ATRA Sounds Alarm on Missouri’s 'Lawsuit Inferno' in New Report

ATRA Sounds Alarm on Missouri’s ‘Lawsuit Inferno’ in New Report

Press Releases | July 31, 2024

ATRA Report Highlights How Political Infighting Blocks Crucial Reforms

Today, the American Tort Reform Association announced that Missouri is a “Lawsuit Inferno.” ATRA’s new Legislative HeatCheck report cites the state legislature’s lack of action on bills that would rein in lawsuit abuse in the “Show Me” state.

“Despite optimism in recent years among key legislators about the ability to pass meaningful reforms, Missouri remains a raging inferno of lawsuit abuse,” ATRA president Tiger Joyce said. “The trial bar’s influence in the state house and certain leaders’ inability to stand up to their liability-expanding agenda has resulted in a legislature that repeatedly fails to enact common-sense reforms.”

A group of Republican lawmakers, dubbed by some in the Capitol as the “Chaos Caucus,” procedurally derailed several crucial tort reform bills. At the helm is gubernatorial candidate Sen. Bill Eigel, whose political action committee has received more than $200,000 in campaign contributions from trial lawyers. The group blocked measures intended to rebalance the state’s civil justice climate, including bills that would:

Reduce the time frame in which personal injury claims may be filed (Senate Bill 853 / House Bill 1964);
Align state class action rules with federal standards (Senate Bill 1509);
Ensure multiple defendants cannot be liable for more than 100% of damages (Senate Bill 1201);
Regulate third-party litigation financing and stop foreign influence in domestic litigation (Senate Bill 977); and,
Limit medical expense claims in lawsuits to what was actually paid, rather than inflated amounts sometimes initially billed by healthcare providers (House Bill 1965).

“It’s disappointing to see Missouri leaders once again do the bidding of the personal injury bar at the expense of their own constituents,” Joyce said. “While surrounding states take action to improve their legal climates, Missouri is left behind as a litigious outlier where frivolous lawsuits run rampant.”

Excessive tort costs impose a staggering “tort tax” as high as $1,698 per Kansas City resident, averaging $1,095 per year statewide. These costs further result in a loss of more than 62,000 jobs each year across the state. Missouri, particularly St. Louis, is perennially named a “Judicial Hellhole®,” currently ranked eighth-worst in the nation.

“Unfortunately, Missouri lawmakers punted on meaningful tort reform this year meaning residents will keep paying a crushing ‘tort tax’ that makes everything from groceries to healthcare more expensive,” Joyce said. “Missouri voters deserve to know how lawsuit abuse and the inaction by their elected officials impacts their daily lives.”

ATRA’s Legislative HeatCheck report evaluates a select group of states’ progress — or lack thereof — in enacting meaningful tort reform measures during their most recent legislative sessions.

Missouri’s legislature was named a “Lawsuit Inferno” alongside state lawmakers in Colorado, Maryland, New Hampshire and New York. The full Legislative HeatCheck report is available at heatcheck.atra.org.