It’s that time of year again. California’s civil justice system has once again earned a top spot in the American Tort Reform Foundation’s annual Judicial Hellholes report. The Golden State’s skewed civil justice system has been ranked third in the country for its status as a “judicial hellhole,” where the scales of justice are unbalanced and unfair.
“From abusive Proposition 65 and Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) litigation, to serial plaintiffs filing hundreds of lawsuits under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the list of issues with the state’s civil justice system is endless,” the ATR Foundation notes. “Rather than address the abuses and improve the litigation climate, state leaders seem to embrace the Judicial Hellholes moniker.”
Prop. 65, passed by voters in the 1980s, is a well-intended measure requiring businesses and property owners to disclose exposures to dangerous chemicals. Californians are no doubt familiar with the seemingly ubiquitous Prop. 65 warning signs. While broadly reasonable in the abstract, in practice Prop. 65 opens businesses and employers up to liability if they fail to disclose even the most minuscule and non-threatening presence of chemicals.
“A troublesome part of the law allows private citizens, advocacy groups and attorneys to sue on behalf of the state and collect a portion of the monetary penalties and settlements, creating an incentive for the plaintiffs’ bar to pursue these types of lawsuits,” the report notes. “Law firms identify serial plaintiffs who are willing to file multiple lawsuits despite not suffering any injuries or harm.”
The practical consequence is that thousands of notices of violations go out against businesses in California, including to small businesses less savvy in handling Prop. 65 mandates, yielding tens of millions of dollars in settlements, which mainly enrich lawyers rather than address actual harms.
In addition to Prop. 65, the report notes that California “regained its status as the plaintiffs’ bar’s favorite food court” in 2022. California had the distinction of having “the most ‘no-injury’ consumer class action filings targeting the food and beverage industry,” with about a third of the nation’s lawsuits over food labeling happening in California.
Likewise, about a third of Americans with Disabilities Act lawsuits in the country take place in California. ADA lawsuits are incentivized under the state’s Unruh Civil Rights Act, which imposes a $4,000 fine per ADA violation, no matter how minor.
“Often these so-called ‘violations’ are as minor as a mirror that is an inch too high or a sidewalk or parking lot that is angled one degree too much,” the report notes. As with Prop. 65, California is unfortunately a place where well-intended laws are twisted and abused for profit.
The cumulative impact of these and other distortions in California’s civil justice system is quite massive. “Lawsuit abuse and excessive tort costs wipe out billions of dollars in economic activity annually,” the report notes. “California residents pay a ‘tort tax’ of $2,119.35 … and 787,490 jobs are lost each year.”
Over the last decade, California has put considerable effort into reworking the criminal justice system.
If California lawmakers were truly concerned with justice and the integrity of the justice system, they would look at opportunities to reform the civil system. They would do so in a way that cuts out opportunities for abuse and that ensures the system responds to actual harms, not just financial incentives.
—The Editorial Board, Southern California News Group
