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The PA Chamber is working with state House lawmakers to pass an important legal reform measure in the coming weeks.

House Bill 1976 would end the practice of venue shopping in all civil liability cases, prohibiting plaintiff's attorneys from filing lawsuits in a jurisdiction simply because of its reputation for outrageous jury awards. In Pennsylvania, that jurisdiction is Philadelphia, which was recently named a No. 1 Judicial Hellhole by the American Tort Reform Association based on its disproportionate share of Pennsylvania's lawsuits due to a pro-plaintiff, high jury award reputation.   House Bill 1976 would require plaintiffs to either reside in the area where they are filing a lawsuit, or the incident must have occurred there.

House Bill 1976 would expand the scope of Act 127 of 2003, which banned venue shopping for medical malpractice cases. (While the legislative statute had ultimately been found unconstitutional, the state Supreme Court had already amended its Rule of Civil Procedure in 2003 to require that medical malpractice claims be filed in the county in which the cause of action occurred.)Since that time, the number of medical malpractice filings filed in Philadelphia dropped from 1,365 in 2003 to 577 in 2011, a 58 percent decrease.

PA Chamber members believe that by broadening venue reform's reach to include all civil liability lawsuits, job creators' overall perception of Pennsylvania's notoriously unbalanced legal climate would significantly improve.

Enactment of H.B. 1976, along with enactment last June of the Fair Share Act, would have a positive economic impact on private sector investment, product research and development, and business growth and job creation.

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Founded in 1916, the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry is the state's largest broad-based business association, with its membership comprising businesses of all sizes and across all industry sectors. The PA Chamber is The Statewide Voice of Business.