Philly tops on ‘judical hellhole’ list

A new report calls Philadelphia the top “judicial hellhole” in the country, but the head of the city’s Bar Association disagrees.

Philadelphia is ranked No. 1 on the American Tort Reform Foundation’s “Judicial Hellholes List.”

Darren McKinney of the group says the city is paradise for plaintiff’s attorneys seeking big settlements, said Darren McKinney of that group.

“The damages awards and the verdicts that they will win in the form of money are significantly larger on average than they would win in other comparable jurisdictions,” he said.

Philadelphia Bar Association Chancellor Rudy Garcia said the report is nothing but propaganda.

“The American Tort Reform Foundation is a special interest group,” Garcia said. “Basically what it does is lobby to curtail recovery for injuries caused by corporations. Primarily it does that by distorting the facts and sensationalizing a very few cases in order to make it appear there’s this major problem in the tort system.”

Garcia said cases come to Philadelphia not because of high awards but because its court system does a better job than other places of managing complex litigation.