Mississippi’s legal system ‘most hostile’

According to US lawyers, Mississippi’s legal system is the most hostile to business, followed by West Virginia, despite both states passing tort reform laws in 2002. The survey of lawyers for public corporations and insurance companies found that the next worst states were Texas, Louisiana and Alabama. Mississippi limits damages for pain and suffering to US$500,000 in medical malpractice cases and caps punitive damages against businesses at US$20mn or no more than 4% of net worth as a result of its tort reform law.