REFORMERS ASSAIL L.A.'S JURY AWARDS AREA'S COURTS LABELED ONE OF 'JUDICIAL HELLHOLES' IN U.S.

Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer

Los Angeles County is among a baker's dozen of ``judicial hellholes'' across the nation that attract lawsuits because it is seen as a plaintiff- friendly area where the law is not applied fairly, a legal reform group charged in a new report Thursday.

The 13 locations are sometimes referred to as ``magic jurisdictions'' because lawyers seemingly pull million- or billion-dollar verdicts out of a hat, the authors wrote.

The report by the American Tort Reform Association, whose members include companies and business groups, said attorneys and plaintiffs shop around for locations where they can get large verdicts or settlements.

``Personal injury lawyers bring cases to judicial hellholes because they know these courts will produce a large verdict or settlement, a favorable precedent, or both,'' said ATRA President Sherman Joyce. ``As a result, this handful of jurisdictions has a tremendous negative impact on our civil justice system.''

The report said the problem raises costs for consumers, drags down the economy and even compromises access to affordable health care. The overall impact, according to the authors, is at an all-time high, costing a family of four $2,800 a year.

Los Angeles Superior Court officials declined to comment on the report. They said Judge Charles W. McCoy, who oversees the Central Civil West Division Courthouse, where many personal injury and consumer lawsuits are tried, is on vacation.

``This is clearly an attack against the jury system because rather than looking at these cases as an example of something wrong with jurors, the more logical and serious question to ask is what is wrong with the conduct of the corporations that were found to be responsible for such damages,'' said Antony Stuart, president-elect of the Consumers Attorneys Association of Los Angeles. ``The American Tort Reform Association wants to try and protect corporate misconduct by attacking our constitutionally guaranteed right to trial by jury.''

The report, ``Bringing Justice to Judicial Hellholes,'' identified 13 jurisdictions where it says the law is consistently applied unfairly.

In Los Angeles County, the ATRA cited last year's $28 billion damage award against Phillip Morris for a 64-year-old former smoker. That verdict followed a $3 billion verdict for a smoker in 2001 and a $4.9 billion verdict against General Motors in 2000 involving the explosion of a Chevy Malibu, ``where the defense was not permitted to tell the jury that the driver who rear-ended the car at over 70 mph was both speeding and drunk,'' the authors wrote.

``The jurisdiction is such a money-maker for plaintiff's lawyers that it is known to them as 'The Bank,''' the authors wrote. ``While each of these awards were (later) reduced by a judge, the sheer magnitude of the amounts, even after the reduction, is cause for alarm.

``At this rate, the sum of verdicts coming out of the Central Civil West Division may exceed the total wealth of some small countries. The Bank clearly needs to hire a guard who will stop the looting and apply the law.''

Stuart said lawyers are not free to ``shop around'' and bring cases to Los Angeles County.

``There are very strict rules on where you are permitted to file cases,'' he said. ``The reason why the tobacco case was tried in Los Angeles County is that is where the injury occurred. If they single out Central Civil West, what they are really doing is picking on the big cases. The big cases, the ones that take a long time, are the ones where huge corporations are being sued in very serious injury or serious damage situations.''

Another example in ATRA's report involves Madison County, Ill., where the authors found that county judges receive three-quarters of their contributions from personal-injury lawyers. Not surprisingly, Madison County saw a 2,050 percent increase in class-action lawsuits from 1998 to 2001, the authors wrote.

Another example, Mississippi's 22nd Judicial District, is the subject of an ongoing FBI investigation concerning allegations revealed on CBS-TV's ``60 Minutes'' that some jurors might have received payment for their verdicts.

Troy Anderson, [phone]

troy.anderson(at)dailynews.com

NOTED COURTS

--The locations named in the ATRA report are Los Angeles County; Miami-Dade County, Fla.; Orleans Parish (New Orleans), La.; Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, Pa.; the city of St. Louis, Mo.; Madison County, Ill.; Jefferson County, Texas; Mississippi's 22nd Judicial Circuit; Hidalgo County, Texas; Kanawha County, W.Va.; Nueces County, Texas; and Holmes and Hinds counties, Miss.

CAPTION(S):

box

Box:

NOTED COURTS (see text)