Lawsuit Tyranny
- The United States, with 5% of the population, has 80% of the world’s attorneys: more than 1 million in 2006.
- 75% of doctors have been sued for malpractice.
- 16 million civil lawsuits were filed in 2002.
- A poll by Harris interactive found that 76% feel that the threat of frivolous lawsuits limits people in their normal activities.
- Congressman Terry Everett says that frivolous lawsuits, by themselves, cost $200 billion.
- 90% of US corporations are engaged in litigation at any given time, juggling an average of 37 lawsuits each.
From 1950 to 2003, the Insurance Information Institute found that inflation-adjusted civil cases increased in cost from $12 to $845 per person per year. But, this is only the tip of the iceberg for the cost to the average person. The public is further burdened with higher product costs and loss of jobs for companies driven out of business. These jobs get driven offshore, where the egregious US liability laws cannot reach.
According to the US Small Business Administration, small businesses account for the creation of 64% of jobs, and are subjected to 52% of all civil lawsuits. This percentage is massive, considering that the rest of the civil lawsuits are distributed amongst personal lawsuits, and medium and large business lawsuits. Small businesses are ill-equipped to carry this added burden. Small businesses are easy targets, with their limited resources to support the costs of litigation to completion.
I visited your site to determine your position on firearms. I was dismayed to only find this listing regarding Lawsuit Tyranny. I believe you have misinterpreted Shakespeare’s line “kill all the lawyers”. If you read the text in full you will find this line was stated by one of the play’s villains. The U.S. has 80% of the world’s freedom because we have 80% of the world’s attorneys, not in-spite of them. Your logic is backwards.