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Every year, we can expect an annual dose of propaganda from the American Tort Reform Association about "judicial hellholes," among which West Virginia can be expected to rank prominently
This is usually followed by further noisemaking along similar lines by the Chamber of Commerce.
Presumably, the idea is to shock us into such a state of awe that we no longer allow workers, consumers, and citizens access to the legal system.
But as WV Public Radio reported yesterday,
a new study by two West Virginia University professors disputes the Chamber's claims. It says the number of tort cases are actually declining, and the state's judges don't see an increase in frivolous lawsuits.
The full report is here.
Among its conclusions is that the legislature develop
better data collection systems that would allow West Virginians to more intelligently assess and debate what our courts do and how that might be improved, rather than relying on self-interested representations of reality to pass for cogent analysis on the state of our courts.
Score one for the reality-based community.
(There's more at The Goat Rope.)
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