The Wall Street Journal recently highlighted the personal costs associated with our country’s lawsuit-friendly legal environment. In an editorial printed earlier this month, the news outlet referenced a recent study by the U.S. Chamber’s Institute for Legal Reform that analyzed the economic costs – and the costs to taxpayers – of America’s tort system. As PCCJR noted in a previous newsletter, the…
News & Updates: Health Care
Dog Bite Attorney Sued… When His Dog Attacks!
A well-known plaintiffs’ attorney in the Philadelphia region is getting an expensive lesson in becoming the target of civil litigation. Personal injury attorney Dean Weitzman, aka “MyPhillyLawyer,” and his wife are on the hook for a more than $3.1 million verdict in a case involving the family dog. A woman filed suit against Weitzman last January claiming she…
Pennsylvania Courts Ranked Second on National Judicial Hellholes List
Report cites negative impact of the Supreme Court’s recent medical liability venue rule change Pennsylvania’s notoriously litigious civil justice climate continues to rank as one of the nation’s worst judicial hellholes. This year, the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas and the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania together rose to the second worst judicial hellhole in the country…
State Legislative Caucuses Select Leadership Teams as Control of the House Remains Up in the Air
The four legislative caucuses have selected their leadership teams for the upcoming 2023-24 legislative session, however which party will control the state House at the beginning of the new year has yet to be determined. In the November General Election, Democrats won a 102 to 101 majority in the House. However, that number will drop to…
Pennsylvania Residents Burdened with Thousands of Dollars Annually for State’s Inefficient Civil Justice System
A new study by the U.S. Chamber’s Institute for Legal Reform (ILR) has found that Pennsylvania has the 6th highest tort costs in the nation. The report, which analyzed the impact of lawsuit abuse nationally and by state, revealed that in 2020, tort costs reached $443 billion nationally. Tort costs in the Commonwealth totaled nearly $17 billion (representing 2.1…
Exposing the Truth Behind the Venue Argument
For years, plaintiffs’ attorneys in Pennsylvania have argued that the Commonwealth’s medical malpractice venue rule – which held that cases had to be tried in the county in which the alleged incident occurred – prevented their clients from getting justice. They were so persuasive in this argument that the Supreme Court moved to rescind the venue…