American Tort Reform Association releases its "judicial hellholes" report

The American Tort Reform Association, a corporate front group whose mission is to make it more difficult for people to recover compensation for their injuries, has released its most recent report on what they call "judicial hellholes" which is really an attack on judges and juries that have held defendants accountable in court. The report names Philadelphia as the #1 "hellhole" - which means, that according to the report, it is the worst venue for corporate defendants. "Traditionally, Judicial Hellholes have been considered places where civil judges systematically apply laws and court procedures in an unfair and unbalanced manner, generally against defendants in civil lawsuits," explained ATRA general counsel Victor Schwartz. "The jurisdictions we name as Judicial Hellholes each year are not the only unfair courts in the nation. . . ." (Thanks to the TortsProf blog for this quote). As expected, those who oppose tort reform have issued responses, both sarcastic and serious. More surprisingly, even the pro-defendant Drug & Device blog has criticized the report stating that "Philadelphia’s reputation as a pro-plaintiff venue is a bit overblown" and that "ATRA's "litigation tourism" charge [is] particularly unfair."