Report Faults Courts for Bad Image
From the Charleston Daily Mail August 26, 2003, Tuesday
Copyright 2003 Charleston Newspapers
Forget tort reform. A group of corporate defense attorneys are calling for court reform.
A report released today by the Defense Trial Counsel of West Virginia blames the state’s judges, and particularly the Supreme Court justices, for West Virginia’s reputation as a tort hell.
Without naming names, the report slams judges for overlooking state law to write opinions that benefit campaign contributors and win popular acclaim.
“We think there’s something inherently problematic with electing judges and having them feel that to get elected and stay elected they have to take popular positions even if those positions aren’t in the best interests of the state,” said Bill Galeota, the president of the group.
The group of nearly 400 lawyers released the report as it announced plans to mount a campaign to teach the public about the economic problems a judiciary perceived as tilted toward plaintiffs can create.
Other groups pushing for changes to the civil justice system estimate that plaintiff-friendly decisions in lawsuits involving tobacco, asbestos and other potential big-money causes of action push up prices and hurt West Virginia’s ability to attract jobs. Insurance companies have cited state court decisions when pushing up their premiums, or refusing to write new policies in West Virginia.
Galeota said many of these problems can be traced back to the “Robin Hood” policies adopted by some state judges.
“We have many good judges and justices, and they’re trying to do the right thing for West Virginia,” he said. “But there’s a general perception that if they take from those who have and give to those who haven’t then we’ll be better off.”
The report says those savvy enough to know the system can use campaign contributions and other political means to influence judicial decisions.
The report focuses particularly on the work of the Supreme Court, which currently has a majority of justices perceived as plaintiff-friendly. Personal injury lawyers contributed heavily to those three justices, Chief Justice Larry Starcher, Warren McGraw and Joe Albright, during their most recent campaigns for the bench.
The report was the result of a year-long study done by the Defense Trial Counsel of West Virginia in response to criticism of the civil justice system.
The group said it didn’t write the report to benefit the businesses they represent. It notes that most of its members “might be expected to selfishly benefit from more lawsuits and more difficulty in resolving them.”
It said it issued the report because it wants to help restore the “perception that West Virginia has a system truly based on that concept proudly displayed in the chambers of its Supreme Court of Appeals: ‘Equal Justice Under The Law.'”
