Overview
- ATRF’s 2025–2026 list names Los Angeles, New York City, South Carolina asbestos litigation, Louisiana coastal litigation, Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, St. Louis, Illinois’s Cook/Madison/St. Clair counties, and King County with the Washington Supreme Court.
- Los Angeles tops the ranking after a reported $1 billion talc‑mesothelioma verdict, with ATRF estimating a local “tort tax” of $2,458 per resident and citing what it describes as novel liability theories.
- Illinois’s Cook, Madison and St. Clair counties rank No. 7, with ATRF estimating more than $1,900 in excess tort costs per resident and asserting more than 200,000 lost jobs tied to litigation.
- ATRF highlights rising asbestos and talc filings, fraud allegations against some plaintiffs’ firms, growing use of RICO claims by defendants, and increased ADA and technical lawsuits that it says hit small businesses.
- The report includes a Watch List featuring Texas, three Georgia counties, the Pennsylvania and Michigan supreme courts, and Kentucky, and it spotlights “Points of Light” such as recent rulings in Colorado, Delaware, Maine, North Carolina and Utah; ATRF also cites a national excess tort cost estimate of $367.8 billion, or $1,666 per American, and 4.8 million jobs.