California Atop ’Judicial Hellholes ®’ List, Joined by West Virginia, Illinois, New York and Maryland

With a sizeable majority of Americans concerned that an unbalanced civil justice system and excessive liability hurt economic growth, job creation and U.S. competitiveness, the American Tort Reform Association today released its annual Judicial Hellholes ® report, documenting abuses of the civil justice system in jurisdictions it says are among the most unfair and out-of-balance in the nation. Civil courts in California top the 2012-2013 rankings of Judicial Hellholes, replacing courts in Philadelphia that, after previously ranking #1 for two consecutive years, have undertaken encouraging reforms. No significant signs of much needed reform can be found in the barely solvent Golden State, however, as preposterous consumer class actions, coercive disability access lawsuits and mounting asbestos litigation, among other problems, continue to drive businesses and jobs to less litigious neighboring states while court budgets are slashed and dockets grow evermore backlogged.