As a fourth-generation small business owner in Cook County, I have seen how much harder it has become to stay competitive in Illinois. Entrepreneurs aren’t just contending with rising costs and workforce gaps – we’re also battling a legal environment that is designed to burden small businesses. The soaring cost of lawsuit abuse is turning Illinois into one of the more hostile states in the country for small enterprise, threatening our ability to expand, hire, and invest in the future.
A new report released by Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse (CALA) reaffirms what many of us in the business community have long known: Illinois’ legal climate is quietly eroding our economy. According to the data, residents in Chicago and surrounding counties pay a staggering $2,100 per person each year in what experts refer to as a “tort tax” – the hidden cost of excessive litigation. That burden adds up to more than $18.5 billion in lost economic output annually and upwards of 156,000 lost jobs in the greater Chicago area alone.
These aren’t just numbers. They reflect the real-world impact of a legal system that rewards frivolous lawsuits and punishes job creators. At Atlas Tool Works, we strive daily to stay competitive in a saturated market – and yet, we’re forced to navigate a minefield of regulatory red tape and the constant threat of opportunistic litigation. Every dollar we spend on unnecessary legal compliance costs is a dollar we can’t invest in innovation, training or new jobs.
Small businesses constitute 99.6% of all registered businesses in Illinois. We are the backbone of our state’s economy – and yet we’re treated as expendable in a system tilted to benefit politically connected trial lawyers. A major reason for this imbalance is money in politics. Over $1 million has flowed from trial lawyer PACs into the coffers of Illinois politicians, creating a pay-to-play environment that favors lawsuit abuse over reform.
This issue starts and ends with our elected officials in Illinois. CALA’s report shows that if lawmakers in Springfield enacted common-sense legal reforms, Illinois could reclaim over $24 billion in lost economic activity. That’s revenue that could be used to raise wages, expand businesses, and bring thousands of jobs back to the state.
Reform isn’t about stripping away legitimate protections for workers or consumers. It’s about closing the loopholes that nefarious trial attorneys exploit to shake down small businesses for technical violations or baseless claims. It’s about ensuring that our legal system delivers justice, not jackpots.
Illinois is at a crossroads. We can either continue to allow a handful of politically powerful trial lawyers to dictate the rules, or we can stand up for the small businesses, workers and communities who are paying the price.
This new report should be a wake-up call for every policymaker in Springfield. If we want to stop the economic drain and start building a stronger economic future, legal reform must be at the top of the agenda.
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