Oklahoma Moves Up in Rankings Thanks to Lawsuit Reforms

Institute for Legal Reform jumps Oklahoma nine places, still in bottom half of states

Oklahoma City (September 10, 2015) – Three years after ranking 42nd in the nation by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform (ILR), Oklahoma now places 33rd in a nationwide survey of the perception of state civil justice systems by top business attorneys.

“We said at the time that that perception should change with the passage of major reforms in the past few years,” said State Chamber of Oklahoma President and CEO Fred Morgan. “Those reforms had to be redone in 2013 after the Oklahoma Supreme Court struck the major legislation passed in 2009. The fact that Oklahoma’s political leadership stepped forward and passed 23 separate pieces of lawsuit reform legislation shows how seriously we took this issue.”

The latest survey shows we were right. The common-sense lawsuit reforms proposed by Governors Brad Henry and Mary Fallin and adopted by Oklahoma’s legislature in a bi-partisan manner over the years is reflected in this year’s release of the 2015 Lawsuit Climate Survey: Ranking the States which shows Oklahoma nine places higher than in 2012.

“The objective of the study is to explore how reasonable, fair and balanced the state tort liability systems are perceived to be by general counsel and senior litigators in U.S. business,” said Morgan. “While it takes a while to see changes as a result of lawsuit reform, we are pleased to see these reforms being recognized. We look forward to working with Governor Fallin and legislative leaders to continue the momentum with additional reforms and continue Oklahoma’s march up in the rankings.”

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