The United States Chamber of Commerce this week released its second annual study which ranked California’s liability system 44th out of 50 in terms of how fair and reasonable the system is perceived to be by corporate America. Nearly 82 percent of respondents also indicated that the litigation environment of a state could affect decisions such as where to locate or do business. And 65 percent ranked state court liability systems as only fair or poor, up from 57 percent last year.

“This is a huge wake up call for legislators and political candidates who want to attract more job opportunities to our state and keep current employers here,” said Diann Rogers, executive director of Central California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse (CCCALA). “We need laws that will reform our civil justice system to ensure more fairness and balance, thereby making California more business — and job — friendly.”

The U.S. Chamber study asked a national sample of in-house general counsel or senior litigators at public corporations to give each state a letter grade (A, B, C, D, or F) in several areas of liability. These grades were then averaged into an overall state grade using a 4.0 scale.

“California got a grade of C minus,” Rogers said, “placing it only above Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, West Virginia and Mississippi. Clearly, the liability system here in the world’s fifth largest economy is failing businesses, and as such it’s failing workers. ”

Rogers added the study ranked California 44th in terms of the fairness of its juries, and an even more deplorable 48th in terms of juries’ predictability, enough to give any entrepreneur pause before starting a business here.

“It’s no surprise that California is at the bottom of the heap, due in large part to the public's attitude and behavior towards jury service,” Rogers said. “Most Californians would prefer a root canal to serving on a jury. As a result, we’re constantly seeing outrageous lawsuits and astronomical awards which threaten jobs and can put the very survival of a small business in jeopardy.”

California’s rating on key elements of its liability system is as follows:

The. U.S. Chamber of Commerce study was conducted by Harris Interactive, Inc., via a series of phone interviews between January 16 and February 18, 2003. All interviews were conducted among a nationally representative sample of 900 senior attorneys at companies with annual revenues of at least $100 million.

To obtain a copy of the complete report, contact CCCALA at 916-638-8995.

Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse is a nonprofit, public education watchdog organization. More 5,000 Sacramento region and Central Valley citizens voluntarily support CALA and its public education mission. For more information, visit CCCALA.org