Judicial Hellhole, or Much Ado About Nothing?

By Jaime Bochet
Of the Legal Staff

According to The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times, a website affiliated with the Legal:  “Philadelphia is ranked No. 1 in annual survey of ‘judicial hellholes’ that’s set to be released on Tuesday. The survey is conducted by the American Tort Reform Association, a business-backed group in Washington that supports changes to the tort system. Lawyers for plaintiffs have regularly criticized how the report is put together and the companies behind it.

“This is the first time that Philadelphia has topped the list, which is in its ninth year. … The association’s criticism of Philadelphia focuses on what’s known as the Complex Litigation Center, which handles mass torts such as recent claims against drug-makers Bayer and Wyeth. The report describes the center as 'decidedly tilted against many lawsuit defendants.'"

The survey cites “Scheduling unfairness, encouragement of ‘litigation tourism,’ consolidation of dissimilar claims, and failure to use court reporters ... among the disturbing examples,” according to a copy of the report obtained by The National Law Journal, a Legal affiliate based in New York.

We’re curious as to what you think: Do you, as Philadelphia practitioners, agree with the survey’s assessment? Why do you agree or disagree? Send me an e-mail or comment below.

Comments

[James Beck]

Scheduling unfairness - sometimes.

Consolidation of dissimilar claims, that's a real and serious problem. Mature tort (that is to say, asbestod) procedures don't translate well to prescription drug cases, where causation is always a hotly disputed issue. So ATRA has a point there.

Failure to use court reporters, that has happened but is hardly systemic.

The charge of litigation tourism is unfair, though. Philadephia judges, particularly Judge Moss, have tried for years to reduce backlogs by getting rid of cases that don't have any factual nexus to Philadelphia. They have been shot down time and time again by the appellate courts. Most of the complex litigation cases don't in fact belong in Philadelphia, and as a Philadelphia taxpayer I resent having to pay for their adjudication, but that's not Philly CP's fault.