(The Center Square) – King County has been listed as a “judicial hellhole” in a new report due to previous decisions by King County Courts.
The American Tort Reform Association releases a list of “judicial hellholes” every year. Those named are best described as court systems alleged to be unfair to defendants. This is the first time King County has been listed in the annual report.
According to the report, the county is listed as a judicial hellhole due to unfair group trials, allowing lesser standards for scientific evidence deemed not generally accepted in the scientific community, and allowing substitution of the laws of other states for Washington law when it is favorable to plaintiffs.
The report cites an example of the King County Court utilizing “law shopping” when the court applied favorable aspects of Missouri law, rather than Washington law, to the claims of the plaintiffs’ alleged exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which occurred in the Sky Valley Education Center located in a Seattle suburb.
Students alleged that their health conditions stemmed from exposure to PCBs from aging fluorescent light fixtures at the school.
The trial court agreed with the plaintiffs’ argument that Missouri law should apply since the chemicals at issue were manufactured in Missouri and the manufacturer’s principal place of business was in Missouri.
However, the judicial hellholes report notes that Missouri law has no statute of repose for product liability claims.
The report also cites a study from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which ranked Washington third among states for “nuclear verdicts” per capita in personal injury and wrongful death cases during a recent ten-year period. This was due largely because of verdicts from the trials of PCB exposure cases in the King County Superior Court.
Amy Enbysk, press secretary for King County Executive Dow Constantine’s office, told The Center Square that the executive has no role in selecting judges and their decisions in cases are reached independently.
“The Superior Court is separate from county government and operated by the State of Washington,” Enbysk said to The Center Square in an email. “Although Washington judges stand for election, nearly all judges are appointed by the governor and run unopposed for election.”
Lawsuit abuse also comes at a cost to taxpayers, with data also revealing that Washington residents pay the fourth-highest “tort tax” in the country.
The American Tort Reform Association report cites data from the Perryman Group that showed Washington state residents pay the fourth-highest tort tax in the nation at nearly $2,289 per year.
The report also mentions that excessive tort costs result in a loss of more than 163,000 jobs annually in Washington.
