The Los Angeles Times recently published a commentary by CALA Statewide Advisory Board member David Houston about the survey CALA released on August 23, 2011, and the prospects for legal reform in California. Here is what he had to say:

"California lawmakers are about to close another legislative year without adopting a single civil legal reform or even attempting to address the widespread lawsuit abuse that is hurting job growth and the state's economy.

But legislators may reconsider ignoring legal reform in future years given the results of a new survey of California voters.

A recent assessment of public attitudes towards the burden of lawsuits undertaken by the nonpartisan organization California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse, or CALA, found large majorities of voters from across the political spectrum are convinced that abusive lawsuits hurt the state's economy, needlessly burden businesses, and substantially slow job growth."

To read the entire commentary click here.

When CALA released its voter survey on August 23, KCRA 3 News in Sacramento broadcast a story highlighting CALA Statewide Advisory Board member Travis Hausauer's story of lawsuit abuse affecting his small business.

To watch the video, click here.

The Flash Report published a commentary from CALA Statewide Advisory Board member Travis Hausauer about the voter survey CALA released on August 23. Here is what he said:

"Lawsuit abuse can take many forms. Sometimes it is someone clearly just looking for a quick payday, or maybe someone has been injured and deserves compensation, but exaggerates the injury to receive far more than the real damage warrants.

Small businesses like mine often face “gotcha lawsuits” in which people go digging for any type of error or non-compliance issue and then file lawsuits or shake down a business for a settlement even though no one’s been hurt. For a small business, a single lawsuit can mean the difference between keeping the doors open and providing jobs for the community or closing the business, depriving the community of jobs and services and further starving our governments of tax revenue.

What’s worse is that our Legislature seems to create new reasons for suing every day through laws that are poorly drafted, short-sighted or written to reward the personal injury attorneys who fund their political campaigns."

To read the entire commentary, click here.

The Inland Valley Bulletin and the San Bernardino Sun published a commentary from CALA supporter John Selk enittled, "Eliminate predatory ADA lawsuits." Here is what he said:

"When President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) civil rights law in 1990, the intent was to prohibit discrimination based on disability and provide complete access for the disabled in public places. Sadly, opportunists have abused the law by filing tens of thousands of ADA lawsuits meant not to improve access for the disabled, but to extract money from small business owners, especially in California.

A loophole in the law allows professional plaintiffs in California to win monetary awards from noncompliant businesses of up to $4,000 per technical noncompliance. Because businesses often settle rather than pay litigation costs, these lawyers collect outrageous fees for ADA violations without ever ensuring the business owner improves accessibility."

Click here to read the letter.

CALA Executive Director Tom Scott's letter, "Start With Reform of Our Legal System," was published in the Vacaville Reporter. Here is what he said:

"Most elected officials claim to be supporters of small business; however, many of them continue to vote for burdensome regulations and laws that cripple small businesses ("Government in the Way: Rules stifle small-business expansion," July 12). Even our president has stated that small businesses are the No. 1 generator of jobs. Yet the state continues to pass laws and regulations that stifle growth in the small-business sector.

If elected officials are serious about job creation, they need to reform laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act and our regulations concerning wage and hour violations, as Manuel Cosme suggests.

However, the California Legislature seems unwilling to do this, especially when it comes to legal reform. The personal injury lawyer lobby has contributed more than $33.5 million to political campaigns during the past decade. Perhaps that has something to do with it.

If we want our state to get moving again, we need to make some serious changes, and legal reform is one of them."

Click here to read the letter.

Longtime CALA supporter Dr. Michael Arnold Glueck's commentary "A Common Sense Solution to ADA Lawsuits" was published in the Orange County Register. Here is what he said:

"Currently, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) does not require any notice before a lawsuit can be filed.

Enforcement of the ADA is through civil litigation. Many ADA lawsuits have been filed for issues of relatively minor noncompliance; such a sign being the wrong color or having the wrong wording. Due to California's lawsuit-friendly legal climate, 42 percent of ADA lawsuits filed in the United States are filed in California, causing many small businesses to close and wiping out jobs.

California legislators have repeatedly rejected reforms like U.S.Representative Duncan Hunter's HR 881, The ADA Notification Act. In 2008, the California Legislature created the California Commission on Disability Access, but the commission has failed to make any significant progress in reducing abusive claims. Despite the commission's best intentions, California's accessibility standards continue to conflict with the federal ADA, exceeding 500 pages of minutely detailed standards that change constantly.

Representative Hunter's common sense proposal would require a plaintiff to provide a defendant with notification and an opportunity to correct a violation voluntarily before the plaintiff may commence a civil action and force the business owner to incur legal costs"

Click here to read the entire commentary.