California was named one of the worst “Judicial Hellhole®” in the country again, coming in third place, according to a new report from the American Tort Reform Association. It is no wonder given that in California, an attorney can make a good living filing lawsuits where there have been no injuries:
The “Golden State” is the plaintiffs’ bar’s laboratory for finding innovative new ways to expand liability through both the courts and legislature. These novel theories of liability are burdening small businesses and bogging down the state’s economy. Even in areas where the U.S. Supreme Court has stepped in to rein in lawsuit abuse, the California Supreme Court has disregarded precedent and expanded liability.
From abusive Proposition 65 and Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) litigation, to serial plaintiffs filing hundreds of lawsuits under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the list of issues with the state’s civil justice system is endless. Rather than address the abuses and improve the litigation climate, state leaders seem to embrace the Judicial Hellholes® moniker.
“Uninjured serial plaintiffs file hundreds of meritless lawsuits targeting businesses, and ultimately, plaintiffs’ lawyers are the only people benefiting from the state’s unbalanced civil justice system,” Judicial Hellholes reported last year. And nothing has been fixed since then – or the year before, or the year before that.
One of the most egregious legal miscalculations is Proposition 65, “a well-intentioned law enacted in 1986, has become one of the plaintiffs’ bar’s favorite tools to exploit. Baseless Prop-65 litigation unjustly burdens companies that do business in California.”
Continue reading on the California Globe…
