Friday, December 17, 2010 Cook County a "Judicial Hellhole"? Looking into the claims The American Tort Reform Association has released its annual list of Judicial Hellholes and, once again, Cook County is prominently featured. The catchy name and scary graphics almost guarantee press coverage and strong reaction. The report hasn't made a big splash in the Chicago papers as of yet, but then again, the report was just released this week. The Daily Herald noted the pending release of the "Judicial Hellholes" report this week with a story, by Ted Cox, quoting Thomas Demetrio (speaking "only partially tongue in cheek") as saying that ATRA's poor ranking of our local courts should be viewed as a "badge of honor." Actually, Cook County's rating slipped a little in the current report. In its 2009 ratings, Cook County was the third worst jurisdiction in the country. This year, we were no better, or worse, than fifth.