MISSOURI NAMED A 'JUDICIAL HELLHOLE'

Date: January 05, 2016

State sees skyrocketing punitive damages.

Missouri is the fourth worst “judicial hellhole” in the country, according to the American Tort Reform Association’s annual report.

ATRA cites several problems that led to this year’s ranking in the “Show Me Your Lawsuits State”:

  • Expert Testimony—Federal courts and most state courts use the Daubert standard for the admission of expert witness testimony, but Missouri uses a flexible standard that allows admitting scientific or technical testimony based mostly on purported experts’ paper credentials and not on his or her methods. Legislation in the Senate and House in the 2015 legislative session would have brought Missouri into line with that of more than 30 states that use the Daubert standard, but vocal opposition from plaintiffs’ lawyers and firms and judges killed the bills.

  • ‘Missouri Plan’ Benefits Plaintiffs’ Attorneys—Under the Missouri Plan, the plaintiffs’ bar appoints Missouri judges to the bench at all levels, wielding disproportionate power.

  • Punitive Damages—The Missouri Supreme Court struck down the state’s statutory limits on punitive damages in 2014, and since then, punitive damage awards have begun to skyrocket. This move earned mention in the previous Judicial Hellholes report, with notation that even the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized that courts need to “ensure the measure of punishment is both reasonable and proportionate to the amount of harm to the plaintiff and to the general damages recovered.”

The full report is available here.  

Related Content: Small Business News | Legal | Missouri

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