(The Center Square) – Philadelphia’s notoriety as a destination of choice for plaintiffs seeking generous awards through litigation continues to pull focus in the state’s legal landscape.
In a report released Tuesday by the American Tort Reform Foundation, the city’s Court of Common Pleas ranked fifth on its list of “judicial hellholes” for 2025.
The offense which earned Philadelphia the moniker this year? The foundation points to repeat problems including “nuclear verdicts” with huge payouts, the ability to “forum shop” for venues perceived to be friendly toward plaintiffs, and the frequency of asbestos and medical liability litigation. The report also cites alleged judicial fraud and the city’s Complex Litigation Center as “emerging concerns.”
The fraud alleged includes a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, Act filed by Uber against law firm Simon & Simon. The suit claims that the firm has worked with medical providers to “fabricate and exaggerate” injury claims. The suit alleges that the firm compensated doctors to perform evaluations using boilerplate language to bolster injury claims before patients had even been seen.
“When bad actors cheat the system, everyone pays the price,” Tiger Joyce, president of the American Tort Reform Association, said. “Fraud makes lawsuits more expensive for everyone and it contributes to the ballooning cost of litigation, higher bills, and increased insurance rates.”
For everyday Pennsylvanians, medical malpractice suits may be the most consequential issue highlighted by the report as lawsuits drive up the cost of liability insurance for doctors. The price is frequently cited among the list of reasons many doctors have abandoned private practice to work under the umbrella of much larger hospitals and organizations. Still, hospitals across the state are struggling to stay afloat as the costs meet low insurance and Medicaid reimbursement rates.
Nicole Stallings, president and CEO of the Hospital and Healthsystems Association of Pennsylvania, told legislators on the Senate Institutional Sustainability and Innovation Committee that “between the threat of nuclear verdicts and the recent Supreme Court rule change allowing venue shopping, our hospitals are one lawsuit away from closing their doors.”
The report cites a study from economic analysts, the Perryman Group, which estimates that Pennsylvanians pay a “tort tax” of more than $1,400 annually. The figure encompasses direct costs of the tort system, lost gross output, jobs, and lost federal, state and local revenue to ascertain the number. The study claims that targeted legal reform would result in a more than $18 billion increase to the state’s economic activity.
The American Tort Reform Foundation is a nonpartisan non-profit organization that advocates for legal reform. The group was formed by and is largely supported by the same major industries who lose out when “nuclear verdicts” are awarded. They advocate for civil justice reform to lower the financial burden of lawsuits both to industry and the public.
The group accuses plaintiffs of using “junk science” in suits against several industries in Pennsylvania. They point to Philadelphia’s Complex Litigation Center, which handles cases many courts cannot and therefore attracts lawsuits.
Featured suits include claims against several well-known and widely used products thought to have severe adverse health effects. The report dismisses claims that the glyphosate in weed-killer Roundup is carcinogenic. It takes issue with proceedings in cases against herbicide Paraquat, which has been linked to Parkinson’s Disease.
Other lawsuits that found themselves the target of complaints from the group include those against manufacturers of talcum powder and hair relaxers, both of which have been linked to cancer in consumers. High incidence of litigation around asbestos, the leading cause of mesothelioma lung cancer, contributes to the city’s ranking. The report also raised the alarm against potential future lawsuits against ultra-processed food manufacturers and companies whose environmental impacts allegedly contribute to deaths from climate change events.
Defenders of the tort system point to it as one of few means of finding justice for people affected by the actions of massive corporations absent government regulation. The state legislature itself has recently taken on topics like Paraquat and processed foods with support from both sides of the aisle. The issue has also taken center stage as a major priority for Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
This year, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court was downgraded from the organization’s top offenders to its watch list. The group commended the court’s decision to reinstate a lower court decision in a case surrounding a bus accident in Westmoreland County. The determination to try the case where it occurred rather than in Philadelphia, the organization said, strengthened the rule of forum non conveniens which ensures that trials take place in an appropriate venue.
Defenders of Philadelphia’s system point to the fact that it is well-equipped to handle the massive number of cases it does compared to neighboring counties. They say the city is especially prepared to handle larger caseloads at a faster pace because of the Complex Litigation Center and the number of judges on the bench.
