The New York City Asbestos Litigation court heads the American Tort Reform Foundation's 2014-2015 list of “Judicial Hellholes,” released Tuesday.

“Troubling developments in NYCAL in 2014 have served to make an already plaintiff-friendly court inarguably so,” said American Tort Reform Association President Sherman Joyce in a statement accompanying the annual report. “At the behest of a powerful New York-based plaintiffs' law firm, which happens to pay the moonlighting speaker of the state Assembly $750,000 a year, NYCAL's managing judge revived long-suspended procedures that effectively coerce asbestos defendants into settling cases. And when defendants insist on a trial and lose, they face verdicts that are much higher than elsewhere around the country.”

Other jurisdictions deemed Judicial Hellholes — which are jurisdictions where judges in civil cases systematically apply laws and court procedures in an unfair and unbalanced manner, according to the Washington-based ATRA — include California, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, the Florida Supreme Court, the Missouri Supreme Court, Louisiana and Madison County, Illinois.

“This year's 'Points of Light' section features several laudable court decisions and positive legislative reforms undertaken in reform-minded states,” Mr. Joyce said, notably “a North Carolina bankruptcy judge's decision to unseal asbestos claims evidence could lead to additional revelations about manipulation of the civil justice system by plaintiffs' lawyers, and bolster the case for legislation requiring greater transparency for both tort claims and those made on bankruptcy trusts.”

“Yet again, ATRA is desperately attempting to mislead the public by repackaging stale anecdotes and debunked data in an effort to chip away at Americans' rights,” said a spokeswoman for the Washington-based American Association for Justice, which represents the plaintiffs bar, in an emailed statement. “To be clear, ATRA has one goal: eliminate legal accountability for its corporate funders when they harm and kill Americans. Don't be duped.”