JEFFERSON CITY (Dec. 9, 2025) – With St. Louis ranking No. 6 on the American Tort Reform Foundation’s annual list of “Judicial Hellholes,” NFIB State Director Brad Jones issued the following statement.

“Many of these lawsuits target small businesses with technical nitpicks and the people filing them have little or no intention of ever patronizing the businesses they target,” Jones said. “Hardworking families in St. Louis and across Missouri are paying the price for a legal system that rewards exploitation over fairness.”

According to the report’s findings:

• Every St. Louis resident pays a $1,653 “tort tax” and 30,333 jobs are lost annually in the city due to lawsuit abuse. That’s $6,612 per year for a family of four.
• This is an increase of more than 12% when compared with data from the previous year.

CLICK HERE to read the full report.