How Bad Is The Problem In California?

California’s Legal Climate Continues to Get Worse

California ranks 46th in the Institute for Legal Reform’s latest survey of the lawsuit climates in each of the 50 states, a regular assessment of state liability systems conducted by the respected, nonpartisan Harris Interactive market research firm. That’s down from 44th in the previous survey.

Making matters worse, Los Angeles, San Francisco - and the state as a whole - were among the six least-fair jurisdictions in the entire nation.

How bad is the problem? On average, more than four class action lawsuits are filed in California every day the courts are open for business. Plaintiffs’; lawyers file suit here because they know the courts are often willing to certify class actions that aren’t accepted in other states, and that our juries are more willing than most to award costly verdicts in civil cases.

The state’s continued failure to enact meaningful legal reform has a price: at a time when unemployment is well over 10 percent, two-thirds of the companies surveyed said the legal climate impacts decisions of where to locate, expand, and create jobs.

Isn’t it time our policy makers take a hard look at meaningful legal reform?