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New Report
Examines State’s Exploding Lawsuit Industry
San Francisco, CA
April 14, 2005—The lawsuit attack against California’s
business community and construction industry has forced jobs out
of state and has kept affordable housing out of reach for many
people.
California’s lawsuit
industry is the second most expensive legal system in the world
according to a report issued today by Manhattan Institute’s
Center for Legal Policy. The report, Trial Lawyers Inc.:
California, examines the impact the state’s lawsuit industry
has had on businesses, jobs, and affordable home prices.
According to Trial
Lawyers Inc.: California, the state’s legal system is
massive, with nearly 8 million legal filings each year, and tort
jury verdicts climbing to an astonishing average of $1.3 million
as of 2001.
The Center for Legal
Policy and Pacific Research Institute today hosted a panel
discussion to launch Trial Lawyers Inc.: California. The three
person panel, moderated by Catherine Crier, Host, CourtTV
and Author, The Case Against Lawyers, included Jim
Copland, Director, Center for Legal Policy at the Manhattan
Institute; Steve Hantler, Chairman, American Justice Partnership
and Senior Fellow, Pacific Research Institute; and John H.
Sullivan, President, Civil Justice Association of California.
“California is losing
valuable jobs and businesses because the civil justice system is
unfair and unpredictable,” said Steve Hantler, Chairman,
American Justice Partnership. “The Center for Legal Policy has
done an outstanding job of examining how California’s broken
system is being exploited by people trying to use lawsuits to
strike it rich. This report demonstrates why the legal system
is in need of a major overhaul if California leaders want to
keep jobs from leaving the state.”
“Trial Lawyers, Inc: California
looks critically at the litigation industry in our nation's
largest state, which has more lawyers than any nation outside
the United States as a whole,” said Jim Copland,
Director, Manhattan Institute's Center for Legal Policy.
“Our new report documents how lawsuit abuse in California, which
consistently ranks among the nation's worst states in terms of
civil justice, is driving businesses, jobs, and affordable
housing away from the Golden State.”
“California’s businesses have been
prone to attacks by rapacious litigants for years. Trial
Lawyers, Inc.: California exposes these profiteers and
divulges their underhanded practices,” said Sally C. Pipes,
President and CEO, Pacific Research Institute.
California has some
big obstacles to overcome, as the report has highlighted.
However, there have been some in-roads made with the passage of
Proposition 64, which prohibits filing a lawsuit without a
client and without actual injury. The momentum is strong there,
and reformers are energized to see fairness and predictability
restored.
The American
Justice Partnership is a national nonprofit coalition of leading
corporations, think tanks, foundations, trade associations,
individuals and organizations advocating for legal reform,
primarily at the state level. AJP is an affiliate of the
National Association of Manufacturers. For more information,
visit AJP’s website at www.americanjusticepartnership.org.
Trial Lawyers Inc. website and report PDF.
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