Editorial: W.Va. Court System Must Serve Residents

 The Herald-Dispatch, December 20, 2005

Perhaps a sign should be posted above the main entrance of every county courthouse in West Virginia: "Abandon all hope, ye defense lawyers who enter here."

Or maybe not. Last week, the American Tort Reform Foundation issued its annual report of what it calls "judicial hellholes" across the nation. The state of West Virginia was third on the list. It was the only state among the top five "hellholes." Others were counties or groups of counties.

The report describes the West Virginia court system as a place where plaintiffs' lawyers can pick and choose where they file claims, a legal rule that allows monetary compensation simply if a person has been exposed to a toxic substance regardless of the absence of actual injury, the lack of reasonable limits on damages and the potential for a defendant who is only partly responsible for an injury to be forced to pay for 100 percent of the damages.

That sounds pretty bad.

The Associated Press reports that insurance and business interests plan to lobby the Legislature next year for tighter standards governing evidence in asbestos cases. They also seek limits to damages awards. The state Trial Lawyers Association has already jumped on inaccuracies in the Tort Reform Foundation's report as it prepares its own legislative agenda.

There is no reason to limit West Virginia residents' access to their courts because an out-of-state interest group calls us names. But there's also no reason for out-of-state lawyers to shop here in West Virginia for a friendly court to file their lawsuits. West Virginia courts are for West Virginians, not for people whose cases have only slight connection to the state.

Maybe we are a judicial hellhole. Maybe we aren't. Either way, the "hellhole" description comes from one side of the debate. What can't be ignored is that the state's judicial system has a reputation for having become imbalanced toward workers and consumers and against business. This imbalance, or perception of imbalance, is something the Legislature and the state Supreme Court certainly need to address. Whatever is done, it must be for the good of the people, not for the good of the American Tort Reform Foundation or the West Virginia Trial Lawyers Association.