State makes 'judicial hellhole' watch list
20.05.12
The suits allow property owners to sue oil companies that pollute their land.
Landowners who have leased property to an oil company may file suit in their parish to pay for environmental remediation measures. The hellholes report calls the practice a “cottage industry” that has “brought onshore energy exploration and production to its knees in Louisiana,” adding that “cagey bayou plaintiffs’ lawyers often manage, with blessings from both parish and appellate judges, to use the law unfairly for their own gain.”
For the report, the American Tort Reform Association compiled feedback from about 7,000 businesses, complaints reported through the group’s website and a survey of its membership of 300 industry groups interested in changing the civil justice system to prevent frivolous lawsuits, according to association spokesman Darren McKinney.
“We’re offering our analysis and our opinion, but the facts are the facts,” said McKinney. “We’re not making stuff up. In terms of legacy lawsuits, we’ve been hearing this from Louisianians for years.”
Source: Houma Courier