We’re No. 1!

The minor league team in my home town just won their first league championship. The team only lost one game during the entire postseason and dominated every team they played.

To finish the season No. 1 is a remarkable achievement. But being No. 1 is not always a good thing. Illinois’s most populous County, Cook County, has just been named the most unfair and unreasonable court jurisdiction in the country, according to a new study from the highly respected survey company Harris Interactive.

Wouldn’t it be better to be No. 1 for job growth or to be the No. 1 place for business development? Instead, Cook County is No. 1 for lawsuit abuse.

There is a link between a state’s lawsuit climate and the ability to attract new jobs and opportunities. According to the study, 70 percent of the respondents to the survey say a state’s legal climate helps determine where companies decide to locate or expand.

The lawsuit industry is big business in places like Cook County. But it does not have to be this way. Let’s take a stand this November and make lawsuit reform a priority as we go to the polls. The time has come to make abusive lawsuits a thing of the past.