Lawsuit abuse and judicial bias are two of the main reasons why Los Angeles was identified as the worst “judicial hellhole” in the country, according to a national report released Tuesday by the American Tort Reform Foundation.
The report is issued every year by the foundation to analyze personal injury and wrongful death lawsuit verdicts, causes of those verdicts and real-world implications.
Report author Tiger Joyce found three civil lawsuits pushed Los Angeles to the top of the judicial hellholes list. One of those involved the family of an 88-year-old woman who was diagnosed with mesothelioma before her death. That family was awarded $1 billion by the defendant, Johnson & Johnson, after the court issued a decision that held the company liable for manufacturing a baby powder that the woman had used since the 1930s.
“We believe the award was certainly excessive, but beyond that, it was driven by what we call ‘junk science,’ ” Joyce told The Center Square Tuesday. “That award really jumped out at us.”
Other cases that resulted in excessive amounts of money being awarded to plaintiffs, which the ATR Foundation called “nuclear verdicts,” were also detailed in the report that puts Los Angeles at the top of the “judicial hellhole” list. “Nuclear verdicts,” or verdicts in lawsuits where the plaintiffs are awarded $10 million or more, included one case where a plaintiff was awarded $50 million after he was said to have spilled coffee on his lap when picking up an order at a Starbucks drive-through window.
According to the ATR Foundation, Starbucks will likely pay that plaintiff closer to $61 million once prejudgement interest and other costs are included. That plaintiff will be paid $1 million a year for the rest of his life, the foundation said on the report’s website.
Another case between Ford Motor Co. and Knight Law Firm alleged fraud on the part of the law firm. Officials with Ford in that case accused lawyers at Knight Law Firm of falsifying time sheets, according to the ATR Foundation.
The foundation’s annual report is important, Joyce said, because court problems affects affordability both nationally and in communities with a judicial hellhole.
“So there’s a variety of matters building on a significant number of broader issues that were violated over the years, but that’s what drove us to put Los Angeles at the top of the hellhole list this year,” Joyce told The Center Square. “It’s not just an academic or legal issue. Lawsuit abuse is something that affects the cost of everyday activity for all Americans, but particularly in a judicial hellhole.”
The report also noted California and Florida together are tied for producing the most nuclear verdicts in the country between 2013 and 2022. The two states are followed in the report by New York and Texas.
