CHARLESTON – For decades, personal injury lawyers and their handpicked members of the West Virginia Judiciary had a stranglehold on the legal system in our state.
We had many high-dollar nuclear verdicts. There was a ton of mass litigation being filed in West Virginia, with little or no nexus to the state. And greedy personal injury lawyers were flying all over the country in their private jets paid for with the proceeds of our jackpot justice.
But times have changed.
After being a staple on the list for more than a decade, West Virginia is no longer on the Judicial Hellholes list. But many of the tricks that were used against us here and now being used all over the country — including the infamous “no-proof, no-problem” lawsuits. Larger states such as New York and California with big cities and Cook County in Illinois (Chicago) now are leading the American Tort Reform Association’s Judicial Hellholes rankings. And several Attorneys Generals around the country are causing problems for healthcare providers and job creators in their states.
Lawsuit abuse results in $284.8 billion in excessive tort costs every year in this country with every American paying an annual “tort tax” of $1,303.10. The same economic impact study was also conducted here for Charleston, West Virginia that saw an annual direct cost of excessive lawsuits to be $626.6 million resulting in the loss of 2,406 jobs.
The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals has seen an incredible turnaround from being one of the most unfair and tumultuous in the nation to a reasonable, even-handed court. The new Intermediate Appellate Court has been a great addition to our state’s legal system as well.
The new focus in the coming years will be to clean up the Circuit Court system. Many of the old-guard judges still are hanging around county courthouses doing favors for their personal injury lawyer donors and fighting the legislative changes being made in the state house.
Let’s hope the West Virginia Legislature continues to pass meaningful legal reforms and that we see new faces run for Circuit Court in 2024. West Virginia’s stock is rising and no longer being a Judicial Hellhole is most certainly part of the reason.
Thomas is with West Virginia Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse.