Poll shows California voters want lawsuit abuse reform – Washington Examiner
A recent poll of California voters conducted by Protecting american Consumers Together reveals widespread bipartisan support for reforms to address lawsuit abuse, which manny blame for contributing to rising living costs in the state. The survey found that 90% of voters have experienced an increase in their cost of living, and 72% believe lawsuit abuse is a meaningful factor driving up prices for essentials like health and auto insurance. Furthermore, 92% of respondents rated their state legislators poorly on controlling living costs, and a majority expressed strong support for legislation to regulate personal injury attorneys and curb frivolous lawsuits. Experts cite that lawsuit abuse imposes a hidden tax on California families, costing the average household over $8,000 annually. The poll underscores demand among voters for the Legislature to take stronger action to reduce these legal-related expenses and protect consumers.
Poll shows California voters want lawsuit abuse reform
(The Center Square) — A California poll reveals a bipartisan majority of voters want the Legislature to tackle lawsuit abuses, which they blame for rising prices.
Protecting American Consumers Together, a national advocacy and educational organization, surveyed registered California voters in May. The poll found that a majority of the voters are experiencing an increase in their cost of living and believe lawsuit abuse is a key factor. Additionally, voters do not feel the Legislature is doing enough to help lower their cost of living. They say they want the state to regulate personal injury attorneys to combat lawsuit abuse.
“I think the most important part about the poll is it shows people realize lawsuit abuse is costing their family money and people want something to be done about it, specifically, more regulations,” Lauren Zelt, executive director of Protecting American Consumers Together, told The Center Square Thursday.
Of the California voters surveyed, 90% reported their cost of living has gone up. Within that group, 67% said it had gone up a lot, and 23% said it had gone up a little.
In the poll, 92% of California voters reported that their state legislators did a “poor” or “only fair” job at holding down the cost of living for California families. Of the voters, 87% of the Democratic voters and 97% of the Republican voters reported their state legislators did a “poor” or “only fair” job, according to the survey memo.
The survey also discovered that 72% of California voters believe lawsuit abuse is a key factor in the rising prices for California families, with 38% claiming to strongly agree with that belief and 34% saying they somewhat agree.
California voters are not wrong to believe lawsuit abuse is correlated to rising prices, Zelt said That is because the cost of products goes up when the number of lawsuits filed against a city and or company increase.
“California families pay a hidden tax,” Zelt said. “And it can be on everything from prescription medications, home insurance, health insurance, auto insurance, even something like soap and detergent. The cost of these things are more expensive because of the liability cost that many companies and cities and localities have to pay for frivolous lawsuits.”
Zelt also said Protecting American Consumers Together released a study from the Perryman Group in April that revealed lawsuit abuse costs the average California family $8,306 per year. Zelt added California families spend the highest amount on lawsuit abuse in the nation.
The study from the Perryman Group further found that “lawsuit abuse inflates essential costs by an additional $3,876 per California household.” For instance, according to the Perryman Group study, lawsuit abuse caused the cost of health insurance to increase by 3.163% and auto insurance by 2.91%.
A majority of California voters surveyed said they support legislation that would reform the cost of lawsuits, settlements and related legal fees, with 47% strongly supporting reform and 28% somewhat supporting it. Furthermore, 86% of voters reported their state legislator should vote to stop lawsuit abuse and eliminate the hidden tax on California families, rather than protect personal injury lawyers. According to the survey, even a majority of voters who had used a personal injury lawyer reported to be in favor of the state regulating them.
Zelt said regulating personal injury lawyers is one way to tackle the lawsuit abuse problem in California because oftentimes those lawyers harm their clients so they can gain profit from the case.
“What often happens when a person hires a personal injury attorney is that they are left more injured and more in debt than they were when they first started the process,” Zelt said. “An attorney might tell someone they will only take a part of their settlement, but by the time they pay back the loans associated with the lawsuit and the medical bills and the attorney fees, people are often left in debt and often having experienced unnecessary medical procedures they didn’t need.”
Zelt also said the poll shows California voters are noticing the effect lawsuit abuse in California is having on them financially and they are eager to see change be made to the legal system.
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“The current system is set up to push profit toward the attorneys because of the way that these cases are built,” Zelt said. “So right now, plaintiffs in California and across the country are seeking a justice system that is far and transparent because they end up owing more money than they would have if they hadn’t sought the legal system at all.”
The survey was conducted by Public Opinion Strategies among 1,000 registered voters between May 19 and May 22. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1%.
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