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<\/a>\u201cMissouri has been making strong progress in recent years to become an attractive place for job growth and business investment. But ranking 44th in the nation is a devastating blow to our work to make Missouri an economic leader,\u201d said Daniel P. Mehan, Missouri Chamber president and CEO. \u201cFor far too long, trial attorneys have abused the system for profit and used their political influence in Jefferson City to derail our reform efforts. That must end now. We can no longer be a state that\u2019s doing everything it can to improve our economy, only to have our efforts stymied by trial attorneys who want to siphon money into the massive lawsuit industry they\u2019ve built in Missouri on the backs of our job creators and workers. We are calling on Missouri lawmakers to make this their focus in 2020. There is nothing more important to our state\u2019s economic future than to finally bring fairness to our state\u2019s court system.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Institute for Legal Reform bases its rankings on the real-life experiences of legal professionals working in Missouri compared to other states.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnyone who thinks Missouri deserves a pat on the back for improving to 44th in the nation is deeply mistaken about the damage our legal climate continues to have on our economy. This is an embarrassment for our state and it must be fixed as soon as possible,\u201d said Mehan.<\/p>\n
The state\u2019s legal climate problems are also well documented by the American Tort Reform Association, which regularly places Missouri and St. Louis near the top of its annual list of Judicial Hellholes.<\/p>\n
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In addition, a 2018 American Tort Reform Association study showed that Missourians need only to turn on their televisions to find another glaring symptom of the out-of-control litigation climate here.<\/p>\n
Commercial breaks in Missouri are flooded with legal advertisements. The American Tort Reform Association found that television viewers in Missouri see more legal ads than almost anywhere else in the country.<\/p>\n
In the St. Louis market, trial lawyers spent $860,000 on nearly 14,000 television ads during a three-month period in 2018. That amounts to 153 ads soliciting legal claims or advertising legal services every single day. Things only get worse in Kansas City where there were almost twice as many televised legal services ads during the same time period, averaging nearly 10 ads each hour.<\/p>\n
Trial lawyers advertise in Missouri because Missouri is a great place to sue people. It\u2019s worth it to spend millions of dollars on television time because they recoup those costs, and much more, by dragging businesses and individuals into our state\u2019s unfair courtrooms.<\/p>\n
But even for businesses that manage to avoid being pulled into court, there are still major costs to bear because of our state\u2019s legal climate.<\/p>\n
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A 2018 Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse study found that Missouri\u2019s legal climate costs the state $1.6 billion each year. In addition, the situation depresses our state output by $2.5 billion and has killed more than 26,500 jobs. Furthermore, the legal climate exacerbates the state\u2019s tight budget by reducing revenues by $127.1 million. Local governments are also feeling the pinch, as the flawed judicial system costs them $108.5 million in annual revenues.<\/p>\n
Likewise, the Institute for Legal Reform found that every Missouri household is losing, on average, $3,099 per year due to our litigation system.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s even more troubling is the untold impact that our litigation climate is having on our ability to compete for jobs and business development. The U.S. Chamber\u2019s study found that 89 percent of business leaders said that a state\u2019 litigation environment is likely to impact important business decisions, including where to locate or do business.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s past time that Missouri ends these schemes and puts a stop to our reputation for job-crushing lawsuits.<\/p>\n
Read all of our 2020 Civil Justice Agenda action items here<\/a>, or follow the trial attorney money trail here<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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