Formerly number one on the annual American Tort Reform Foundation (ATRF)’s Judicial Hellhole ranking, St. Louis has dropped to number eight in 2022 after holding steady in 7th place for two years in a row.
“These things can change a little bit,” said Tiger Joyce, president of the American Tort Reform Association (ATRA). “I don't think jurisdictions are necessarily going to go from being the worst of the worst to completely off the radar screen in just one or two years. It’s an evolutionary process.”
While cities and even entire states can be categorized as judicial hellholes 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.
“There have been some good legislative reforms in the state,” Joyce said. “We acknowledge that. I think that's been pointed out in the report over recent years. We think that there will continue to be a push to enact legislation in the state.”
Georgia, Pennsylvania, and California landed the top 3 spots in the 21st Annual ATRF Judicial Hellhole report, which also determined that removing St. Louis from the Hellholes list will require judges to embrace their role as gatekeepers at the outset of a trial and not allowing junk science to be heard in their courtrooms.
“We think that there's been some reluctance of the courts to, from our perspective, properly enforce the rules,” Joyce told the St. Louis Record. “We highlighted that in this year's study.”
The City of St. Louis Circuit Court has historically allowed forum shopping and junk science to permeate, which can lead to excessive jury awards, according to the tort reform group.
“Missouri needs to just continue the legislative reform campaign,” Joyce added. “That's something that we've worked on separately but I do think, quite frankly, that it's important that there be a recognition that jurisdictional questions, which continue to be a matter of concern, are addressed by judges. Ultimately, the legislature can only do so much in that arena.”
Missouri, home to more than 168 drug manufacturers, including Sanofi-Aventis, Eli Lilly & CO, and Hoffmann-La Roche Inc., is among the states that approved legislation to prevent courts from relying on secondary sources that conflict with state law in certain contexts. For example, Senate Bill (SB) 775 modifies provisions relating to judicial proceedings.