In California, lawsuit abuse is a line item on every household — and every city budget.
PAGA, Prop 65, and ADA-access shakedowns keep predatory litigation profitable. LA paid $287M in settlements in a single year — after budgeting $87M. That's $200M that didn't go to roads, parks, or services.
The Latest from PACT
Press coverage, PACT original videos, and reform updates that put the issue in focus.
No one deserves to be victimized by personal-injury attorneys who exploit loopholes in an unregulated system that drives up costs for everyone. We’re committed to a legal system that protects rather than exploits, because consumers deserve a justice system they can trust.
Two PACT projects, built for the people the system exploits.
Standalone platforms — practical guidance for the moment after a crash, and a place for victims to put their own story on the record.
Before You Call That Lawyer
Practical guidance for victims on navigating the immediate aftermath of an accident without falling prey to settlement mills.
Your Injury Story
First-hand accounts from consumers whose lives were complicated by aggressive legal marketing and predatory contracts.
California's legal system rewards predatory and fraudulent behavior — and the bill lands on households, cities, and small businesses.
The cost of an unregulated system.
Annual per-household cost
of America's broken U.S. legal system, paid by every family.
Source: Institute for Legal Reform (ILR), 11/24
Total cost to the U.S. economy
of America's broken legal system in 2022 — 2.1% of total GDP.
Source: Institute for Legal Reform (ILR), 11/24
Billboard-lawyer ad spend
spent in 2023 on 26 million+ TV, radio, print, and billboard ads across the U.S.
Source: American Tort Reform Association (ATRA), 3/24
Where lawsuit abuse is winning, and where consumers are fighting back.
These are the states where the fight is most active — proven reform wins, and documented fraud rings driving up costs for everyone else. Click a state for the story.
States delivering measurable savings after enacting meaningful tort, venue, or legal-advertising reforms.
States with documented legal-fraud rings, organized staged-crash conspiracies, or entrenched lawsuit abuse.
States where reform activity has not yet reached national attention, though efforts are advancing in many.
The costs do not stop with the lawsuit.
PACT tracks the fallout where consumers actually feel it: higher premiums, aggressive ad saturation, pressure on family budgets, and the everyday expenses that absorb the cost of lawsuit abuse.
Latest California coverage
- August 4, 2026Lawsuit Abuse Is Draining City Budgets Across America, and Clovis Is Fighting BackLawsuit abuse is quietly gutting the budgets of cities and public agencies across the country, stripping away resources communities depend on for roads, parks, and public safety. One California city is now taking a stand.Read
- July 17, 2026LA County's $4 Billion Settlement Is Under Fraud Investigation, and the District Attorney Is Sounding the AlarmLA County’s $4 Billion Settlement Is Under Fraud Investigation, and the District Attorney Is Sounding the AlarmRead
- July 13, 2026The Cowboy Was a Con: How Downtown LA Law Group's Fraud Playbook Followed Real Victims to Val VerdeWhen a man in a cowboy hat and leather chaps began approaching residents of Val Verde, California, nobody recognized him. That was by design. The Los Angeles Times has the story.Read
Latest dispatches
Pennsylvania's Hidden Inflation Problem Has a Name: Lawsuit Abuse
A quieter, less visible force is making the Keystone State more expensive, and it starts not at the checkout counter but in the courtroom.
Lawsuit Abuse Is Raising California’s Cost of Living
Tort costs in the United States reached $529 billion in 2022 — 2.1 percent of GDP — and California remains what the American Tort Reform Foundation calls “the trial bar’s laboratory,” producing 199 nuclear verdicts worth more than $9 billion from 2013 through 2022. PAGA claims and Proposition 65 “bounty hunter” settlements push those costs into everyday prices.
Washington's Lawsuit Crisis Is Draining Public Services. Lawmakers Must Act.
Washington state just closed its fiscal year with a record-setting $614 million in lawsuit payouts, legal fees, and tort settlements, money taken directly from schools, social services, and infrastructure.
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