A group advocating for more protection for defendants sued in civil court ranks Louisiana as the sixth worst “Judicial Hellhole” in America, and describes Gov.-elect John Bel Edwards as a “trial lawyer” whose administration poses a serious threat to tort reform.
Gannett Louisiana reports the American Tort Reform Association released its annual Judicial Hellholes report this week, saying Edwards’ election likely “forecloses the prospect of much-needed civil justice reforms in the Pelican State.”
“Louisiana has long been known for its colorful plaintiffs’ lawyers,” the association writes in the report. “Come January 2016, it will be led by one.”
“The election of John Bel Edwards—a trial lawyer who as a state lawmaker for eight years consistently opposed every civil justice reform proposal … —poses significant challenges to future fairness in state courts,” the association adds.
Edwards’ spokesman dismisses the criticism and the report.
“This organization is funded by a large group of Washington special interest groups who have no interest in protecting Louisiana’s citizens,” Edwards spokesman Richard Carbo told Gannett Louisiana. “The governor-elect won’t respond to this fiction.”
Pro-business advocates like the National Federation of Independent Business and the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry chimed in after the report was issued this week.
“The governor-elect’s record is cause for concern, but we’re hopeful that he will recognize the need to represent all Louisianians, not just trial lawyers,” says Dawn Starns, Louisiana director of NFIB.
Stephen Waguespack, president of LABI, told Louisiana Lawsuit Abuse Watch: “The Judicial Hellholes ranking is a timely reminder to new lawmakers that we have more work to do to be competitive in a global economy. We look forward to the opportunity to partner with a new administration and new Legislature in 2016 to address chronic issues that plague Louisiana employers, including excessive and frivolous litigation.”
The American Tort Reform Association cites what it considers an excessive threshold ($50,000) for civil litigants to receive a jury trial and contends Louisiana’s laws allows trial lawyers to “shop” cases in search of friendly judges and juries, tilting the advantage toward plaintiffs.
Judicial reform became a hot topic in the governor’s race after media reports of a single law firm that has filed a mountain of legacy lawsuits against oil companies in the past several years—Talbot, Carmouche & Marcello—donated large sums to a super PAC aimed at Edwards’ opponent, U.S. Sen. David Vitter, who has been a vocal opponent of legacy lawsuit abuse.
In the 2014 report issued by the American Tort Reform Association, in which Louisiana dropped to seventh after coming in second in 2013, the association noted reforms that were being pushed by lawmakers in the wake of the the “shameless feeding frenzy initiated by personal injury lawyers and enabled by a plaintiff-friendly federal judge that began in the wake of 2010’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill…”
