California has been named the nation’s top Judicial Hellhole, up two slots from last year, in the 20th annual ranking from the American Tort Reform Association (ATRA).
The number of lawsuits and notices have increased even as the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions limited in-person court proceedings, Victor Gómez, executive director of California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse (CALA) told the Northern California Record.
“We want to improve the climate here when it comes to lawsuit abuse in California, but being placed back on the number one position is extremely concerning; I think the majority of it has to do with the climate that the state Legislature allows to occur here in California,” Gómez said. “Unlike other states California hasn't necessarily expressed and shown the leadership needed to create laws or to take certain legislative actions to hold trial attorneys accountable in California.”
In the Bay Area, where Gómez previously was chief of staff for San Jose’s Vice Mayor, attorneys recently have filed a slew of lawsuits against small businesses alleging Americans with Disability Act (ADA) violations.
In October, legislative representatives met with San Jose Small Business Advisory Task Force members to discuss solutions, San Jose Spotlight reported, but it is not yet known when a bill may be introduced.
The report also found Proposition 65 lawsuits have become ripe for abuse. A bill, AB 693, introduced in February by then Assemblymember Ed Chau, D-Monterey Park, would have reformed enforcement and settlement provisions but was never heard in committee. California Attorney General data shows more than 3,000 Prop 65 notices filed so far this year.
The Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA), a law specific to California that’s been criticized as enriching to trial attorneys while barely remunerating the workers themselves, is also singled out in the report.
While a number of bills have been filed to reform PAGA, only two have been passed, both of which provide exemption from the law for certain unionized workers. But bills that proposed equitable reform didn’t make it out of committee.
“Essentially, if you're an employee for a company and, for some reason they misspelled your name on your pay stub, trial attorneys see this as a huge opportunity to make themselves money,” Gómez said.
The report also details the increase in advertising spending by local trial attorneys.