COLUMBIA, S.C. (Legal Newsline) - South Carolina's asbestos court is now the No. 3 "Judicial Hellhole" in the country, the American Tort Reform Association announced, handing the docket its highest ranking since it first appeared on the annual report in 2020.
ATRA released its rankings Tuesday, with Philadelphia - a regular player in the report - taking the top spot over No. 2 New York City. The report highlights jurisdictions in which businesses don't feel they are treated fairly by judges, legislators and juries.
South Carolina's asbestos cases are handled by former state Supreme Court Justice Jean Toal, who has been criticized by some as severely pro-plaintiff. Dallas firm Dean Omar has taken advantage and scored a $63 million talc verdict earlier this year.
Of concern is her appointment of personal injury lawyer Peter Protopapas as a receiver for defunct companies. Protopapas drums up old insurance policies, then sues the insurer for funds that will be used to pay plaintiffs who can now sue these dead companies.
Previous Legal Newsline coverage likened the process to raising the dead. Protopapas keeps one-third of whatever he recovers, with the money going into secret entities in Delaware called Qualified Settlement Funds. There is no public disclosure of the financial records of the QSFs.
Most insurers are glad the records are kept private, as they don't want their settlement terms used against them in future cases. One company, though, is making a push for transparency.
Citing the research firm KCIC, ATRA wrote in its report, "Before Judge Toal's appointment, 'the state was not a very active asbestos jurisdiction'... Beginning in 2019, however, the number of asbestos filings took off under Judge Toal. On a percentage basis, the number of new asbestos cases filed in South Carolina in recent years 'is one of the largest increases in the nation...'"
Toal and Protopapas have been criticized by other courts, notably the United Kingdom High Court. It said Protopapas is "positvely damaging the interests of the company over whose assets he has been appointed."
The ruling came in an action brought by Cape Plc. Protopapas has been appointed receiver over it even though it is headquartered in the island of Jersey in the U.K. and belongs to multinational industrial-services company Altrad Group.
Asbestos lawyers have filed actions that now rely on whether this South Carolina court can assert control over a foreign company. Heavyweight plaintiffs firm Motley Rice plans to sue Cape for exporting asbestos to the U.S. earlier in its corporate history on behalf of a bankruptcy trust established to compensate victims.
And Dean Omar filed suit on behalf of more than 100 individuals against Cape, De Beers and Anglo American. So far, it is not known whether Toal will abide by the worldwide injunction issued by the U.K. court.
Cape argued in the U.K. court that Protopapas is ignoring a landmark U.K. decision denying Cape’s liability to U.S. asbestos plaintiffs.
Add in that Toal adds whatever she feels like to asbestos verdicts and her decisions are affirmed by appeals courts that have judges selected by a panel of both legislators and private individuals who are personal injury lawyers, and South Carolina rose to No. 3 on the list.
Behind South Carolina's asbestos court on the list is No. 4 Georgia, the home of massive verdicts and a system in which automobile manufacturers can't show juries that crash victims weren't wearing their seatbelts.
California, Cook County in Illinois, St. Louis, the Michigan Supreme Court, King County in Washington and Louisiana make up the rest of the "hellhole" list.