Formerly number one on the annual American Tort Reform Foundation (ATRF)’s Judicial Hellhole ranking, St. Louis has dropped to number seven in 2021 for the second year in a row.
“We've been following Missouri very closely with St. Louis being a former number one judicial hell hole,” said Tiger Joyce, president of the American Tort Reform Association (ATRA). “There have been some important advances and you've got legislative leaders and a governor, Gov. Parsons, who have been quite good supporters of reform but clearly more needs to be done.”
California, New York, and the Georgia Supreme Court occupy the top 3 spots in the 20th annual ATRF Judicial Hellhole report.
"It's always important to keep in mind that these are particularly pronounced problems amongst some of the high-risk specialists and the difference this year, as we've seen in other years in the past, was where you had an access issue," Joyce told the St. Louis Record. "Right now, at least from what we see, it's an economic issue, which is obviously very important. From our perspective, we want balanced reform and an appropriate level of balance between the interests of both sides."
The City of St. Louis Circuit Court has historically allowed forum shopping and junk science to permeate, according to ATRF’s 2021-2022 report, and there remains some uncertainty around punitive damages, which can lead to excessive jury awards.
While cities and even entire states can be categorized as a judicial hellhole based on an evaluation of court systems by ATRF, partial reform of punitive damages has helped St. Louis gradually inch out of the top spot.
“It's still to be determined exactly what's going to happen,” Joyce said.
More than 15,000 jobs a year are lost because of lawsuit abuse and cost the city’s economy up to $1 billion, according to ATRA data.
An emerging area in Missouri that is concerning to ATRA is innovator liability, according to Joyce.
As previously reported, under state law, brand name drug manufacturer defendants which have nothing to do with a generic product involved in litigation can be held liable for damages of an injured party.
“Our counsel testified on that issue this past year,” Joyce said. “Innovator liability, as the name suggests, would require that there not be a liability imposed on a manufacturer that doesn't actually make a product. This arises in the pharmaceutical arena and it’s an issue that could arise in multiple contexts.”
Missouri is home to more than 168 drug manufacturers, including Sanofi-Aventis, Eli Lilly & CO, and Hoffmann-La Roche Inc.
According to a Federalist Society civil justice update, Plaintiffs are targeting branded drug companies rather than companies that manufacture the generic drug because federal law overall preempts state law, but some legislatures worry that absolving generic drug companies and implicating branded drug companies will curb innovation and increase prices.
“Innovator liability is an important issue,” Joyce added.
Courts such as the Iowa Supreme Court and West Virginia Supreme Court have rejected innovator liability, according to the Federalist Society report.