WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) - Many elected officials are oblivious to the restrictions on health care access and the overall damage to the economy caused by rampant abuse of the legal system, Tiger Joyce, president of the American Tort Reform Association, told the Washington Legal Foundation in a recent interview.
“Too often, profound problems in the civil justice system are dismissed as matters only for lawyers and judges,” Joyce said. “The reality is that the worst abuses in litigation are a problem for all.”
The interview, conducted on Jan. 11, focused on the release in December of ATRA’s annual “Judicial Hellholes” report, which ranks the nation’s courts, local and state governments in their bias towards plaintiffs in civil actions.
Joyce said that ATRA's hope is that in listing and detailing how offensive the bias is in certain jurisdictions, that judges, lawmakers and members of the executive branch will appreciate the need to bring balance back to the civil justice system.
“The report has increased in reach every year,” Joyce said. “It was mentioned in the media over 350 times and had over 550,000 digital impressions since it was released on Dec. 8, which is the basic objective.”
Joyce noted that a few years ago the president of the West Virginia Senate and Speaker of the House held a press conference announcing reforms that led to the state’s removal from the list.
“That a pretty strong testimonial to the effectiveness of the report,” Joyce said.
In some instances, one county can ruin an entire state’s reputation. Twenty years ago Jefferson County, Mississippi saw more pharmaceutical lawsuits filed than it had citizens of the county, he said.
The report also focuses on the type of litigation being brought – opioid litigation brought by state and local governments, for instance.
“To date there have been more than 2,000 suits in this area,” Joyce said, “which involves activities that are completely subject to regulation by federal and state agencies. It begins with FDA approval of the product, includes DEA regulation of distribution, and the product can only be provided to a consumer if a physician writes that person a prescription.”
Other areas include efforts to address climate change through litigation as well as lawsuits against the manufacturers of PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances found in a wide range of products.)