July 28, 2006

We were distracted at the time and failed to take due note of a report put out by the Pacific Research Institute in May which, per PRI's press release, "ranks all 50 states in terms of relative tort burdens and relative tort reforms." The authors are Dr. Lawrence J. McQuillan and Hovaness Abramyan, both of PRI. Here's more from the press release:

In addition to Texas, the top five states were Colorado, North Dakota, Ohio, and Michigan. At the bottom were Vermont, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. The higher-ranking states tended to be in the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains, with some top performers – New Hampshire, Ohio, Texas, and Virginia – distributed across the country. The poorest-ranking states tended to be clustered in the Northeast and southern border. The Deep South and parts of the Southeast also ranked poorly.

The report received extensive media coverage and can be read here.