How Do The Tort Reformers Rate Alabama?
The Directorship has its "Boardroom Intelligence" which ranks the states according to their friendliness towards big business. According to this tort reform document, here is the summary of Alabama, ranked 41st in the nation:
Despite ranking 41st this year, Alabama’s liability climate is neutral for growth and job creation. Alabama has a rule-of-law Supreme Court majority and the legislature has enacted significant legislative liability reforms. The state has fallen backward in overall monetary tort losses, dropping to sixth worst among the states. An anti-reform majority controls the state legislature.The Supreme Court rule-of-law majority has been weakened somewhat by the election of two activist justices, including Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb. Activist Deborah Bell Paseur and rule-of -law appellate court Judge Gregory Shaw are running for an open seat on the Supreme Court. The outcome of the race does not threaten the rule-of-law majority; however, a win by Paseur would continue to weaken that majority. The plaintiffs’ bar will seek to undo the transformation
of the state from “tort hell” in the early 1990s to a rule-of-law state. Retiring Justice Harold See, former Chief Justice Perry Hooper, and former Attorney General Bill Pryor led this rule-of-law transformation.Alabama remains a state to watch.
We disagree with this assessment - if anything our state has swung too far in favor of businesses but it is interesting to see what the tort reformers think about us.
