The American Tort Reform Association has moved West Virginia out of the top spot in its 2007 annual report card on jurisdictions' legal climates. Unfortunately, West Virginia was ranked fourth among the most unfair civil court jurisdictions in the nation.
The group named six Judicial Hellholes for 2007, and West Virginia was the only state to receive the honors, which it has held for six consecutive years. This is no point of pride, as the listing is an indicator that West Virginia does not have a favorable business climate.
The American Tort Reform Association cites several reasons for its criticism of West Virginia. West Virginia has a bad reputation because our laws allow courts to welcome out-of-state lawsuits, liability theories favor plaintiffs and standards for classaction lawsuits are low.
The first criticism was temporarily addressed by the Legislature in 2003 with the venue shopping legislation. Those venue reforms were struck down by the state Supreme Court in Morris v. Crown Equipment Corp., a case where a Virginia man was injured on the job in Virginia on a piece of equipment made in Ohio. The man sued in lawsuit friendly West Virginia, but the circuit judge threw out the case because of the 2003 venue law.
When the worker appealed, the state Supreme Court overruled the new law, opening our state to courtclogging out-of-state lawsuits again. In response, this year the Legislature passed a flawed venue reform bill, not correcting the problem.
The second criticism, that laws favor plaintiffs, is broad and leaves room for a great deal of improvement. Leveling the legal playing field in West Virginia is a challenge that a governor with the popularity Gov. Joe Manchin has should take the opportunity to address.
The third reason given for West Virginia's legal black eye was classaction lawsuits. The recent Roane County jury award of $405 million in the natural gas royalties classaction case was noted. Two thirds of that award was for punitive damages. Manchin unsuccessfully tried to undermine the award by changing gas royalty contractual law in a recent special legislative session.
Another high profile classaction lawsuit is taking shape. This suit may demonstrate a cozy relationship between the Legislature and personal injury lawyers, catapulting the state to No. 1 when we are rated again next year.
Delegate Alex Shook, who is an attorney, and attorney Paul Ferrell Jr. are recruiting plaintiffs for a class-action suit against Brick-Street, the private workers' compensation firm created by Manchin and the Legislature in 2005. Shook is also a member of the Judiciary Subcommittee A, which passed a bill out of committee in October that would allow the Legislature to subpoena BrickStreet's books.
This was an extraordinary power the subcommittee was requesting with no explanation. The bill granted the Legislature the ability to give trial lawyers access to the insurance company's books, for discovery of evidence, at taxpayers' expense. Who knew Shook would be filing a class-action lawsuit against BrickStreet? Manchin promised to veto their bill, so they created a new draft in December.
The intentions and actions of self-serving legislators may propel the state back into first place Judicial Hell, keeping the state's citizens at the economic bottom.
CINDY FRICH is a former, two-term. Republican member of the state's House of Delegates. She can be reached via e-mail at opinion@dominionpost.com.