FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CONTACT: PETER BYLSMA
PHONE: 310-795-8532
July 26, 2007
(Los Angeles, CA) – In the past two years, taxpayers in Los Angeles have spent more than $100 million each year on lawsuit settlements and awards and outside counsel in a bonanza for personal injury lawyers who seem to be increasingly viewing taxpayers as their next big meal ticket. The result is fewer dollars for needs like first responders, law enforcement, parks and libraries. The findings were issued today in a report by California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse.
“When local governments are the subject of frivolous lawsuits, taxpayers pay the bill,” said Peter Bylsma, executive director of Los Angeles Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse. “The amount that Los Angelinos are paying to fund litigation is outrageous. These funds could be going to much more important things like our sheriffs, police officers and firefighters.”
According to recent budget documents, the enormous amount Los Angeles taxpayers spent on litigation costs in one of those years could have funded:
- 561 Los Angeles County Sheriffs, including equipment, supplies, salaries and benefits;
- Almost two automated fingerprint ID systems for the entire Sheriff’s Department at a cost of $34 million each;
- More than one-half of the city’s total expenditures on libraries in 2006; or
- One-quarter of the 2006 operating budget for the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation.
The information compiled in the report came from public information requests of the localities. The complete report is available at www.cala.com/docs/LitigationCosts.pdf.
“Citizens deserve to know where their tax dollars are going,” said Bylsma. “That’s why LA CALA is calling for greater disclosure, more public oversight and adoption of aggressive risk management procedures to protect our local government coffers from personal injury lawyers.”
To that end, a handful of government officials in the Los Angeles area have taken note of the waste that frivolous lawsuits cause.
“We commend Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and County Supervisors Gloria Molina and Mike Antonovich for their recent support of policies to raise awareness of this problem and reduce the effect lawsuit abuse has on our city and county budgets,” Bylsma said.
Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse is a nonprofit, grassroots public education organization dedicated to serving as a watchdog over the legal system and those who would seek to abuse it for undeserved gain. For more information, visit www.losangelescala.org.
