By Robert Donin Santa Monica
In a shocker to no one, once again California ranks near the bottom of the list in terms of fairness of its legal climate; coming in 44th in the nation in the U.S. Chamber’s Institute for Legal Reform’s annual report on litigation climates.
Adding to California’s dismal legal system, Los Angeles was again found as having “the least fair and reasonable litigation environment in the country.”
With our state’s rampant abuse of ADA law, never ending parade of class action lawsuits and grossly inflated damages awarded by juries, we aren’t going to climb out of the dregs anytime soon without reform.
Unfortunately, many of those with the power to enact reform are elected and kept in office in part by personal injury lawyer funds. This year already, we have seen our legislators shoot down bills that would have reformed the class action system; such as withholding part of attorneys’ fees in a class action settlement until all class members have been notified of an award.
Until we elect legislators who are not afraid to enact common sense reforms and who put the well-being of their constituents above campaign contributions, California’s legal climate will continue to be at the bottom of the barrel.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 12, 2008. Read the original PDF.