FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—April 25, 2007
Contact: Larry Akey/Eric Wohlschlegel
(202)580-9313
U.S. Chamber: Florida Legal Climate Shows Modest Improvement
WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform (ILR) today announced that Florida’s legal climate continues to make modest progress—up two spots to number 36—an improvement of six places in the last two years. This, according to Lawsuit Climate 2007: Ranking the States, an annual assessment of state liability systems conducted by Harris Interactive, a leading nonpartisan polling firm.
On the other hand, the study shows that Miami-Dade County remains one of the ten least fair and reasonable lawsuit environments in the country.
“Although the legislature has passed important legal reforms over the last several years, Florida still has a long way to go,” said Tom Donohue, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “The plaintiffs’ bar is working day and night to block further reforms and to roll back existing ones.”
A recent actuarial study estimated the annual cost of the tort system in America to be $261 billion, or $880 per citizen. Following those estimates, the price tag of tort litigation for the entire population of Florida is nearly $16 billion a year.
“The best thing Florida can do to attract business is to have a balanced legal system,” Donohue said. “An unfair legal system sucks the life out of a state’s economy. It affects business expansion, it affects jobs and it takes money out of consumers’ pockets.”
The ILR/Harris Interactive survey of 1,599 senior attorneys, now in its sixth year, is the preeminent standard by which companies, policymakers and the media measure the legal fairness of states. In 2007, West Virginia ranked last among the fifty states and, for the sixth year in a row, Delaware is ranked number one.
To highlight the results of the study and the need for comprehensive legal reform, ILR is launching a national advertising campaign. ILR will run print and radio ads in Tallahassee, which will highlight the cost the average Florida family pays as a result of lawsuits.
ILR's mission is to make America's legal system simpler, fairer, and faster for everyone. It seeks to promote civil justice reform through legislative, political, judicial, and educational activities at the national, state, and local levels. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world's largest business federation, representing more than 3 million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region.