The American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) announced today that Missouri has been labeled a “Lawsuit Inferno” in its new Legislative HeatCheck report. The report highlights the state legislature’s failure to address bills aimed at curbing lawsuit abuse.
“Despite optimism in recent years among key legislators about the ability to pass meaningful reforms, Missouri remains a raging inferno of lawsuit abuse,” said ATRA president Tiger Joyce. “The trial bar’s influence in the state house and certain leaders’ inability to stand up to their liability-expanding agenda has resulted in a legislature that repeatedly fails to enact common-sense reforms.”
A group of Republican lawmakers, referred to by some as the “Chaos Caucus,” has procedurally derailed several important tort reform bills. Leading this group is gubernatorial candidate Sen. Bill Eigel, whose political action committee has received over $200,000 from trial lawyers. This group blocked measures intended to rebalance the state’s civil justice climate.
“It’s disappointing to see Missouri leaders once again do the bidding of the personal injury bar at the expense of their own constituents,” Joyce stated. “While surrounding states take action to improve their legal climates, Missouri is left behind as a litigious outlier where frivolous lawsuits run rampant.”
According to ATRA, excessive tort costs impose a significant “tort tax,” estimated at $1,698 per Kansas City resident and averaging $1,095 annually statewide. These costs contribute to an annual loss of more than 62,000 jobs across Missouri. St. Louis is frequently named a “Judicial Hellhole®,” currently ranked eighth-worst in the nation.
“Unfortunately, Missouri lawmakers punted on meaningful tort reform this year meaning residents will keep paying a crushing ‘tort tax’ that makes everything from groceries to healthcare more expensive,” Joyce added. “Missouri voters deserve to know how lawsuit abuse and the inaction by their elected officials impacts their daily lives.”
ATRA’s Legislative HeatCheck report evaluates selected states’ progress or lack thereof in enacting meaningful tort reform during recent legislative sessions.
Missouri was designated a “Lawsuit Inferno” along with Colorado, Maryland, New Hampshire, and New York lawmakers. The full Legislative HeatCheck report can be accessed at heatcheck.atra.org.
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