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California courts top 'judicial hellholes' list for 2012

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California courts top 'judicial hellholes' list for 2012

Civil courts in California have replaced Philadelphia on the top of the American Tort Reform Association's list of “judicial hellholes” in a report released Thursday.

The Washington-based ATRA said its annual report documents “abuses of the civil justice system” in jurisdictions that “are among the most “unfair and out-of-balance in the nation.”

California replaces Philadelphia, which had received the previous No. 1 ranking for two years in a row, in its 11th annual Judicial Hellholes Report.

“California is the undisputed heavyweight champion of the consumer class action,” says the report's executive summary. “Its plaintiff-friendly laws spur ridiculous lawsuits against companies that sell products ranging from breakfast cereal to bagged walnuts.

“California's small businesses have been under siege from trolling disability-access lawyers and their professional plaintiffs who look for technical rules violations, then demand thousands of dollars to settle.”

Jurisdictions that follow California on its “judicial hellhole” list, ranked in order, are West Virginia; Madison County, Ill.; New York City and Albany, N.Y.; and Baltimore.

Jurisdictions that are on its watch list, which ATRA says are jurisdictions “that also bear watching due to their histories of abusive litigation or troubling developments,” are Philadelphia, south Florida, Cook County, Ill., New Jersey, Nevada and Louisiana.

The report also points, however, to “points of light,” which it says are “examples of, among other things, fair and balanced judicial decisions.”

It mentions specific rulings by courts in California, Illinois, Kansas, Mississippi, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Texas.

The 45-page report and year-round updates can be found at www.JudicialHellholes.org.

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