Tort-reform supporters told lawmakers at the California’s State Capitol earlier this month that one of their top legislative priorities would be the passage of Senate Bill 84, which aims to limit construction-related accessibility lawsuits against small businesses.
California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse (CALA) held its annual legislative action day on March 12. The event, which allowed California small businesses owners and other CALA supporters to share personal stories of “shake-down” lawsuits, was a success, according to the group’s executive director, Victor Gomez.
The stories about excessive litigation ranged from lawsuits stemming from the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) and Proposition 65 toxics-labeling requirements.
“We met with dozens of legislators and staff to put the emphasis on the abuse of frivolous lawsuits up and down the state,” Gomez told the Southern California Record in an email. “One of our biggest focuses was the revival of 2022’s Senate Bill 585, which is now SB 84. We are looking forward to getting this bill out of the Senate again this year and hopeful that the Assembly Judiciary Committee will hear it in the future.”
SB 84 would bar certain claims for statutory damages at a legal proceeding for allegations that public accommodations restrict access to the disabled, according to the Legislature’s analysis of the bill. The bill applies to claims against businesses with at most 50 employees and specifies that such construction-related claims cannot be filed unless the company has been issued a letter detailing the alleged violations.
In addition, SB 84 would give businesses 120 days to correct the violations in order to avoid a future lawsuit, according to the analysis.
“The bill would provide that a defendant is not liable for statutory damages, plaintiff’s attorney’s fees or costs for an alleged violation that is corrected within 120 days of service of a letter alleging the violation,” the analysis states.
Gomez said he was optimistic about the bill’s prospects of advancing this year.
“Legislative staff and the legislators we met with were all very supportive of this bill, and we hope that they will continue to support it as it navigates through the legislative and committee process,” he said.
Gomez has been delivering the message that the societal costs of excessive litigation in California has become more burdensome.
“California is seeing lawsuit-abuse inflation with … ADA lawsuits increasing in California, while nationally filings decreased,” he said in a recent opinion article. “In fact, plaintiffs will file ADA violations for a mirror that is simply a quarter of an inch too high, toilet too low or the blue striping on a parking lot starting to fade.”
A recent report from the Texas-based Perryman Group indicates that excessive litigation and an unbalanced civil justice system in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim region result in the loss of nearly $28 billion in personal income annually as well as job losses numbering 405,252.
Excessive tort litigation in that region results in an estimated “tort tax” of $3,387 per resident, according to the study.
But Gomez and other tort-reform supporters said there is still time for Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers to take the problem seriously and pass SB 84 as a way to provide relief to small businesses that have also been struggling with the impact of inflation and labor shortages.