State’s legal climate does deter business
by admin on 05/03/09 at 1:49 pm
Charleston Daily Mail
I ask: How can a savvy columnist pretend to be unaware of the many basic problems with Mountain State courts that employers and would-be employers have been calling attention to for many years?
For starters, West Virginia is one of only two states in the country that doesn’t guarantee defendants or plaintiffs the right to an appeal.
Even when a case involves complicated law and facts, and many millions of dollars are at stake (as occurred in the Chesapeake Energy case), the state’s lack of an intermediate level appeals court and the Supreme Court’s discretion to deny appeal requests can deny this basic right.
Consider also West Virginia’s continuing embrace of lawsuits filed by out-of-state personal injury lawyers on behalf of out-of-state plaintiffs, the erosion of its no-fault workers’ compensation system, one-of-a-kind medical monitoring lawsuits, and the state’s willingness to allow juries in some cases to determine damage awards before they even consider if defendants are liable.
Add several other civil justice deficiencies, and it’s no wonder that from 2001 to 2007, the state’s overall economic growth trailed the national average by a whopping 53 percent while its employment growth lagged 48 percent behind.
Those who enjoy the benefits of West Virginia’s civil justice system can claim that the state’s “judicial hellholes” reputation is simply the creation of a big business conspiracy.
But they deny a reality that should be plain to everyone.
Failure to bring about needed change will continue to hinder the state’s economy and drive away young people who must seek prosperous futures elsewhere.
Tiger Joyce
Washington, D.C.
Joyce is president of the American Tort Reform Association.
