Delaware and Nebraska’s Lawsuit Climate Best in Nation, Study Shows

Delaware ranks first among all fifty states in the fairness of its litigation environment, a position it has held for seven years running, according to an annual assessment of state liability systems conducted by Harris Interactive and released last week by the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform (ILR). Tom Donohue, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, noted that Delaware edged second place finisher Nebraska by only 0.2 points in the raw score.

Donohue said the national business community has a growing concern about the number of asbestos-related lawsuits filed by out-of-state plaintiffs. ILR is launching a national advertising campaign highlighting the results of the study and the need for comprehensive legal reform.

The Harris survey is the preeminent standard by which companies, policymakers and the media measure the legal environment of states. Harris asked 957 senior attorneys to evaluate up to five states in which they were “very” or “somewhat familiar” with that state’s litigation environment.

Survey respondents assigned each state a letter grade for each of 12 different factors affecting the states’ tort liability system, ranging from the overall treatment of tort and contract litigation to judges’ competence and impartiality, and Harris computed an overall score for each state based on these evaluations. The full Harris report is available online at www.instituteforlegalreform.com.