Editor’s Note: Project Lawsuit Abuse regularly highlights lawsuit abuse news from across the country. Today, Phoebe Stonbely, with the Lawsuit Reform Alliance of New York, contributed a guest post for Project Lawsuit Abuse.

New York’s Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman has been aggressive in fighting to protect New York’s consumers from predatory lenders, such as an out-of-state company that charged a woman more than $19,000 for an $8,000 loan for a medical procedure.

California isn’t known for doing many things right in regards to its legal climate. After all, it is the nation’s number one Judicial Hellhole! But one thing the state does do right is Juror Appreciation Week.

Each May, California puts aside one week to celebrate the important efforts of citizens who devote their time and effort to jury service. As California’s Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye says, “Serving on a jury is more than a civic responsibility—it is how each and every one of us provides access to justice for all.”

Editor’s Note: Project Lawsuit Abuse regularly highlights lawsuit abuse news from across the country. Today, Travis Akin, Executive Director of Illinois Lawsuit Abuse Watch, contributed a guest post for Project Lawsuit Abuse

New Jersey teen Rachael Canning made national news when she filed a lawsuit against her parents demanding they pay her outstanding tuition bills and pay her $654 per week for living expenses. 

The case will likely be dismissed at some point but it does make one wonder how we got to a point in our society when a child has chosen to use the court system to resolve a family dispute.

If you have a loan out right now, you’re probably paying an interest rate of some sort. For instance, the average interest rate on a car loan these days is around five percent. Of course, the higher an interest rate is, the more money you lose – and the harder it becomes to pay the loan back.

It’s pretty obvious, then, that a loan with an interest rate of 100 percent is a bad deal for consumers. Believe it or not, though, lawsuit lenders – perhaps more accurately called lawsuit loan sharks – actually charge rates as high as 150 percent!

Have you ever taken a vacation that didn’t quite turn out how you imagined it? Maybe you tried to go skiing, but there wasn’t any fresh snow. Or maybe you had planned to spend a week at the beach, only to have rain ruin your plans. 

While such a turn of events is unfortunate, any sensible person would recognize that the situation is no one’s fault and that the best thing to do would be to try to make the most of it. But unfortunately, that’s not what Bruno Leduc did when he encountered rain during his week-long vacation in the Dominican Republic. Instead, he actually decided to sue the island for raining! Can you believe that?

We all know that our courts are meant to be used for justice, not greed. The unfortunate truth, however, is that some folks insist on abusing our system to make a quick buck.

Some even go so far as faking an accident in order to sue – remember when we told you about the woman who “slipped” at a grocery store but really dragged her foot through water to make it look like she fell? She then sued the grocery store, and the owner had to pay her $500 because it was cheaper to settle than take her to court.

Tort reformers have been turning up all over the internet recently. We took the liberty of rounding up some of the standouts. You may recognize a few friends of Project Lawsuit Abuse in there. Here are some of the newsmakers from around the country.

Okla. SC to hear challenge over new workers’ comp law
The Oklahoma Supreme Court will decide whether the state’s workers’ compensation reform, signed into law six months ago, is constitutional. – Legal Newsline

Editor’s Note: Project Lawsuit Abuse regularly highlights lawsuit abuse news from across the country. Today, Tom Scott, Executive Director of California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse, contributed a guest post for Project Lawsuit Abuse.

With Thanksgiving coming up, we should all take some time to be thankful for what we have. Our nation, despite some problems, is still the greatest nation in the world.

One of those problems is the ongoing abuse of our legal system. It seems like there is not a day, week or year that goes by that we cannot point to an example of the utter abuse of our legal system. Why do we continue to allow the civil justice system to be abused for personal gain?

We have some big news for you on the legal reform front: last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act, or LARA.  The bill aims to reduce lawsuit abuse by imposing sanctions on lawyers who file frivolous lawsuits – a common sense reform and a potentially a big step toward improving our legal system.

Also in big legal reform news last week, the House agreed to pass the Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency Act, or FACT Act. The bill seeks to crack down on asbestos fraud and protect asbestos trust funds for deserving victims.

If you’re a regular reader of our blog, you know that California has one of the country’s worst legal climates. That’s why we were hardly surprised when we heard yet another ridiculous settlement from the state.

Listen to this: in 2011, after more than two years of litigation, a man won a sexual harassment case for $550, or less than percent of damages requested. While he didn’t walk away empty-handed, he clearly didn’t win the lawsuit lottery.

Tort reformers have been turning up all over the internet recently. We took the liberty of rounding up some of the standouts. You may recognize a few friends of Project Lawsuit Abuse in there. Here are some of the newsmakers from around the country.

AG’s Record Questionable – At Best – on Contingency Fees
I recently read with great interest Attorney General Buddy Caldwell’s commentary touting his commitment to the “longstanding Louisiana Supreme Court’s ruling in Meredith v. Ieyoub, in which the court held the state of Louisiana is prohibited from issuing contingency fee contracts.” – The Hayride

We all know the obvious costs of lawsuit abuse – it raises prices for consumers, hurts small businesses and clogs up our courts, making it difficult for real victims to receive justice. But lawsuit abuse impacts a lot other areas of our lives too, in ways that maybe aren’t quite so obvious.

For instance, excessive litigation has essentially destroyed the American playground – personal injury lawyers have sued their way to boring and risk-free play areas, and an article in the Wall Street Journal says these are contributing to fearful, overweight and anxious children.