Lawsuit Abuse Must-Read
July 16, 2009
The Manhattan Institute’s John Avlon has a must-read commentary in Forbes that documents how trial lawyers have turned the New York City government into a personal injury lawyers’ full-employment program - all to the detriment of the Big Apple’s taxpayers. Some highlights:
- New York taxpayers spent $568 million on lawsuits in 2008 - 20 times what they paid in 1977.
- New York taxpayers now spend more money on lawsuits than the next five cities (Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, Philadelphia) combined.
- New Yorkers dedicates more tax dollars to settling personal-injury lawsuits than they do for parks, transportation, homeless services or the City University system.
- In 2008, nearly 90 cases were settlement for $1 million or more.
- Many jury verdicts are even more costly. A Brooklyn man won $2.3 million after he fell onto the subway tracks in a drunken stupor and lost his right leg. A corrections officer was awarded $7.25 million following an unsuccessful suicide attempt on the theory that the city should have never allowed her to carry a gun.
For New York’s cash-strapped city (and state) political leaders looking for ways to trim budgets in a tough economy have a big, fat target: Rein in the personal injury lawyers.