Iowa ranks 5th for Business Legal Climate

The US Chamber Institute for Legal Reform recently released its "2010 Lawsuit Climate" ranking of states. Iowa ranked 5th (out of 50) overall on how reasonable and balanced the states' tort liability systems are perceived to be by US business.

The report is a sample survey of 1,482 in-house general counsel, senior litigators or attorneys, and other senior executives at companies with at least $100 million in annual revenues.

The other top rated states were Delaware (1), North Dakota (2), Nebraska (3), Indiana (4). The worst rated states were California (46), Alabama (47), Mississippi (48), Louisiana (49), and West Virginia (50).

How Iowa ranked on individual issues:

• Overall Treatment of Tort and Contract Litigation - 5th
• Having and Enforcing Meaningful Venue Requirements - 2nd
• Treatment of Class Action Suites and Mass Consolidation Suits - 6th
• Damages - 5th
• Timeliness of Summary Judgment or Dismissal - 8th
• Discovery - 2nd
• Scientific and Technical Evidence - 15th
• Judges' Impartiality - 4th
• Judges' Competence - 19th
• Juries' Fairness - 3rd

The report states that 67% of survey respondents believed that a state's legal and litigation environment were important for business decisions on where to locate or do business.