NFIB State Director Greg Moreland released the following statement today in response to Pennsylvania’s 1st-place finish in the American Tort Reform Foundation‘s annual “Judicial Hellholes” report:

“Unfortunately, if unsurprisingly, Pennsylvania finds itself at the top of a list no state judicial system wants to be on. Nuclear verdicts, venue shopping, and questionable rulings have become a theme in Pennsylvania. This volatility in our judicial system reverberates throughout the small business community, as the Commonwealth’s small business owners become the subject of predatory attorneys looking to make a name for themselves.

“It doesn’t have to be this way. Pro-trial bar organizations within, and outside, the Commonwealth have spent tens of millions of dollars to achieve this hellhole status. It’s embarrassing.”

Small businesses are especially vulnerable when it comes to unwarranted and frivolous legal attacks. Small, family-owned businesses don’t have and can’t afford teams of lawyers to help defend them against every nuisance suit or frivolous accusation. When a small business is sued, it has to spend thousands of dollars to defend itself, even if the judge eventually throws out the case. Just one lawsuit can be enough to put a small business out of business.

Pennsylvania’s courts, specifically the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, share the unfortunate distinction of jointly being named the year’s No. 1 Judicial Hellholes, along with the courts of Georgia.

 >>>>> Click here to read the report.

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For 80 years, NFIB has been advocating on behalf of America’s small and independent business owners, both in Washington, D.C., and in all 50 state capitals. NFIB is nonprofit, nonpartisan, and member-driven. Since our founding in 1943, NFIB has been exclusively dedicated to small and independent businesses, and remains so today. For more information, please visit nfib.com.