort action. The new 'hellholes' are Atlantic County, NJ, which includes within its borders Atlantic City; and Clark County, NV. The two counties join the previously-named jurisdictions of South Florida, the Rio Grande Valley and Gulf Coast of Texas, Cook County, IL, and West Virginia as places that the foundation says have unfair civil court systems. Madison County, IL, which was once on the list of the worst jurisdictions, has been moved to the lesser category of 'Watch List' jurisdictions, which include St. Clair County, IL, Northern New Mexico, Hillsborough County, FL, and the entire states of Delaware and California.

The foundation is linked to the American Tort Reform Association, which supports efforts to reduce tort claims. Partly because of this, some critics claim bias. 'There's nothing scientific about the way the jurisdictions are assigned this label,' said Robert Peck, a Washington attorney who fights on behalf of trial lawyers against laws that limit tort claims. 'Those who put these reports together don't undertake any kind of comprehensive look at how justice is done in these jurisdictions.'