Louisiana Still on the Watch List of Judicial Hellholes!

The American Tort Reform Association has dropped South Florida from its annual Judicial Hellholes list after nine years, thanks to automobile insurance personal injury protection reforms, and also dropped Philadelphia from its former No. 1 ranking of the past two years after tort reform in its Court of Common Pleas Complex Litigation Center.   Jurisdictions with large discovery costs and punitive damages are of concern. The lack of predictability is a major factor in what makes the litigation system problematic for insurers and policyholders.     Nonetheless, South Florida remains on ATRAs watch list, partly because of what ATRA describes as a lax standard for expert testimony in courtrooms, despite efforts to raise the standards to those of other states and the federal government. Also, the latest paper cites gamesmanship with the states bad-faith insurance law being allowed to continue.     Continuing on the ATRA watch list is Louisiana, which the report said has among the highest auto insurance rates in the nation. Auto insurance rates continue to climb there, the report said, thanks to a litigious environment, an aggressive personal injury bar, excessive damage awards and plaintiff friendly judges.     To describe Louisiana, as whole, as a judicial hell-hole is a bit misleading.If you were to continue the latitudinal line westward, most of the Northern part of Louisiana would be more conservative in judicial verdicts. Of course, not all of the JUDGES are conservative, but generally they are more so than in South Louisiana.   Historically, the parishes of Cameron, Calcasieu, Jefferson, Allen and Beauregard were fairly conservative. However, when Hurricane Rita (the sister of Katrina) devastated this area, with less assistance than given to the areas hit by Katrina and insurance companies argued about wind versus flood damage, then these folks became much less tolerant of insurance companies.   We tell what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. We only DEFEND companies, but it takes tenacity to do it.   If you have a question about the judges, lawyers, venue demographics of the North Louisiana parishes, give me a call. I will be glad to visit with you. I am available any day at any time.  For more information on how to contact me, go to the firm's web page at www.perkinsfirm.com.