FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Patrick Connor, Washington State Director, patrick.connor@nfib.org
or Tony Malandra, Senior Media Manager, anthony.malandra@nfib.org

OLYMPIA, Wash., Dec. 11, 2024—Comment from Patrick Connor, state director for NFIB in Washington, on yesterday’s release of the 2024-2025 Judicial Hellholes report from the American Tort Reform Foundation that ranked King County a ninth in the nation.

“Washington residents are facing higher prices and fewer job opportunities as a direct result of an increasingly hostile legal landscape statewide, and more particularly in King County. Employers being hit with high-dollar settlement demands by Seattle-area lawsuit mills using manufactured plaintiffs who suffered few or no actual damages is becoming commonplace. It’s consumers who ultimately suffer as businesses are forced to raise prices, make drastic cuts, or even close their doors due to these legal greenmail schemes.”

From the ATRA news release

In the King County section of the report, King County Courts Named ‘Judicial Hellhole®’ for First Time. New Report Ranks Seattle-Area Courts Among Worst in US, Tiger Joyce, president of the American Tort Reform Association, says, “A series of questionable practices in King County’s courts lead to this designation, from ‘law shopping’ to allowing junk science evidence. These practices not only threaten the integrity of the civil justice system, but they cost residents across Washington.”

According to the release, “King County courts also engage in controversial practices like consolidating multiple, dissimilar plaintiffs with claims related to polychlorinated biphenyls exposure, or PCB exposure, into single trials. ATRF says this practice can unfairly tilt the scales of justice by allowing weak cases to hide behind stronger ones, potentially misleading juries.

“Data reveals that Washington state residents pay the fourth-highest ‘tort tax’ in the nation at nearly $2,290 per year. Moreover, excessive tort costs result in a loss of more than 163,000 jobs annually in the state.”

Keep up with the latest Washington small-business news at www.nfib.com/WA. Follow us on X at @NFIB_WA and on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/NFIB.WA.

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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 a nonprofit, nonpartisan, and member-driven association. 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.

NFIB Washington
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Twitter: @NFIB_WA