Written by Michael Moran on November 17, 2009 – 9:34 am
A new study of New York’s legal system conducted by Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a nationally known research firm, has concluded that New York’s legal system is the third worst in the country and is costing taxpayers millions of dollars through higher taxes and increased costs for goods, insurance and health care. Savings derived from reforming the system would go a long way towards reducing New York’s multi-billion dollar budget deficit. The study was conducted on behalf of New Yorkers for Lawsuit Reform, a statewide coalition of business, health care and consumer groups.
“New York now faces a perfect storm of high tort costs, high tort-litigation risks, clogged courthouses, and nearly no tort reforms to balance a lopsided civil justice system,” said the report’s author, Dr. Lawrence J. McQuillan.
The study found that, compared to all other states, New York’s legal system is “at the bottom of the barrel in various measures of state tort performance. It has the second highest direct tort losses, the fourth worst relative tort losses, the fourth worst relative tort litigation risks, the third worst tort system overall, and the third worst tort rules and reforms on the books.”
“This study shows the enormous costs that every New York business and citizen carries because the state’s legal system is so weighted in favor of the trial attorneys,” said Kenneth Adams, president & CEO of The Business Council of New York State, Inc. “Real reform of the legal system could lower the cost of government, spur construction activity, lower health care costs and make New York more attractive as a place to do business.”