Garden supply store shelf with containers of RoundUp weed killer.

California ranked among the worst states for businesses to face lawsuits, earning the state its lowest spot on the list in the past 17 years, according to a report of corporate representatives that was released Tuesday.

The report by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Institute for Legal Reform, called "The 2019 Lawsuit Climate Survey: Ranking the States," listed California as No. 48 of all U.S. states based on its overall litigation climate. This year's survey ranked Illinois at No. 50 and Louisiana at No. 49, but California fell from No. 47, its position since 2012. The rank is California's lowest since the chamber began issuing its report every two or three years in 2002.

"California has created a lucrative lawsuit industry where plaintiffs' lawyers prey on hard-working entrepreneurs and small business owners to extort millions of dollars," said Harold Kim, chief operating officer of the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform, in a press release published with the report. "And when the California Consumer Privacy Act goes into effect in 2020, it will usher in an even bigger flood of lawsuits," he added, referring to a bill that would impose new privacy regulations in the Golden State.

The report used data from interviews conducted by The Harris Poll of more than 1,300 in-house general counsel, attorneys or executives at public and private companies with annual revenue of at least $100 million.

Eric Bailey, a spokesperson for the Consumer Attorneys of California, said the report's source was "far from an objective measurement."

"We have the world's fifth largest economy, and we enjoy that exceptional level of commerce in no small part because our civil justice system helps protect the environment, public safety, our civil liberties, the rights of consumers and workers," he said of California. "I find it absurdly ironic that the U.S. Chamber continues this annual attack on California when in fact the fastest growing category of tort litigation in our state is business versus business. Corporate executives have no problem using the civil justice system when it suits their own purposes—they just don't like to be held accountable when they've done their customers wrong."

The press release with the report noted that California's Proposition 65, which allows private litigants to sue over carcinogens, had become a "cash cow for plaintiffs' lawyers." In 2018, for example, companies settled almost 1,000 lawsuits over Proposition 65 for $35.2 million, $27.3 million of which went to attorney fees and costs.

The release also mentioned "abusive litigation" involving the Americans with Disabilities Act, adding that there was a 54% increase in ADA lawsuits in California from 2017 to 2018 and that 42% of the nation's ADA lawsuits were in California's federal court last year. Other highlights were public nuisance lawsuits brought by California cities and counties, and "eye-popping jury verdicts," such as the $2 billion Roundup verdict against Monsanto Co., now owned by Bayer.

The report found that specific jurisdictions within a state could influence its ranking. In California, for instance, Los Angeles ranked No. 2 among the cities and counties with the "least fair and reasonable litigation environment," while San Francisco ranked No. 3, up from No. 5 in 2017, according to the chamber.

The report ranked each state based on several factors, including treatment of certain types of lawsuits, damages, scientific evidence, the impartiality of judges, and the fairness of juries. California ranked worst of all states in its treatment of class actions and mass litigation, damages and juries' fairness.

The only category in which California did not rank among the bottom five states was in scientific and technical evidence, where it landed at No. 44. In its release, the Chamber noted that California had not adopted the scientific standards for trials used by federal courts and 40 other states, instead allowing "junk science" into the courtroom.

But Brent Wisner, a partner at Los Angeles-based Baum Hedlund who got the $2 billion Roundup verdict, disagreed.

"The idea that California courts allow for the admission of junk science is demonstrably untrue," he wrote in an email. "We see similar admission of expert testimony in state and federal courts, involving the same experts and issues. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce deeply misunderstands the purpose of our tort system. It is not designed to punish honest companies—it is designed to ensure that honest companies are not disadvantaged by following the law. California has been the leader in protecting consumers for decades."