King County Courts Named ‘Judicial Hellhole®’ for First Time

Press Releases | December 10, 2024

New Report Ranks Seattle-Area Courts Among Worst in US

For the first time, King County, Washington is a “Judicial Hellhole®,” ranked No. 9 in the American Tort Reform Foundation’s annual report released today.

ATRF’s report notes that King County’s courts earned their unenviable spot by “law shopping” and applying Missouri law to chemical exposure cases that occurred in Washington, resulting in nuclear verdicts® and effectively circumventing the state’s own consumer protection laws. The courts also allowed punitive damages under Missouri law when Washington state law typically does not permit these times of damages.

“A series of questionable practices in King County’s courts lead to this designation, from ‘law shopping’ to allowing junk science evidence,” American Tort Reform Association president Tiger Joyce said. “These practices not only threaten the integrity of the civil justice system, but they cost residents across Washington.”

Data reveals that Washington state residents pay the fourth-highest “tort tax” in the nation at nearly $2,290 per year. Moreover, excessive tort costs result in a loss of more than 163,000 jobs annually in the state.

King County courts also engage in controversial practices like consolidating multiple, dissimilar plaintiffs with claims related to polychlorinated biphenyls exposure, or PCB exposure, into single trials. ATRF says this practice can unfairly tilt the scales of justice by allowing weak cases to hide behind stronger ones, potentially misleading juries.

“This approach sacrifices due process under the guise of efficiency, resulting in inflated verdicts that don’t accurately reflect individual circumstances,” Joyce said.

Further cementing its Judicial Hellholes® status, judges in King County fail to act as proper gatekeepers and permit evidence that uses novel and unproven methods to estimate historical PCB concentrations. The Washington Court of Appeals reversed one such case in May, which had resulted in a $185 million verdict. The Washington Supreme Court will have an opportunity to rein in the abuses out of King County as the decision is being appealed.

Recent rulings in Washington’s courts also expanded liability for third-party criminal acts, creating an unpredictable and potentially hostile legal environment for institutions or businesses operating in the state.

“The reality is that expanding liability for third-party criminal acts could lead to higher prices and reduced availability of important services like ridesharing,” Joyce said. “Ultimately, such a dramatic expansion and judicial overreach could have the opposite effect than intended by making communities less safe and less prosperous as operations struggle to manage this expanded liability.”

The full Judicial Hellholes® report and 2024-2025 rankings are available at JudicialHellholes.org.