Sacramento - Central California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse’s (CCCALA) assessment of this session of the California State Legislature is both good and bad for California consumers with regard to civil justice reform.

CCCALA has worked aggressively to protect common sense legal reforms already in place and oppose any trial lawyer “reforms” that could raise the public’s cost of living, decrease the public’s access to healthcare, and take away jobs by creating more frivolous and excessive litigation.

“This year we won more than we lost,” said Diann Rogers, Executive director of CCCALA. “Sham reform bills like Senate Bill 122 (Escutia) didn’t make it to the Governor’s desk – despite that the fact that personal injury lawyers have a lot of friends in the Legislature – well demonstrates that personal injury lawyers have less of an impact on our civil justice system than ever before.”

Below is a summary of some of the new civil justice reforms that made it, or did not make it, through the legislative process, and how each impact California consumers.

SB 122 (Escutia, D-Whittier) failed to make it out of the Assembly. “The State-Sanctioned Extortion Act,” – would have made it easier to extort money from small business owners throughout California.

AB 1180 (Harman, R-Huntington Beach) has been enacted – and will encourage citizens to do their part to improve the civil justice system and stop lawsuit abuse by serving on a jury when called. AB 1180 imposes fines upon those who fail to show for jury service. Fines range from $250 for the first violation, and up to $1,500 for the third.

AB 1715 (Assembly Judiciary Committee & Senators Burton, Escutia & Kuehl) was vetoed by Governor Davis. This bill would have eliminated employment arbitration agreements, resulting in more frivolous litigation against employers, and further clogging our court system. This bill was introduced and debated at taxpayer expense, despite welldocumented support for arbitration from the California Supreme Court and Governor Davis.

AB 634 (Steinberg, D – Sacramento, Simitian, D – Palo Alto) has been enacted – opening the door for more frivolous litigation by making private settlement information a matter of public record. This will result in increased healthcare costs, threaten jobs in California and divert resources away from elder care and into the pockets of personal injury lawyers.

SB 796 (Dunn, D-Santa Ana) has been enacted – allowing employees to bring civil actions to recover penalties for any alleged violation of the Labor Code the Labor & Workforce Development Agency does not address. As a result, litigation against employers could increase, giving employers one more reason to move out of the state.

“We urge consumers to let their legislators and legislative candidates know where they stand on the issue of lawsuit abuse and civil justice reform,” Rogers said. “The only thing louder than money in campaign coffers is the voice of an informed electorate.”

For more information on these issues, please contact Central California Citizens Against Lawsuits Abuse at 916-638-8995 or CCCALA@comcast.net

Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse is a nonprofit, public education watchdog organization. More than 4,500 citizens throughout Sacramento and the Central Valley voluntarily support CCCALA and its public education mission. For more information, visit www.CCCALA.com