California has a lawsuit abuse problem, and a new report puts a staggering price tag on it.
According to a report released by Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse, lawsuit abuse is costing California $101.2 billion in lost economic output and more than 850,000 jobs every single year. The findings reveal that Californians are each paying more than $2,500 annually in a “tort tax.” Californians face a hidden cost embedded in everyday goods and services as a result of excessive litigation.
Victor Gomez, executive director of Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse: “Since mid-2024, the trial attorneys have spent almost $300 million on 1.2 million ads just in the Southern California area alone. … You can’t drive through Fresno, you can’t drive through Bakersfield, you can’t drive through LA without seeing these mega billboards, right? Advertising everywhere, essentially saying, ‘Hey, give us a call. We’ll sue whoever you want and get some money.’”
The human cost behind those numbers is hitting home for some residents. David Fansler, a local restaurant owner, has faced multiple ADA lawsuits over the years. “It’s a minimum of $5,000, then sometimes you have to get an attorney involved and a simple issue can turn into $10,000, $20,000 in a heartbeat.” “They wouldn’t even come back to see if it was fixed,” he said. “They’re just on to the next gig.”
That pattern — sue, settle, move on — is precisely what Gomez described as the operating model of outside law firms that descend on small businesses in the Central Valley looking for ADA violations, often on behalf of plaintiffs who have never set foot in the businesses they are suing. Gomez knows the experience firsthand. He owned and operated a franchised pizza restaurant for 17 years before being sued over an ADA ramp violation caused not by negligence, but by an earthquake shifting the ground beneath his storefront. He paid $17,000 in damages. No one asked him to fix the ramp.
The reach of these lawsuits has extended well beyond physical storefronts. Ben Stockle, a local restaurant owner, was sued during the pandemic for ADA noncompliance on his restaurant’s website, a case filed by someone from Los Angeles who Stockle believes had never visited the restaurant. When it was all over, between attorney fees, a website redesign, and the settlement itself, Stockle was out roughly $10,000.
David Frankenberger, branch managing partner at Fresno law firm Tyson and Mendes, highlighted the acceleration of frivolous litigation in the state.
“You see it from the billboards to the online advertisements, and I just see it in my everyday practice.” The $101.2 billion amount is not just a concept. It represents the cumulative burden of countless situations like these: small businesses unable to hire, restaurants settling with lawyers for clients who never stepped foot in their establishments, and entrepreneurs compelled to allocate funds for legal defenses rather than for hiring staff, purchasing equipment, and fostering growth.
California’s legislators have the proof laid out before them. Now is the time to take action, before jobs, businesses, and economic prospects are sacrificed to a system that frequently prioritizes litigation over justice.