Illinois counties land at No. 7 for ‘Judicial Hellholes,’ costs $1,900
per resident
[December 09, 2025]
By Greg Bishop | The Center Square
(The Center Square) – The St. Louis metro area and Cook County are again
among the worst Judicial Hellhole jurisdictions, according to the
American Tort Reform Foundation.
The new report released Tuesday by ATR highlights eight judicial
jurisdictions across the country that earned the reputation of being
“Judicial Hellholes.” Some are known for so-called nuclear verdicts with
high monetary awards, like Los Angeles, which came in at No. 1 with a
“Tort Tax” of $2,458 per resident and 407,500 jobs lost.
“The jurisdiction separated itself as the worst of the worst in 2025,”
the report said. “It saw an eye-popping $1 billion nuclear verdict,
fraud allegations exposing abusive litigation practices, and courts
entertaining novel liability theories that expand defendants’ exposure.”
New York City came in at No. 2. South Carolina’s asbestos litigation
came in at No. 3. Louisiana coastal litigation landed at No. 4.
“This year the first case in the never-ending coastal litigation went to
trial and resulted in an astounding nine-figure nuclear verdict,” ATR’s
report said. “Louisiana plaintiffs’ lawyers have cozied up to state
leaders and the courts are filled with political bias.”
The Philadelphia Court of Common Please came in at No. 5.
“A RICO suit has raised allegations of fraud in Philly’s courts and the
Complex Litigation Center is attracting new mass torts litigation
nationwide,” the report said. “Nuclear verdicts have reached historic
levels and courts allow forum shopping and expansive medical liability.
The City remains a hotspot for asbestos litigation.”
At No. 6 this year, St. Louis can be found.
“Out-of-town [Americans with Disabilities Act] litigation is targeting
St. Louis small business, and the courts are prolific producers of
nuclear verdicts,” the report said. “Judges allow junk science to fuel
litigation and are throwing out jury verdicts that they disagree with.”
ATR President Tiger Joyce explains why Cook, Madison and St. Clair
counties are at No 7.
“These are the jurisdictions where we believe that litigation simply
doesn't operate properly,” Joyce told The Center Square. “It's not
properly balanced in terms of the interests of both plaintiffs and
defendants.”
In Illinois, ATR says the “tort tax” is more than $1,900 per resident.
For a family of four, that means it’s more than $7,600. ATR claims it
also costs over 200,000 jobs in Illinois.
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“This is not just an academic matter for lawyers and judges and
professors,” Joyce said. “This is something that affects everybody.”
Joyce said Illinois is making things worse with a policy recently
approved by Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
“And essentially, what it does is it opens up Illinois to litigation
from all over the country,” Joyce said. “Where does this go? The
basic issue from our perspective is that cases should be brought
either where the defendant is, where the plaintiff is, or where the
matter arose, not just because some plaintiff's lawyer or some
individual thinks that, ‘gee, I, I think I can do better in
Illinois.’”
Among other report findings that can be found at
JudicialHellholes.org: Illinois trial lawyers spent a combined
$110.4 million on more than one million ads across television,
print, radio, digital platforms and outdoor mediums.
Rounding out the Top 8 “Judicial Hellholes” is King County and
Washington Supreme Court.
“The state’s high court reinstated a nuclear verdict and opened the
door to junk science,” the report said. “The courts allow
law-shopping and expanded asbestos liability for businesses. King
County is now home to novel climate change litigation and is leading
the charge against oil and gas companies.”
On the organizations’ “Watch List” are a trio of Georgia counties,
the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Texas, the Michigan Supreme Court
and Kentucky.
There are “Points of Light” in the report.
“Among the positive developments, a Colorado court rebuffed medical
monitoring damages theory, the Delaware Supreme Court rejected junk
science, and the Maine Supreme Court declined to broaden the scope
of public nuisance liability,” the report said. “Additionally, a
North Carolina court reaffirmed legislative authority to limit
noneconomic damages and the Utah high court eliminated ‘phantom
damages’ windfalls.”
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