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Basic Fairness
Is West Virginia’s Mass Litigation Panel
fair?
The West Virginia Supreme Court
of Appeals created a Mass Litigation Panel for large class
action cases. Is this system fair?
- In a recent massive asbestos
class action case handled by the panel, thousands of plaintiffs
from across the country with many types of exposures to
differing products in differing locations were thrown together
with some 250 defendants. Nearly every defendant in the
case settled rather than face an unpredictable West Virginia
court system.
- In a case against several railroads,
approximately 5000 out-of-state plaintiffs and their out-of-state
personal injury lawyers were combined into a single West
Virginia courtroom (and hosted by West Virginia taxpayers).
- In 2003, class action legal
experts described West Virginia’s mass litigation
process as one that drags more and more cases into the state’s
courts. As the courts willingly accept massive cases, the
state becomes a magnet for even more cases.
- West Virginia was ranked 49th
in overall treatment of tort and contract litigation and
48th in treatment of class actions in a survey of major
employers.
Read more:
:: Manhattan
Institute Center for Legal Policy class action report referencing
West Virginia courts
:: Harris
Interactive and U.S. Chamber survey of major employers
:: Back
to Eye on WV Justice
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