Lawsuits Squeeze State Budgets

Maryland Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse (MDCALA) released a new report revealing that three of Maryland’s largest localities spent more than $46 million to deal with lawsuits over the past five fiscal years.  Like many other states, Maryland is grappling with a large budget deficient and looking to cut critical programs – like schools and public safety.  The last place tax dollars should be going is to pay for lawsuits.

In order to understand the weight of litigation costs, the report compares these costs to city and county programs requiring similar levels of funding.  For example, had fiscal year 2009 funds not been spent on lawsuits:

• Baltimore City could have funded the entire violent crime reduction program sponsored by the Baltimore City Police Department;
• Montgomery County could have paid for a recycling outreach and education program to raise awareness about the importance of recycling and for a program to support recycling volunteers to motivate citizens to actively participate in recycling; and
• Prince George’s County could have hired 31 new teachers for its public school system.

Litigation costs have always been a part of government administration and there will always be lawsuits against the government with merit that deserve their day in court.  Yet often local governments are seen as easy targets with deep pockets, attracting frivolous lawsuits that are only filed in an attempt to make a few plaintiffs and personal injury lawyers rich quickly. The fact is that many of these lawsuits are filed on a contingency-fee basis, providing personal injury lawyers with incentives to file large quantities of lawsuits in the hopes of a quick settlement or large verdict. 

In these uncertain economic times, the unpredictable cost of lawsuits is something local governments and taxpayers just can’t afford.