FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 27, 2007
Jeffrey Mazzella
703.535.5836
New Study Reveals “Tort Tax” Costs Family of Four $9,827 Annually
CFIF Says New Study Reinforces the Need for Meaningful Legal Reform
ALEXANDRIA, VA -- The Center for Individual Freedom (CFIF) today applauded the release of a new study, Jackpot Justice: The True Cost of America's Tort System, which provides the most comprehensive examination ever of U.S. tort costs. According to the study's lead author, Dr. Lawrence J. McQuillan of the Pacific Research Institute (PRI), unlike previous studies, Jackpot Justice calculates both the direct and indirect costs of America's legal system.
Specifically, the study concludes that America's out-of-control legal system imposes a staggering economic cost of more than $865 billion annually on the U.S. economy. That amounts to a yearly "tort tax" of $9,827 for a family of four and raises health care spending in the U.S. by $124 billion.
"For years we have espoused the need for meaningful civil justice reform to protect American businesses, employees, investors and property owners," said Jeffrey Mazzella, President of CFIF. "This study quantifies that need. Its findings are startling and profound.
"The more than $865 billion liability is a number that should open the eyes of the politicians in Washington and state legislators across the country," Mazzella said. To put that number in perspective, Mazzella pointed to the following examples highlighted in the new study: the federal government currently spends about $65 billion on schools and education (less than one-tenth of the cost of lawsuits); in 2005, the total amount of charitable giving by Americans totaled $260 billion (less than one-third the cost of lawsuits); and the budget for the Pentagon and conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan totaled about $500 billion in 2006 (less than two-thirds the cost of lawsuits in America).
"The American public and our government leaders can no longer afford to ignore the drag on economic growth, impact on research and development spending, stock values, job creation, health care and human safety that this excessive tort liability system imposes on society as a whole," Mazzella concluded.
Jackpot Justice: The True Cost of America's Tort System, authored by Lawrence J. McQuillan, Hovannes Abramyan, and Anthony P. Archie, can be downloaded on the American Justice Partnership's website here.
CFIF is a member if the American Justice Partnership, as is the Pacific Research Institute.
The Center for Individual Freedom (www.cfif.org) is a non-profit constitutional and free-market advocacy organization with more than 250,000 activists and supporters nationwide. CFIF advocates for meaningful legal reform at the state and federal levels.