California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse :: New Report Exposes Abusive Litigation Spending by School Districts #lawsuitabuse

Disclosure: This post is brought to by California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse.

The school year is about to begin, and California’s students are about to head back into the classroom. While school districts are always stretched tight, one thing that’s really hurting schools is abusive litigation, which is forcing districts to spend money fighting lawsuits instead of educating students.

 

That’s the finding of a recent report from California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse. As a life-long California resident, I'm absolutely appalled to learn about this! The report analyzed the litigation costs to 12 districts for fiscal years 2010-2011 through 2012-2013, and found that the districts combined spent more than $125.6 million on litigation, spending $96.1 million on outside counsel, and $29.4 million on verdicts and settlements.

The 12 districts examined in this report account for less than 20 percent of the total enrollment of California’s K-12 public school districts. When the other districts are taken into account, who knows how many millions – or billions – of dollars our districts are spending?

WHY You Should Care

This report makes it clear that California’s schools are just one more victim of the state’s plaintiffs’ attorneys, some of whom view lawsuits as a means to get rich rather than achieve justice. Because California’s laws encourage this behavior, our students are paying the price. Our school districts are wasting money!

Californians need to make sure, especially as the November ballot approaches, that they know whether their candidates support legal reforms that would put an end to abuse like this. Legislators need to help solve the problem by passing legislation that stops abusive lawsuits, instead of encouraging them.