FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CONTACT: Linda Okun
PHONE: (626) 824-8927
November 24, 2003
It's not every year that
California gets to look forward with some hope for improvements
in civil justice reform. This Thanksgiving, with a Legislature
finally beginning to see the bigger civil justice reform picture
and with Governor-Elect Arnold Schwarzenegger, poised to lead
the way, we have much for which we can give thanks.
As a case in point, Assembly
Bill 1715 (Assembly Judiciary Committee and Senators Burton, D
- San Francisco, Escutia, D - Whittier, Kuehl, D - Santa Monica)
was vetoed by Governor Davis. This bill would have eliminated
employment arbitration agreements, resulting in more frivolous
litigation against employers, which would further clog our court
system. This bill was introduced and debated at taxpayer expense,
despite the fact that California Supreme Court and Governor Davis
have strongly supported arbitration agreements in the past.
But the story that made
headlines involved sham reform bill Senate Bill 122 (Escutia),
introduced to provide a so-called solution to shakedown lawsuits
against small business. SB 122 died by a sizable vote in the final
days of the session - despite that the personal injury lawyers
have a lot of friends in the Legislature.
This "victory"
was a battle long fought. When news of a rash of extortionate
lawsuits surfaced, which used California's Unfair Competition
Law (also known as Business and Professions Code Section 17200)
as a vehicle targeting thousands of small and minority-owned businesses,
a total of 12 bills were introduced to reform the law. SB 122,
sponsored by personal injury lawyer lobby, was the only bill that
was not killed in the Assembly.
While the Legislature refused
to be bought by the personal injury lawyers lobby by not passing
the bill, the original problem remains -- personal injury lawyers
can still abuse the UCL to file shakedown lawsuits, without proving
any evidence of harm, against California's small businesses. This
legal extortion must be stopped.
Next year all Californians
will likely have a chance to help stop these legal shakedowns.
An initiative, to appear on the November 2004 statewide ballot,
was filed last month to truly reform the Unfair Competition Law.
The initiative, sponsored by the Coalition Against Shakedown Lawsuits
comprised of small businesses across the state, not personal injury
lawyers, will fix what is broken and do what previous sham reform
bills like SB 122 claimed it would.
Primarily, the initiative
will stop private lawyers from filing suits without clients and
without any evidence of injury or financial loss. Additionally,
it will stop private lawyers from using the UCL to file suits
on behalf of the general public. Finally, the initiative will
keep intact what the UCL was originally intended for - to protect
consumers from unfair business practices.
The initiative comes at
a good time, as small businesses have enough to worry about with
rising workers' compensation rates, healthcare and unemployment
costs. Small businesses simply can't afford the additional costs
brought against them by attorneys who seek to abuse the law for
their own good.
That's why we should all
help to be a part of the solution by signing the petition to support
the reform initiative in order to get it on the 2004 ballot. Then,
if the initiative is adopted we will have worked collectively
to fight personal injury lawyer influence in the Legislature,
while creating a more attractive business environment in California.
Governor-Elect Schwarzenegger
seems to agree. He is already looking for ways to keep jobs in
the state instead of sending them someplace where legislatures
are more inclined to look at the big picture. One way he plans
to do so is by reforming the UCL, which is part of his "Five
Point Plan for Economic Recovery."
The Governor-Elect should
be applauded for standing up for consumers and reform the UCL
to truly prevent future legal predatory tactics used by lawyers
to extort money from small business owners and ultimately their
customers.
For more information on these issues, please contact Los Angeles
CALA at (626) 824-8927 or maryann@maryannmaloney.com
.
Linda Okun is the Executive Director of Citizens
against Lawsuit Abuse in Los Angeles, a nonprofit, grassroots
public education organization. Write to her c/o CALA at P.O. Box
262 - Glendora, CA 91740, or via email at maryann@maryannmaloney.com.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you would like a CALA
speaker to address your organization or some information for your
organization's newsletter, let us know today.
CALA is a nonprofit, grass roots, public education
organization dedicated to serving as a watchdog over the legal
system and those who would seek to abuse it for undeserved gain.
More than 9,000 citizens and taxpayers are Los Angeles CALA supporters.
