(Washington, D.C.) – On behalf of its 4,611 members in West Virginia, of the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) today called for the state legislature to implement legal reforms to curb excessive litigation.  Especially in the health care industry, expensive lawsuits and enormous damages are raising costs for patients, lowering the number of practitioners, and impeding medical advancements.  Doctor’s malpractice insurance premiums are skyrocketing in response to the flood of lawsuits.  Taxpayers get hit with under funded liability for workers compensation and for the high costs of state-funded health programs.             

“Thanks to sue-happy lawyers and biased judges who rule in favor of just about anyone who walks through their doors, West Virginians are footing astronomical bills,” CCAGW President Tom Schatz said.  “It’s as if the entire legal establishment is conspiring to loot the state of its productive capacity.”  

Americans spend more on the costs of litigation than any other country in the world.  Doctors respond by practicing “defensive medicine” – prescribing expensive medicines treatments to reduce the possibility of being sued.  Some doctors cannot afford malpractice insurance despite never having faced a claim.  The litigation crisis has forced many doctors to leave the state or to quit medicine entirely, restricting access to health care and hurting overall quality.  

“A few lawyers and litigants become millionaires while the rest of the state deteriorates economically,” Schatz continued.  “You can’t wait for lawyers to grow consciences and cease their assault.  The legislature must act to protect businesses from frivolous lawsuits.”

West Virginia’s legal system has been named the second-worst in the nation.  The malpractice insurance situation is in a “crisis state,” according to both the American Medical Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.  Malpractice premiums increased by 45 percent in 2001-2002, compared to just 18 percent in states with caps on damages.  In rural areas, the sole community provider hospitals have closed their OB units because the obstetricians in cannot afford insurance.  West Virginia courts have racked up $4 billion in under funded workers compensation liability. 

“Courts hear unnecessary court cases that waste public resources and burden small businesses with legal costs, driving many out of business or out of the state,” Schatz continued.  “Like cockroaches after a nuclear winter, the only professionals left in West Virginia will be lawyers scavenging for the state for last morsels of economic activity.”

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services makes the following recommendations to clean up the litigation system: Cap the award for non-economic damages; allow for payment of a judgment over time rather than in one lump sum; enforce a statue of limitations; inform the jury if the plaintiff has another source of payment; make defendants pay judgment in proportion to their fault; and allow for peer-review statutes that protect confidentiality.

“West Virginia is one of the poorest states in the nation,” Schatz concluded.  “A predictable and fair legal environment is essential to the risk-taking and investment that spurs economic growth and job creation.  To ignore tort reform at the behest of special interests is a crime against taxpayers, consumers, and workers.” 

The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, the nation's largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.