| |
|
 to
CALA News Room
|
February 14, 2002 |
U.S. CHAMBER STUDY RANKS CALIFORNIA’S LIABILITY SYSTEM AMONG NATION’S WORST! |
|
The United States Chamber of Commerce recently
released a new study which ranked California’s liability system 45th out of 50 in terms of how
fair and reasonable the system is perceived to be by corporate America. Nearly 80 percent of respondents
also indicated that the litigation environment of a state could affect decisions such as where to locate or
do business. |
| "This is a huge wake up call for legislators and political
candidates who want to attract more job opportunities to our state and keep current employers here,"
said Andy Kotner, President of San Diego County Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse
(CALA). "We need laws that will reform our civil justice system to ensure more fairness and
balance, thereby making California more business — and job — friendly." |
| The U.S. Chamber study asked a national sample of in-house general
counsel or senior litigators at public corporations to give each state a letter grade (A,
B, C, D, or F) in several areas of liability. These grades were then averaged into an overall state
grade using a 4.0 scale. |
| "
California got a grade of C minus," Kotner said, "placing it only above Texas,
Louisiana, Alabama, West Virginia and Mississippi. Clearly, the liability system here in the world’s fifth
largest economy is failing businesses, and as such it’s failing workers." |
California’s rating on key elements of its liability system is as follows: |
Overall treatment of tort and contract litigation:
Grade (C-), Rank ( 44)
Treatment of class action suits:
Grade (D+), Rank (44)
Punitive damages:
Grade (
D+), Rank (41)
Timeliness of summary judgment/dismissal:
Grade (C-), Rank (42)
Discovery: Grade (C), Rank (44)
Scientific and technical evidence:
Grade (C), Rank (29)
Judges’ impartiality:
Grade (C), Rank (34)
Judges’ competence:
Grade (C+), Rank (28)
Juries’ predictability:
Grade (C-), Rank (48)
Juries’ fairness: Grade (C-), Rank (45)
|
The. U.S. Chamber of Commerce study was conducted by Harris
Interactive, Inc., via a series of phone interviews between November 7 and December 11, 2001. All interviews
were conducted among a nationally representative sample of 824 senior attorneys at companies with annual
revenues of at least $100 million. |
| Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse is a nonprofit, public education
watchdog organization. More than 8,000 San Diego County citizens voluntarily support CALA and its
public education mission. For more information, visit www.sdcala.org. To
obtain a copy of the complete report, contact CALA at (619) 295-6059. |
This page was last
updated on 04/19/05
|
|
|
This page was last
updated on 04/19/05
| |
