ATRA’s Hypocrisy Shines for All to See: 2010 Report Critical of State’s Lack of Automatic Right of Appeal, But Attacks Supreme Court for Accepting One
Charleston, W.Va. – The West Virginia Association for Justice criticized the so-called Judicial Hellhole Report, which was released today by the American Tort Reform Association, as nothing more than propaganda released by billion-dollar special interests who want immunity when corporations break the law and risk the lives and financial security of West Virginia consumers and workers.
“The American Tort Reform Association was created for one purpose—lobbying for immunity when corporations break the law. It is a front group for big money corporate special interests, and its so-called report is not a legitimate analysis of either West Virginia’s legal system or our business climate,” said Michael J. Romano, president of the West Virginia Association for Justice.
“ATRA is continuing its unrelenting attack on West Virginia and our civil justice system because our courts are the one place where these corporate wrongdoers can still be held accountable for their negligence and misconduct.”
The goal of the campaign is to scare lawmakers into passing “tort reforms” that limit access to the civil justice system—or risk being labeled by ATRA as a “judicial hellhole.” Indeed, in her article “Judicial Hellholes, Lawsuit Climates and Bad Social Science: Lessons from West Virginia,” Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law professor Elizabeth Thornburg writes: “ATRA’s hellhole campaign began in 2002, and falls squarely within this tradition of scaring the public, but with a twist—this time the explicit goal is to appeal to the public as voters, to scare state politicians into making pro-defendant changes in the law in order to make the label go away, and to get rid of judges whose rulings made ATRA members unhappy. Judicial Hellholes are selected in whatever way suits ATRA’s political goals. The choice is not based on research into the actual conditions in the courts.” (West Virginia Law Review, Vol. 110 No. 3)
“Dr. Thornburg’s conclusions are clearly illustrated in the hypocritical attacks in this year’s report,” said Romano. “In its 2010 Report, ATRA attacks the West Virginia for not having an automatic right of appeal in every case, but then attacks the West Virginia Supreme Court for accepting an appeal in a medical malpractice case. If it were not such a serious matter, one would think it was a joke.”
“The revised rules add transparency to the appeals process removing any doubt that all appeals are fully reviewed by the West Virginia Supreme Court. While a full review of every appeal has always existed in West Virginia, these new rules ensure that every party will know why their appeal was accepted for further proceedings or denied based on the merits of the case as the Court will outline its decision in either an opinion or memorandum. This is justice in its most efficient form and will save taxpayers the burden of an additional $10 million a year for an unnecessary intermediate court of appeals.” said Romano.
ATRA’s report purports itself to be an analysis of court systems hostile to businesses, but Thornburg also noted in her article that in the ATRA reports, “the stories are embedded in a framework of more general statements about West Virginia’s legal system—statements that are the opinions of persons quoted but that appear to be statements of fact. The reports do this by using quotations (unattributed in the text, but identified in the endnotes)—often from the local leaders of ATRA affiliates—characterizing West Virginia’s legal system as if they were providing a neutral empirical analysis.”
The New York Times criticized the validity of the 2007 report. “The question is whether the report’s arguments make sense, are supported by evidence and are applied evenhandedly. Here the report falls short . . . It has no apparent methodology.” In response, ATRA acknowledged that its report was not based on an analysis of the actual facts, admitting, “We have never claimed to be an empirical study.” (New York Times, December 24, 2007)
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