The Driver Behind Louisiana’s Judicial Hellhole Status
Once again, Save My Louisiana (SML), is on the wrong side of an issue that hurts the same Louisiana residents they claim to protect. Last November, SML filed a lawsuit against the Landry administration over carbon capture projects. And now, a recent statement from the organization shows that they won’t stop at just one lawsuit. In a recent post on Facebook, the organization teased that there are even more coming.
According to the American Tort Reform Foundation (ATR), Louisiana ranks 4th on their “Judicial Hellholes” list. ATR defines a judicial hellhole as a place “where judges in civil cases systematically apply laws and court procedures in an unfair and unbalanced manner, generally to the disadvantage of defendants.” Since 2025, there has been never-ending environmental litigation in Louisiana, with over 40 lawsuits filed. This litigation has cost the state billions in gross product and thousands of jobs. A study by The Perryman Group found that Louisiana residents pay a “tort tax” of $1,011.24 per year and the state lost 39,823 jobs, causing Louisiana to miss out on increasing its gross product by $4.6 billion.
The frivolous lawsuit that SML has filed, and their future lawsuits, is costing Louisiana billions. They create months or years of delays to projects that would bring in revenue to the state, provide Louisiana residents high-paying jobs, and spur more investment. SML’s biggest cheerleader and collaborator, State Treasurer John Fleming said it best when he proclaimed, “And these lawsuits, even if we don't win, they will delay things. And I can tell you as a businessman myself, you're not going to invest your money. A lot of capital has to be put into this. You're not going to invest if there's a high risk to you financially. So everything we do that delays, pushes back, pushes back against politicians running for reelection and also lawsuits that these folks may lose at, that gives us, buys us time.”
That is the goal with these frivolous lawsuits: Delay the project via a lawsuit, freeze any sort of investment or capital to the area, settle the case with a big payday for the plaintiffs and their trial lawyers, and then rinse and repeat with every new infrastructure project. If SML wants to be responsible for costing the state of Louisiana billions, then so be it. But residents of the Bayou State have the right to know just who is behind the economic stagnation of the state.