Albany and New York City Named "Judicial Hellholes"; Sixth Worst Places in America for Judicial Fairness

ALBANY, NY (12/15/2011)(readMedia)-- New York City and Albany are among the nation's worst civil court jurisdictions and have been deemed "judicial hellholes" by the American Tort Reform Association (ATRA).

Last year (2010), the two cities were placed on ATRA's "watch list" but the warning signs weren't enough to keep the two jurisdictions from earning the distinction of being named "judicial hellholes" this year.

Citing examples of various ridiculous lawsuits currently making their way through the New York court systems as examples of our State's overly litigious environment, the report also highlighted New York City Corporate Counsel Michael Cardozo's speech earlier this year calling for tort reforms to help reduce the $561 million paid out by New York City of tort related claims in the 2011 fiscal year.

The report cited the recent case of former bridegroom Todd J. Remis of Manhattan, who is suing his wedding photographer because he is dissatisfied with, among other things, the fact that the photographers missed the last dance and bouquet toss. Not only has Mr. Remis demanded to be repaid the $4,100 cost of the photography, he also wants $48,000 to recreate the entire wedding and fly the principals to New York so the celebration can be re-shot by another photographer. But, the wedding was in 2003, Remis and his wife separated in 2008, they divorced in 2010, and she's believed to be living somewhere in Latvia with no interest in recreating a wedding photo shoot. The decision by Justice Doris Ling-Cohan of the State Supreme Court in Manhattan to sanction even partially this absurdly shameless lawsuit speaks to why the civil justice system costs New York taxpayers millions of dollars more than it should each year.

The report also pointed to the large number of lawyer-legislators in Albany and their reluctance to move lawsuit reform further in New York State because of their own self-interest.

"To really spur on New York's economic recovery, we need to reverse this trend," said Tom Stebbins, executive director of the Lawsuit Reform Alliance of New York (LRANY). "Other states that have implemented common sense lawsuit reform have done a much better job of weathering the recent economic downturn."

The report's findings are based on a survey of ATRA members and litigation in "judicial hellholes" verified through independent research of media accounts, academic and public policy studies, court dockets, judicial branch statistics and other publicly available information.

The full ATRA report is available at www.judicialhellholes.org.

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About the Lawsuit Reform Alliance of New York

The Lawsuit Reform Alliance of New York (LRANY) is a broad based coalition of hardworking New York business leaders, health care professionals, local government leaders and consumers who are committed to changing New York's burdensome and expensive legal system to help create more jobs and energize our State's economy.