Headliners
Best
Worst
1) Delaware
50) West Virginia
2) Nebraska
49) Louisiana
3) Maine
48) Mississippi
4) Indiana
47) Alabama
5) Utah
46) Illinois
6) Virginia
45) Hawaii
7) Iowa
44) California
second quarter 2008
Discussion
Needed
“What is needed now
is a sober discussion
about how best to
achieve a fairer, more
balanced legal system
through comprehensive
tort reform. Such a
system would not be
lopsided but would
shield businesses from
legal blackmail, just as it
would protect the rights
of legitimate plaintiffs to
win just compensation
from negligent
businesses that caused
them real harm.”
— The Washington Post
in an April editorial about
the guilty pleas by Bill
Lerach, Melvyn Weiss, and
Richard “Dickie” Scruggs
Poor Showing
california again ranks as one of
the 10 worst legal environments in the
nation, according to Lawsuit Climate
2008: Ranking the States, an annual
assessment of state liability systems
released in april by the u.s. chamber
Institute for Legal reform.
california ranked 44 out of 50
states in the assessment by Harris
Interactive, a nonpartisan market
research firm. the state improved one spot over the
previous year, but Los angeles was again named the
“least fair and reasonable litigation environment” in
the united states.
a separate survey of california business owners
found that nearly one-third want the california
Legislature to enact new laws to help protect them from
unfair and frivolous suits.
Bad Bill Blocked
In a big win for california consumers, a dangerous
bill that would have opened a new avenue for personal
injury lawyers to file lawsuits against pharmaceutical
companies died May 29 on the assembly floor without
a vote.
assembly Bill 2690 would have led to increased
liability for makers of prescription medicines while
potentially decreasing patient access to appropriate
medication. the bill would have eliminated a long-
held legal defense, the “learned intermediary doctrine,”
which requires companies to direct their warnings
to physic