October 25, 2023
People can get a good chuckle reading the latest legal news, offering up cases such as the lawsuit against Junior Mints for an excessive amount of air in the box, or the fireman who sued his department for discriminating against his disability, which happened to be fear of fires. At times bordering on the unbelievable – note the man who won a verdict against his wife for giving birth to an “ugly baby” – this seemingly fertile ground for comedy is no laughing matter when we calculate the crushing cost we all pay for the abuse of our legal system.
Fortunately, the legal landscape is currently abuzz with legislative efforts to curb rising costs of legal exploitation. Florida is trailblazing this movement, with Governor DeSantis signing a pivotal law in March to reshape his state’s civil jurisprudence. Inspired by his neighbor to the south, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp is pursuing measures to help limit excessive litigation. These state leaders understand that the boom in plaintiff lawsuits is a primary contributor to escalating inflation, insurance, and business costs—an issue with which Georgia especially is grappling.
In the past year nine states have initiated some type of tort reform, all citing the diminishing wages, lost jobs, and lowered economic security their communities have sacrificed as a result of our dysfunctional legal system.
A study from the Institute for Legal Reform and U.S. Chamber of Commerce found tort costs in the U.S. totaled $443 billion, or roughly $3,621 per household in 2020. And this “tort tax” on every American is only going up. In the past 15 years there has been a 300 percent increase in so-called “nuclear verdicts” of $10 million or more. As noted by former Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA), “frivolous lawsuits are invisible price tags that add up to higher prices for consumers and another burden for businesses struggling to stay above water.”
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