Suits Against Food Manufacturers and Suits Championing Disability Access Are Two Top Causes.
The American Tort Reform Foundation has just come out recently with its 2013-2014 List of “Judicial Hellholes,” based on its perception of abusive or questionable tort litigation. The ATRF has rallied a coalition of generally conservative members under the rubric of tort reform, members described by Wikipedia as “more than 300 businesses, corporations, municipalities, associations, and professional firms.” “Tort reform” is of course a loaded term. With those provisos, we summarize:
For the second year in a row, California topped the list, followed by this sequence: #2 — Louisiana; #3 — New York City; #4 — West Virginia; #5 — Madison County, Illinois; and #6 — South Florida.
ATRF indicated that there has been a proliferation of consumer-oriented suits against food manufacturers, especially about mislabeling of products (examples: natural food labels which are claimed to be deceptive). Following the “food court” suits, ATRF mentions disability access, asbestos (albeit drying up), and public nuisance (mainly lead paint) litigation among the tort suspect list for California. The Bay Area was listed as the “epicenter” for class action suits against food makers.
A yearly report produced by Towers Watson, a professional services business with offices in Irvine and other California cities, estimates that tort costs will amount to $33.5 billion for California in 2013, working out to a “secret tax” of $833 against every California resident. These estimates were cited in the ATRF report.
On a positive note, the report did commend California for some Proposition 65 reforms.