Costs across the Commonwealth continue to rise – from an increase in grocery expenses to higher energy bills and rising health care fees – Pennsylvanians are feeling the pinch. While talking heads point to a bevy of reasons for the higher cost of living, one item that rarely garners much attention is the negative financial impact the state’s increasingly litigious legal environment is having on job creators and taxpayers.
In a recent opinion column Rebecca Oyler, President and CEO of the Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association, takes a deeper dive into how Pennsylvania’s current legal climate makes it easy for profit seeking plaintiffs’ attorneys to go after private sector industries – leading to increased costs across the board.
While many think lawsuit abuse is just an issue faced by larger companies, small businesses also are impacted.
“Every day, family-owned trucking companies go out of business because they are dragged into lawsuits they can’t afford to defend, even when fault is disputed or minimal. Many never see a courtroom. Faced with years of litigation expenses and the uncertainty of unpredictable jury awards, some settle claims simply because they cannot afford to keep fighting. Others shut their doors because they simply can’t absorb double-digit insurance increases year after year, despite clean safety records and no major claims,” Oyler writes.
The results are not just a closed business, but fewer trucking options and less competition – leading to higher prices. Oyler notes that other states have worked to reverse the course of lawsuit abuse – bringing greater predictability and stability to their legal systems and encouraging economic growth.