On the criminal side of “justice” California is a paradise for criminals. Between the laws and the lawless DA’s like San Fran Soros-Boudin and Los Angeles’ DA Soros-Gascon, criminals can ply their trade with little chance of real punishment. On the civil side of “justice” California is also a haven for con artists, scams and white collar thieves.
“Once touted as a way to benefit employees, this law has now become a way to burden employers and cost jobs. The California Private Attorney General Act allows aggrieved employees the opportunity to “Sue Your Boss” for technical violations when no one is ever hurt. These suits become class action lawsuits and cost jobs. Now under COVID-19, employers are responsible if an employee fails to take a timely rest break or lunch for PAGA violations.
Are you seeing the signs? They are an attempt by businesses to protect themselves from expensive $2,500 a day fines under Prop 65 for not having a label that warns consumers about being exposed to dangerous chemicals or products properly labeled. You see them on potato chips, bread, chocolate, cookies and yes, coffee. This only drives up the cost of our morning joe and places more burdens on business to be able to stay open and protect jobs.
Any wonder large firms are leaving California. High taxes, high cost of doing business and the government is looking for ways to punish you.
California Drops to Third Place in Annual Judicial Hellholes Report
No, California is not improving.
By Maryann Marino, Southern California Regional Director, Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse, 1/7/20
California’s legal climate continues to strangle business, cost jobs and announce outrageous settlements such as the consumer who was awarded one dollar in damages, but the consumer’s lawyer in the case walked away with more than $680,000 because of the legal loopholes in California’s Lemon Law.
California dropped from second and moved to third place in this year’s national Judicial Hellhole Report. California ranking did not really improve, rather, it’s just that courts in Philadelphia and New York City got worse. The Judicial Hellholes report is released each year by the American Tort Reform Foundation that ranks states whose courts use laws in a biased and unfair way.
At a critical time when California’s small business owners and essential service providers needed liability protections from COVID-19 lawsuits, especially those that took the responsible steps to protect their employees and customers, the powerful trial bar in California blocked legislation from being heard in the Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill had unanimous support in the Assembly and would have granted much needed liability protections for those small business owners who took the governor’s challenge and provided essential services such as groceries, gas, hardware stores and drug stores so Californians could shelter in place. Many businesses stayed open, many closed and will never be able to open their doors again.
Once touted as a way to benefit employees, this law has now become a way to burden employers and cost jobs. The California Private Attorney General Act allows aggrieved employees the opportunity to “Sue Your Boss” for technical violations when no one is ever hurt. These suits become class action lawsuits and cost jobs. Now under COVID-19, employers are responsible if an employee fails to take a timely rest break or lunch for PAGA violations.
Are you seeing the signs? They are an attempt by businesses to protect themselves from expensive $2,500 a day fines under Prop 65 for not having a label that warns consumers about being exposed to dangerous chemicals or products properly labeled. You see them on potato chips, bread, chocolate, cookies and yes, coffee. This only drives up the cost of our morning joe and places more burdens on business to be able to stay open and protect jobs.
AB 5 is a travesty. It places an unfair burden on employers and individuals wanting to just work. Its limits an individual’s opportunity to work and kills entrepreneurship unless what you do is on the list of 42 fields that have received exemptions. Its swiss cheese legislation. It picks winners and losers and if you are not in one of the 42 industries that were winners, then there is really nothing you can do. For the employer who was operating within the bounds of the law before AB 5 became laws, you make be out of bounds because of a retroactive look back for not following the new law.
Excessive tort costs burden Californians who lose their ability to create a livelihood due to the estimated loss of nearly 250,000 jobs and nearly $15 billion in personal income. That means each Californian ends up paying $594 each year in what we call a “tort tax.”
Can the legislature at least give our business owners some relief?
