Guest AuthorMost of us know Florida as the home to Disney World, LeBron James, and the reigning college football national champions.
Small-business owners and those looking to invest and create jobs see a far different side of the state: its growing reputation as a hotbed of lawsuit abuse, especially for lawsuits alleging violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
More than one in five ADA claims in the U.S. last year were filed in the Southern District of Florida, and ADA lawsuits have become a cottage industry in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami Dade counties. These shakedown lawsuits are having a devastating effect on small businesses and job growth in Florida. When the civil justice system permits lawsuit abuse to run rampant and unscrupulous personal injury lawyers to shake down small-business owners like Sergio do Rosario for thousands of dollars, you’ve got a problem that’s likely to get worse if you don’t call foul now.
I’ve seen this story before. For nearly two decades, I’ve served as the Executive Director of California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse and I know the toll abusive litigation has taken on the once-Golden State.
Time after time, I’ve seen lawsuit abuse force California small businesses to cut back workers’ hours, delay hiring new employees, or close their doors altogether. CEO’s leave our state in search of a better place to do business.
Now, instead of leading the nation in innovation, California leads in a much different measure: it is the #1 “Judicial Hellhole” in the country and ranks next to the bottom in nearly every national survey as a place to do business. Florida ranks as the nation’s 6th worst “Judicial Hellhole” and is among the 10 worst lawsuit climates in the country. You do not want bragging rights to these rankings.
Florida is heading down the same path as California and that’s not a road you want to be on. Nearly 42 percent of all ADA lawsuits are filed in California. Thousands of shakedown lawsuits have been filed against businesses in our state, and many of them are targeted at minority-owned businesses in low-income areas.
Shakedown ADA lawsuits are just one of the ways an aggressive and powerful personal injury bar systematically targets businesses. In California, they are aided by laws that encourage the filing of questionable lawsuits, and a Legislature that has long refused to enact meaningful reform. Instead, too many lawmakers drink the personal injury lawyer Kool-Aid (and feed from the personal injury lawyer donation trough). Stop me if any of this sounds familiar.
Florida is a great state, and should heed the warning of California’s story. Florida, you have a choice: do you want to be a place that fosters business and jobs, or a state that breeds lawsuit abuse?
Embrace legal reform and stop the shakedown lawsuits against businesses. If you do not, you too will become known as a place hostile to business. Legal reform creates jobs. Litigation does not. You have been warned, Florida.
Tom Scott has served as the Executive Director of California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse for nearly two decades. He has extensive background in both the private and public sectors. He also served as a Special Assistant for Intergovernmental Affairs at the U.S. Department of Commerce.
