By Robert Apodaca, Executive Director, United Latinos Action

Californians are footing a massive bill for our state’s broken legal system, to the tune of $72 billion. This system favors Wall Street speculators who fund efforts for frivolous lawsuits, taking advantage of lucrative payouts from medical malpractice cases. While these lawsuit abusers get rich off doctors and small businesses in an unbalanced court, California’s minority and low-income communities lose out on vital goods and services. Without meaningful tort reform to diminish the number of frivolous lawsuits being dished out across the state and their payouts, the scales of justice will only tip further in the direction of lawsuit abusers. 

One of the primary missions of United Latinos Action (ULA) is to make sure our constituents receive affordable, quality health care. And our state’s Hispanic communities won’t be able to count on continued access to healthcare if our healthcare keeps getting victimized by our unbalanced legal system. California already has over 1.7 million uninsured Hispanics, a number that will only increase if premiums are forced upward in the wake of more frivolous lawsuits. 

California has a cap on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases through legislation titled “Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act” (MICRA). Originally, the limit was set at $250,000. But lobbyists working on behalf of the lawsuit abusers have gotten this cap raised and are continuing to push it even higher. This isn’t helping the victims of medical malpractice cases or improving medical care. Raising the MICRA cap incentives more lawsuits seeking a greater payout. Doctors are, in turn, forced to walk on eggshells, designing overly cautious treatment plans to avoid getting sued. Patients who need aggressive care might not get what they need. 

Higher insurance premiums and lower quality healthcare aren’t the only side effects of our broken legal system. Lawsuit abusers don’t stop at healthcare, they go after any business with a potential for a large payout. For example, a motorcycle manufacturer was forced to pay over $100 million in damages after a motorcycle rider, who crossed multiple lanes of traffic and hit a car, blamed the manufacturer for the accident. This ultimately isn’t about justice, right or wrong, but rather who can cough up the largest payout. And there’s already plenty of that in California. The state leads the nation in jury verdicts worth $10 million or more. The larger these payouts get, the more difficult it becomes to do business in the state of California. 

Meaningful tort reform will level the playing field and take the incentive away from lawsuit abusers. This means heading off efforts to raise the MICRA cap on non-economic damages and reversing Circuit Court decisions that removed the “courts’ ability to take the ‘litigiousness of the plaintiff into consideration.’”

At ULA, we look out for the interests of California’s Latino communities. Many are underserved and already suffering due to the effects of inflation and increased consumer costs. On top of this, they’re being forced to shoulder the costs of a broken legal system manipulated by hedge funds and outside investors, resulting in higher insurance premiums, diminished healthcare, and a degrading business community. 

Fixing our legal system through lasting tort reform is the only recourse to remedy this situation. Failing to do so only enriches Big Business at the expense of ordinary, working Californians.