[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/butlerfirm.com\/blog\/judicial-hellholes-really-exist\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/butlerfirm.com\/blog\/judicial-hellholes-really-exist\/","headline":"Do Judicial Hellholes Really Exist?","name":"Do Judicial Hellholes Really Exist?","description":"Unless your eyes have started to glaze over at frequent mentions of the meaningless term \u201cjudicial hellhole\u201d in media stories, you may have noticed that the American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) has released its annual \u201cjudicial hellhole\u201d list. California claimed the top spot, followed by Florida. What you might not know is that the ATRA… Continue reading Do Judicial Hellholes Really Exist?<\/span><\/a>","datePublished":"2018-12-31","dateModified":"2026-04-17","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/butlerfirm.com\/blog\/author\/butler\/#Person","name":"Jeb Butler","url":"https:\/\/butlerfirm.com\/blog\/author\/butler\/","identifier":9,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f5a02bc71d91db5fc8645f129c4424ce6ef7af7e24fe54f4a85315a9dd28f317?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f5a02bc71d91db5fc8645f129c4424ce6ef7af7e24fe54f4a85315a9dd28f317?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Butler Kahn","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/butlerfirm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Butler-Law-Firm-Logo.png","url":"https:\/\/butlerfirm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Butler-Law-Firm-Logo.png","width":210,"height":93}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/butlerfirm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/do-judicial-hellholes-really-exist.jpg","url":"https:\/\/butlerfirm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/do-judicial-hellholes-really-exist.jpg","height":1067,"width":1600},"url":"https:\/\/butlerfirm.com\/blog\/judicial-hellholes-really-exist\/","about":["Medical Malpractice","Personal Injury"],"wordCount":780,"articleBody":"Unless your eyes have started to glaze over at frequent mentions of the meaningless term \u201cjudicial hellhole\u201d in media stories, you may have noticed that the American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) has released its annual \u201cjudicial hellhole\u201d list. California claimed the top spot, followed by Florida.What you might not know is that the ATRA is funded by the insurance industry and a variety of businesses in the chemical, tobacco, drug, and medical industries that regularly harm consumers by their careless conduct. Because juries hold defendants in those industries accountable for the harm they\u00a0cause, ATRA was formed to engage in lobbying efforts that are designed to make it more difficult to win\u00a0lawsuits against misbehaving corporations.A\u00a0New York Times\u00a0investigation of ATRA\u2019s \u201cJudicial Hellholes\u201d report found that ATRA had no apparent methodology for adding states or counties to its list. The organization simply condemns jurisdictions as \u201cjudicial hellholes\u201d because\u00a0those jurisdictions have not adopted the corporation-friendly laws that ATRA advocates.Unfortunately, some news organizations report ATRA\u2019s corporate propaganda as if the term \u201cjudicial hellhole\u201d is a legitimate and unbiased designation. Media organizations that care about accuracy take the time to report the sources of ATRA\u2019s funding. Responsible news organizations ignore the list,\u00a0treating it as noise churned out by an organization that wants the public to be more concerned about \u201chellholes\u201d than the immense harm caused by uncaring\u00a0drug companies, negligent doctors, and other corporate defendants that are sued for their dangerous behavior.The Fight Against Fair TrialsA judicial hellhole is any state or county that still allows injury victims to have a fair trial. When juries are allowed to hear the full story about corporate wrongdoing, they typically hold the corporation accountable. Jurisdictions that allow juries to do their job have been branded \u201cjudicial hellholes\u201d by the ATRA and the politicians who succumb to its lobbying efforts.The efforts to undermine the right to a fair trial take many forms. One is the battle against expert witnesses. Many states have passed laws that require\u00a0experts in medical malpractice cases\u00a0to practice in the same field of medicine as the physician who is accused of negligence. For example, a court might\u00a0decide that a cardiologist cannot testify about an internist\u2019s negligent failure to diagnose heart disease because cardiologists and internists practice in different\u00a0fields of medicine. The fact that the cardiologist is eminently qualified to express an opinion about the standard of care an internist should follow when presented with symptoms of heart disease is not seen as a legitimate reason to let the cardiologist testify as an expert.Lobbyists try to restrict the availability of expert witnesses because they know that doctors do not like to testify against other doctors. Finding experts in a\u00a0medical malpractice case can be challenging. Finding an expert who practices in the same field and (as some states require) is licensed in the same state\u00a0might be nearly impossible. Since lawyers might overcome that obstacle by recruiting a retired physician as a witness, medical industry lobbyists have\u00a0persuaded some states to bar experts from testifying if they have not actively practiced medicine within the last few years.Undermining JusticeThe Judicial Hellhole meme is just one of ATRA\u2019s many efforts to vilify plaintiffs (who are inevitably labeled as \u201cfraudulent\u201d), trial lawyers (but only those who represent plaintiffs), juries (but only when they return a verdict against a corporate or medical defendant), and judges (except for the judges who bend\u00a0over backwards to keep plaintiffs from having a fair trial). Efforts to undermine the civil justice system include persuading the public that most lawsuits are\u00a0frivolous and that juries are \u201cout of control,\u201d notwithstanding all the studies showing that the opposite is true.Other \u201ctort reform\u201d efforts championed by ATRA and like-minded organizations include limiting the compensation that injury victims can receive, limiting the circumstances under which\u00a0punitive damages can be awarded, and limiting the\u00a0attorney\u2019s fees\u00a0that can be paid to plaintiff\u2019s lawyers (but not to insurance\u00a0company lawyers). The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has embarked on a long-term mission to promote the election of business-friendly judges, often by\u00a0portraying them as \u201ctough on crime\u201d while concealing their true agenda.Our civil justice system is meant to give ordinary people a fair chance to prove that they were harmed by the careless actions of another person or business. When powerful industries try to undermine the civil justice system by condemning places as \u201cjudicial hellholes\u201d because they still give ordinary\u00a0people a fair chance to prove their case, they risk destroying the only branch of government that is designed to be fair to everyone."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Blog","item":"https:\/\/butlerfirm.com\/blog\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Do Judicial Hellholes Really Exist?","item":"https:\/\/butlerfirm.com\/blog\/judicial-hellholes-really-exist\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]