California listed as the nation’s worst “judicial hellhole” (again)

The American Tort Reform Foundation has once again listed California at the top of its Judicial Hellhole rankings. The report mentions, among other things, the $11 million punitive damages award in the Grigg v. Owens-Illinois case, which we discussed here. That certainly wasn’t the largest award of the year, but it made the report because of some surprising rulings by the trial court. Among other things, the articles says that the trial judge determined in posttial proceedings that that the punitive damages claim never should have gone to the jury, but she nonetheless refused to vacate the award.

Oakland jury awards $11M in punitive damages against Owens-Illinois