HOW KENTUCKY RANKS

• Kentucky is ranked 40th among all fifty states in the fairness of our litigation environment. (Institute for Legal Reform's 2010 State Liability Systems Ranking Study)
• There were 1.23 million new cases filed in Kentucky trial courts in the fiscal year ending June 20, 2008 – an increase of 40,000 over the previous year (State of the Judiciary address, Kentucky Supreme Court Chief Justice John D. Minton)
• An average of over 79 (78.8) new cases per District Court jurisdiction are filed every business day in Kentucky.  
• The Pacific Research Institute's Economic Freedom Index (2008) ranks Kentucky 40th among the fifty states.  The Index collects and ranks indicators from five sectors (fiscal, regulatory, judicial, size of government, welfare spending) to measure how friendly each state's government policies are toward free enterprise and consumer choice.
• Kentucky currently ranks 46th in per capita income. (US Dept. of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2007)
• Kentucky had the 6th highest unemployment rate among the fifty states in 2007.  (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)

LOWER PARTICIPATION IN JUDICIAL RACES

• In those areas of Kentucky where judges were on the ballot in the 2008 General Election, turnout was 10-15 per cent lower than for other races. Only 56.7 per cent of voters participated in the Abramson/Shake Supreme Court race in Jefferson County compared to over 70 per cent who cast ballots in the presidential and senatorial races in the same voting area.
• 31,613 voters in Fayette County who cast ballots for president/vice president chose to by-pass a heavily contested District Court race featuring eight candidates.
• Almost as many voters cast ballots in an uncontested Supreme Court race (81,903) as voted in the eight-candidate contested District Court race (96,093).
• In 2006, a non-presidential year, average turnout for judicial races was approximately 11 percent lower than the statewide turnout of 49.5 per cent. Barely one-third (38.9%*) of registered voters participated in judicial races in a year in which almost every judicial seat in the state was on the ballot.

(*Average turnout for contested races only)

WHAT VOTERS THINK

• Among “change” voters, 76 percent said that they would have a LESS FAVORABLE impression of the next Congress if they passed laws allowing trial lawyers to bring more lawsuits (with 37 percent saying MUCH LESS favorable).  
• 73 percent of the critical swing voter group of Independents would view Congress LESS FAVORABLY should they allow more lawsuits.
• 79 percent of voters said that expansion of lawsuits would have a NEGATIVE impact on the economy, with 43 percent saying it would have a VERY NEGATIVE impact.  
• 83 percent of voters said the number of frivolous lawsuits was a serious problem, virtually unchanged from the 2006 election.
• And voters remain consistent about who benefits most from America’s lawsuit system. 73 percent of voters identified lawyers as benefiting most from lawsuits, while only 4 percent said that victims do – percentages unchanged from the 2006 voter poll.
• 79 per cent of voters think our economy would be further harmed if Congress gives plaintiff's lawyers more opportunities to sue businesses and individuals.

OTHER FACTS

• $247 Billion – The direct cost of tort litigation in the United States in 2006.
• $825 – The per person cost of tort litigation in the United States in 2006.
• Civil litigation consumes 1.87 percent of Americans gross national product, roughly twice the that of other industrialized countries and three times that of France and Great Britain.