PRESS RELEASE: LAWSUIT ABUSE IS STILL HAVING A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON FLORIDA’S ECONOMY!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thomas J Gaitens
Executive Director
Florida Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse (FL CALA)
941-725-4450
FEBRUARY 13th 11am
LAWSUIT ABUSE IS STILL HAVING A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON FLORIDA’S ECONOMY!
Despite significant reforms driven by the Governor and the State Legislature, the civil justice landscape still has a deep hole to dig out of from years of neglect. Floridians pay a ‘tort tax’ on average of $1238 dollars per person, nearly $5000 per family of four as result of frivolous lawsuits and abuses of our civil justice system.
Executive Director Tom Gaitens explains, “Floridians are being robbed daily by the ‘tort tax’ which are the pass-through costs because of a flawed civil justice system.”
“We must continue to bail water out of our economic boat. This water of abuse keeps seeping through loopholes and gaps in our system. Reform is necessary to allow Florida’s economy to glide more smoothly as is intended with transparency and a fair civil justice system for all. We cannot miss the opportunity of this legislative session to build upon the gains of the past, Gaitens continued.
The ’tort tax,’ for example, has a major impact on our metro centers in Florida. The direct costs of abuse have impacted the three major metro markets significantly, Miami region has seen a negative impact of nearly 9 billion in costs, while Tampa and Orlando have seen about 3 billion in direct costs, each. Statewide, direct costs are approaching 19 billion and nearly 240 thousand jobs annually.
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