A new report released today ranks King County, Washington and the Washington Supreme Court at No. 8 among the nation’s worst Judicial Hellholes®, spotlighting what legal reform advocates call a culture of liability expansion in the state’s courts.
King County joined the Judicial Hellhole® ranks for the first time last year, and is now joined by the state’s supreme court. The American Tort Reform Foundation’s annual report identifies jurisdictions where judges expand liability, allow excessive damages, or ignore precedent, undermining fairness in the civil justice system. ATRF says that in Washington, those trends converged dramatically in 2025.
State High Court Fuels “Nuclear Verdicts®”
In October, the Washington Supreme Court reinstated a $185 million jury verdict — known as a “nuclear verdict®” — in a case involving alleged chemical exposure to PCBs. Observers say the court relied on junk science and effectively sanctioned “law shopping.” In the Washington-based case, the court applied certain aspects of Missouri state laws, which allow punitive damages, and certain aspects of its own state laws.
“This decision turns Washington’s consumer protection laws on their head,” said Tiger Joyce, president of the American Tort Reform Association. “Combining a mishmash of laws from different states, based on what will benefit plaintiffs more, shows unprecedented bias. Combined with the court’s embrace of agenda-driven science as evidence, this opens the floodgates to outside influence and unpredictable results.”
Expanding Liability Beyond the Law
The Judicial Hellholes® report also highlights the Washington Supreme Court’s recent ruling expanding asbestos liability. The court overturned long-standing precedent, allowing employees to sue if an employer “should have known” that harm was likely — even without intent. Legal analysts warn this shift will invite a surge of speculative lawsuits and increase costs for employers statewide.
King County courts, meanwhile, continue to draw attention for hosting novel climate-change litigation. One pending case alleges that global energy companies caused weather disasters and deaths by “perpetuating atmospheric changes.”
High Costs for Everyday Washingtonians
The report underscores how these trends affect families, workers and local economies. Washington residents now shoulder the second-highest “tort tax” in the country at $2,558 per person annually — that’s $10,232 per year for a family of four. Excessive litigation costs the state more than 172,000 jobs every year and reduces economic output by nearly $20 billion.
“Every dollar diverted to abusive lawsuits is a dollar not spent on creating jobs, expanding businesses, or investing in families,” Joyce said. “When courts push the boundaries of law, they don’t just punish defendants — they punish communities.”
King County and the Washington Supreme Court are ranked No. 8 on this year’s list of eight total Judicial Hellholes®. The full report and rankings are available at JudicialHelloles.org.
