Philadelphia Personal Injury Attorney Blog | Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis LLP

The American Tort Reform Association claims its goal is "Bringing greater fairness, predictability, and efficiency to the civil justice system," which, it claims, can be achieved by tort reform. It promotes itself as a champion of plaintiffs, but very few plaintiffs' groups are listed in its Lawsuit Abuse Reform Coalition. Instead, the coalition is mostly composed of industry groups like the Pennsylvania Automotive Wholesalers Association, the Pennsylvania Health Care Association, and the Petroleum Retailers & Auto Repair Association.

However, one wonders why this "coalition of the willing" also includes many chambers of commerce, such as the Lebanon Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Chamber of Business and Industry of Centre County, both in Pennsylvania. The probable reason is the argument put forward by corporate reformers, including industry think-tanks like the Institute for Legal Reform, which annually compiles a list of states based on the "fairness" of their liability system. This report is used by reformer groups, like the Illinois Lawsuit Abuse Watch to spread the basic lie that a free and open court system hurts business.

In a recent article, the supposed citizen group said that Illinois' poor legal climate (5th worst in the country) was responsible for slow economic growth in Illinois. According to their statistics, Illinois' economy only grew at 40 % of the national rate, based on GDP, and lost 66,000 jobs, no doubt due to the poor legal climate. However, their argument simply does not hold water.

First, I do not know where they got their statistics. According to the US Department of Commerce (DoC)'s statistics, Illinois' GDP grew at approximately the same rate as the national economy, (average of 4% per year, or 24 % from 2001-2006). Second, according to the Institute's list, the worst legal climate in the nation is in West Virginia, while the best is in Delaware. According to the DoC's statistics, Delaware's GDP grew at approximately 6 % per year, while West Virginia's grew at about 5 %, essentially no difference that might be attributed to any significant effects of a supposedly "unfair" civil justice system. Incidentally, Pennsylvania, ranked 32nd worst had GDP growth of about 5 % per year, slightly better than the nation as a whole, while one of the country's top performers, with a GDP growth of 7 % per year (no doubt due at least in part to profit-taking by the petroleum industry), was ranked 44th out of 50, just above California, whose GDP growth was approximately the same as Delaware's.

The goal of these misinformation campaigns is to get you to voluntarily surrender your right to recourse if you are injured by the negligence of another, especially corporate negligence. They hope that in the current economic troubles, their arguments will resonate with many people suffering as a result of the downturn, but do not fall for their scam.

Does the civil justice system hurt businesses? Yes, it hurts businesses that hurt people, and if it's weakened, businesses will continue hurting people.

If you have been hurt by the negligence of another, don't surrender your right to just compensation. Contact the experienced tort lawyers at Pomerantz, Perlberger, and Lewis, LLP today for a free initial consultation.