West Virginia Again Named a “Judicial Hellhole”
The American Tort Reform Foundation has once again designated West Virginia as a “Judicial Hellhole,” an important reminder of the continuing need for legal reform in the Mountain State.
While this year marks the eighth straight appearance for West Virginia on the national report, the American Tort Reform Foundation is not without some praise for our state.
The tort reform organization cites West Virginia as a “Point of Light” for the recent efforts of Governor Manchin’s Independent Commission on Judicial Reform. The Commission has recommended, among other things, the creation of an intermediate court of appeals, and accompanying automatic right of appeal for all litigants.
The adoption of both proposals would help move our state judiciary closer to the legal mainstream, and perhaps help West Virginia finally shed its “Judicial Hellhole” label.
Reforms aimed at fixing the state’s one-of-a-kind medical monitoring standard, reducing fraudulent lawsuit filings, and bringing accountability to the Attorney General’s office would also put West Virginia on the path to greater job creation.
Click here to see the full text of this year’s report.
Tell Your Elected Officials that Health Care Reform Must Include Legal Reform!
As the national health care debate continues, WV CALA urges West Virginians to tell their elected officials that medical liability reforms will help curb sky-rocketing health care costs. At present, none of the proposed health care “reforms” actually tackle the junk lawsuits that help drive up the cost of medicine in America. Personal injury lawyers have contributed millions of dollars to those in Congress in an effort to prevent meaningful reforms. Legal reforms have worked in West Virginia, and they can work in Washington too! Tell your elected officials to put your interests over those of the personal injury lawsuit industry.
Sign the Petition Now!
To our elected officials,
As the health care reform debate continues in Washington, we urge you to consider meaningful legal reform as a simple and effective way to cut some of our nation’s spiraling health care costs. Frivolous lawsuits, liability pressures and the resulting practice of defensive medicine costs our health care system between $84 and $151 billion per year according to the American Medical Association. The Harvard School of Public Health has estimated that 40% of all medical malpractice claims filed in the United States are groundless.
It’s time to take a stand against personal injury lawyers looking to profit from our broken health care system! Please support meaningful legal reforms like the ones recently passed in West Virginia, which have helped weed out meritless claims and encouraged doctors to move back to our state. Please vote against any legislation that fails to combat lawsuit abuse.
Sincerely,
