Dawn Starns, state director of the National Federation of Independent Business, said today that the Legislature should do everything it can to remember Louisiana from the American Tort Reform Foundation’s annual list of “Judicial Hellholes.”
“The ATRF’s list is a powerful reminder that we need a court system that treats everyone fairly,” Starns said. “We don’t need a legal system that gives either side an unfair advantage.”
According to the ATRF’s 2016-17 list, released today, Louisiana is the nation’s seventh-worth “Judicial Hellhole.” In a news release, the foundation cited “numerous ongoing challenges and abuses of the state’s civil justice system—from lax laws that allow for venue shopping to a plethora of plaintiff-friendly judges and justices elected by the trial bar with out-sized influence.” It also cited Governor Edwards’ “ongoing effort to hire his top political supporters in government-sponsored litigation to shakedown the oil and gas industry for billions of dollars to restore the state’s eroding coast.”
Starns said, “Running a small business in a litigious culture is a constant balancing act. Small-business owners have to think through every decision to try to avoid a costly lawsuit down the road.
“The fact of the matter is that small businesses are especially vulnerable to legal attacks,” Starns said. “Small businesses don’t have staff attorneys to smack down every nuisance suit or bogus accusation. What’s especially frustrating is that it doesn’t necessarily matter whether a small business did anything wrong. When a small business is sued, it often has to spend thousands of dollars to defend itself. Just one frivolous lawsuit can be enough to put a small business out of business, even if the business ends up ‘winning.’”
“That’s why we’re asking lawmakers to make legal reform one of its priorities in next year’s legislative session,” Starns said. “We need to ensure Louisiana has a legal environment where everyone is treated equally.”
NFIB is Louisiana’s leading small-business association. To learn more, visit www.NFIB.com/LA and follow @NFIB_LA on Twitter.
