The Cost of Doing Business in California

Ouch!  We need to protect small businesses in California!  This particular story made me angry: others at Faces of Law Suit Abuse.org might make you cry.  A seven year old boy sued over a minor skiing accident?  Outrageous!  A $47 million dollar suit over a pair of pants?  The dry cleaner eventually won the suit, but only after years in court, after shutting-down 2 of their 3 businesses.  What a tragedy!

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From the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform (ILR): Small businesses pay $20 billion in tort liability costs out of their own pockets each year.

• Tort Liability Costs for Small Business

Small businesses are responsible for 60 to 80 percent of all new jobs created in the U.S economy. More jobs, higher wages, and better benefits could be provided if the average small business earning $1 million in revenue didn't have to spend $20,000 each year on an out of control lawsuit system.

• Tort Liability Costs for Small Business

The growth in U.S. tort costs since 1950 has exceeded growth in GDP by an average of approximately two percentage points annually.

• 2008 Update on U.S. Tort Cost Trends

America's civil justice system is the world's most expensive, with a direct cost in 2007 of $252 billion, or 1.83 percent of the U.S. GDP.

• 2008 Update on U.S. Tort Cost Trends

Tort costs were $835 per U.S. citizen in 2007, meaning a family of four paid a "litigation tax" of more than $3,300 for the U.S. civil justice system, a cost driven up due to increased costs from lawsuits and other liability expenses that force businesses to raise the price of products and services.

• 2008 Update on U.S. Tort Cost Trends

The cost of the U.S. tort liability system as a percentage of GDP is more than double the average cost of any other industrialized nation.

• Who Pays for Tort Liability Claims? An Economic Analysis of the U.S. Tort Liability System