Texas Civil Justice League

NEWS

04/25/2007
Texas Drops in 2007 State Liability Rankings

Texas dropped to 44th in the sixth annual lawsuit climate study released today by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform. The state was ranked 46th in the first survey in 2002 and 43rd last year. Delaware was ranked first among the states for the sixth straight year, and West Virginia fell to 50th. Harris Interactive Inc. conducted the national survey of 1,599 general counsels and senior corporate litigators.

“Texas has enacted landmark legal reform in recent years, but clearly much more needs to be done,” said George S. Christian, president of the Texas Civil Justice League. “The U.S. Chamber survey demonstrates that civil justice reform must be a top economic development issue for state policymakers.”

The study found that 57 percent of those surveyed believe the litigation environment in a state is likely to impact important business decisions, such as where to locate or do business. Respondents were asked to rank states as a whole. However, jurisdictions within a state may vary in fairness and efficiency. Beaumont, Texas, was cited among the cities with the least fair and reasonable litigation environments.

Other Texas 2007 survey rankings included:

• 43rd Overall treatment of tort and contract litigation
• 45th Having and enforcing meaningful venue requirements
• 42nd Treatment of class action suits and mass consolidation suits -38th Punitive damages
• 42nd Timeliness of summary judgment and dismissal
• 41st Discovery
• 27th Scientific and technical evidence
• 43rd Non-economic damages
• 46th Judges impartiality
• 45th Judges competence
• 44th Juries predictability
• 45th Juries fairness

For a complete copy of “Lawsuit Climate 2007,” the 2007 state liability systems ranking study, visit the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform online at instituteforlegalreform.com.