West Virginia was one of the original Judicial Hellholes and was on the American Tort Reform Foundation's list for ten consecutive years. Our state was widely recognized for having the most unfair litigation climate in the entire country.
But after changing the make-up of the West Virginia State Supreme Court, creating the new Intermediate Appellate Court and passing dozens of legal reform bills after the change in leadership in the Legislature, West Virginia slowly began to trickle off of the notorious list, and then off of the watchlist and seen as a point of light, and is now barely mentioned in the most recent Judicial Hellholes report.
West Virginia Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse is proud of the part we have played in reforming our state’s legal system, but we are far from done. West Virginia no longer has the worst courts in the nation, we're still striving to be the best. Many liberal circuit court judges (who ran as conservatives in the primary, since judicial elections are non-partisan) won their races and remain on the bench. Many of these left-leaning judges continue to resist legal reforms, especially in Kanawha County where lawsuit abuse has been flooding the county's trial court for years as personal injury lawyers game the system.
West Virginia Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse will continue to educate the public and state leaders on the benefits of legal reform and how much it has played a part in the turnaround of our state’s economy.
Our state still has the lowest workforce participation rate in the country, one of the most unhealthy and overweight populations, and some of the lowest public education test scores in the nation. It would be difficult to make the case that we don’t need to try and continue to improve the economic status of West Virginians. Although our state's tort tax has decreased over the years, it still burdens West Virginians' wallets. One recent economic impact study showed that excessive tort costs reduce the number of jobs in West Virginia by nearly 11,000 per year. Enacting stronger legal reforms will safeguard West Virginia's workforce and enhance greater economic prosperity statewide.
West Virginia is still out of step on many legal fronts, especially the terrible “Medical Monitoring” situation and now the out-of-control BRIM payouts that are plaguing the state.
We must strive to create good paying jobs and increase access to affordable healthcare if we want West Virginia to be the best we can possibly be. Even though we are no longer on the Judicial Hellholes' list, let’s push our state’s legislative leaders to continue to work against lawsuit abuse in West Virgina in 2025.
Thomas is executive director of West Virginia Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse.