Detroit News Op-Ed

Michigan Has Growing Lawsuit Abuse Problem

The legal liability system in Michigan has taken a disturbing turn in recent years that threatens our economy and which could have far-reaching effects on families across the state. After years of being ranked in the top half of all the states in the nation for having a fair and reasonable legal system, Michigan has fallen to the bottom half of the rankings along with states like Mississippi and California.

That’s the conclusion of a survey performed by the Harris Poll and the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform. The 2019 Lawsuit Climate Survey is the most comprehensive poll of how lawyers and senior attorneys at the largest companies in America view our lawsuit climate.

Michigan’s lawsuit climate is becoming more volatile and unpredictable, and as that happens, it becomes less attractive to job providers who are deciding where to locate their business. Of those who participated in the survey, 89% said that a state’s litigation climate is likely to impact important business decisions at their companies.

With all of the variables that affect a state’s business climate, it’s easy to overlook the importance of its legal liability system. Taxes, government regulations, quality of education, availability and cost of skilled labor and many other issues certainly weigh heavily when business decisions are made, but this survey shows that it’s time to put the spotlight on Michigan’s litigation climate again.

For many years, an organization I led called Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch served as a citizen watchdog over the courts. Up until 2013, we worked to increase public awareness of all the ways that excessive litigation negatively affects job providers, families and communities.

Many people view lawsuits as a problem only for businesses or insurance companies. However, nothing could be further from the truth. When we began publishing our research in 1997, we discovered that non-profit organizations were some of those hardest hit by lawsuit abuse.

At that time, the Girl Scouts of Metro Detroit reported that it had to sell 36,000 boxes of cookies every year just to raise enough money to pay for their liability insurance to protect themselves from lawsuits. They weren’t alone in dealing with this problem. Little League baseball, horse riding programs for the developmentally disabled and many more community groups were being crippled by the high cost of liability insurance.

Then, things began to improve. Common sense legal reforms enacted by the legislature began to provide more stability for the legal climate. The Michigan Supreme Court developed a reputation across the country for tossing frivolous lawsuits out of court and for limiting the spread of legal liability.

At the same time, Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch created judicial evaluations and other public education programs to help Michigan citizens understand the true impact that the courts have on our state, and by 2015, Michigan’s ranking in the Lawsuit Climate Survey had risen to 24th in the nation. Job providers were beginning to have a favorable view of Michigan’s legal climate again.

Unfortunately, it didn’t last.

In the 2019 edition of the Lawsuit Climate Survey, Michigan has dropped down to 33rd in the nation. Fears over lawsuit abuse are rising again in the business community, and in 2020, the personal injury bar has what many believe to be their best chance to reclaim a majority on the Michigan Supreme Court for the first time in 22 years. If that happens, Michigan’s ranking would likely sink even further and put our state’s comeback in jeopardy.

Lawsuit abuse is a term we use because it encompasses more than frivolous lawsuits. For instance, defensive medicine has become an expensive problem in America these days because many doctors and health professionals feel the need to constantly order more tests than are needed. They do this in an effort to ward off speculative lawsuits by personal injury lawyers who second-guess their decisions. 

Lawsuits can also be used as a weapon to intimidate or to deflect responsibility by those who are guilty of misconduct or negligence. And it can happen in the private as well as the public sectors.

The Flint water crisis is a prime example. The people of Michigan know all too well that this tragedy was perpetrated by local and state officials. And yet, as has been well documented, four years after state prosecutors said they were going to pursue criminal investigations against the state and local officials who perpetrated the Flint water crisis, every charge has been dismissed without a single guilty plea. Instead, the state continues to flounder as it pursues meritless lawsuits against private contractors (a judge recently dismissed the lion’s share of the state’s claims) while failing to make any progress against the state and local officials who were directly responsible.

Citizens should wonder if the state is trying to use the courts is to deflect public attention away from their mistakes in the Flint water situation, especially because the state department involved in that crisis is now being accused by Macomb County Public Works Administrator Candice Miller of bungling another investigation of pollution that caused green slime to ooze onto a Detroit highway. Critically, the state’s approach has emboldened out-of-state trial lawyers who are now trying to score their own quick payday in the Flint water situation with no promise of true accountability for the people of Flint.

Litigation has a far-reaching impact on our lives in so many ways. How will it affect the availability of clean, safe drinking water in the future? How will it affect the ability of the auto industry to provide consumers with autonomous vehicles? How will it affect the availability of medical care and potentially life-saving prescription drugs?

These questions are crucial to the future of our state, and that’s why I am announcing that we’re bringing back Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch – to serve as a watchdog over the courts, the legislature and the personal injury lawyers. This time, we will be known as MiLAW for short (pronounced MyLaw) to emphasize the personal stake each Michigan resident has in eliminating lawsuit abuse. Stay tuned for more in the weeks and months ahead.

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Bob Dorigo Jones is former president of Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch, creator of the popular Wacky Warning Label Contest, and the bestselling author of Remove Child Before Folding: The 101 Stupidest, Silliest and Wackiest Warning Labels Ever. For more information, visit www.LawsuitFairness.org.

*This is the original version of the op-ed that was edited down by the Detroit News for space considerations. To see the version published in the Detroit News, click here: