Communications & Research
Stay current on the civil justice debate in California and the rest of the nation. View news stories, press releases, reports, and see how trial
lawyers are spending their money to influence legislators.
Latest CJAC Newsroom Updates
Apr 16, 2012
A report written by Chapman University Law Professor Anthony Caso examines the "bounty hunter" provision of California's Proposition 65, an initiative approved by voters in 1986.
Apr 12, 2012
SACRAMENTO – Kim Stone, President of the Civil Justice Association of California, issued the following statement today in response to the California Supreme Court’s ruling in the case of Brinker Restaurant Corporation v. Superior Court, in which the Court held that employers must make meal and rest breaks available to their employees, but not ensure that their employees take such breaks...
Mar 30, 2012
Watching Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye give her State of the Judiciary speech on March 19, two things were clear: 1) The judicial branch is in capable hands under her leadership, and 2) what she doesn't need from the Legislature is to make her job even tougher than it already is.
Mar 5, 2012
In response to Emily Green’s well done summary of the debate over Assembly Bill 1208 (“Courts bill would shift power but to whom?” – Feb 21st), the Civil Justice Association of California (CJAC) must emphasize a few points about this legislation.
Feb 14, 2012
A study conducted by Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers estimates that approximately $2 billion per year in unnecessary health care costs result from the practice of defensive medicine by U.S. orthopedic surgeons.
Latest CJAC Press Releases
Apr 12, 2012
SACRAMENTO – Kim Stone, President of the Civil Justice Association of California, issued the following statement today in response to the California Supreme Court’s ruling in the case of Brinker Restaurant Corporation v. Superior Court, in which the Court held that employers must make meal and rest breaks available to their employees, but not ensure that their employees take such breaks...
Dec 15, 2011
California has maintained its #2 ranking in the latest “Judicial Hellholes” report, released today by the American Tort Reform Foundation. The state was ranked #2 in last year’s report as well, and has been included in one form or another every year since the rankings began in 2002.
Oct 31, 2011
Californians could save $5.2 billion in tort costs and the state could create between 115,000 and 320,000 jobs by improving its legal environment, according to a new report released by NERA Economic Consulting.
Oct 3, 2011
The Civil Justice Association of California (CJAC) is asking Californians to recognize the impact of excessive litigation in our state as Lawsuit Abuse Awareness Week begins today. CJAC is renewing its call for reforming California laws that make it easier for plaintiffs’ attorneys to sue and receive unjust fee awards at the expense of our state’s businesses and public agencies.
Aug 18, 2011
Today the California Supreme Court ruled in Howell v. Hamilton Meats that a plaintiff may only collect as damages the amount that actually had to be paid by insurers for medical treatment rather than the retail rate that medical providers charge for that treatment. In its opinion the Court stated that it is not appropriate to “expand the scope of economic damages to include expenses the plaintiff never incurred.” The case stems from an incident where a Hamilton Meat truck collided with the plaintiff as she was driving.
Recent Op-Eds
Mar 30, 2012
Watching Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye give her State of the Judiciary speech on March 19, two things were clear: 1) The judicial branch is in capable hands under her leadership, and 2) what she doesn't need from the Legislature is to make her job even tougher than it already is.
Oct 27, 2011
Public prosecutors are entrusted with a unique and powerful responsibility. They are given the authority to protect the public interest while maintaining a neutral, impartial commitment to ensuring that justice be done. That is the motivating factor that drives their actions – that justice be done – whether that consists of large financial awards or not.
Aug 15, 2011
Over the past couple weeks there has been some dire news on the major delays Californians can expect to see in our courts as a result of the most recent budget cuts. The 2011-12 budget cuts $350 million from the court system, the largest in state court history.
May 10, 2011
One day about two years ago, Cary Cheldin answered his telephone at work to hear a litany of abuse from the other end. Cheldin owns his own insurance business and the man on the other end was an attorney demanding $13,000 for damage to a 1973 Chevy pick-up truck caused by one of Cheldin's customers.
May 5, 2011
The difficult times for California continue. We’ve all heard the stats – 12 percent unemployment, 4.7 businesses leaving California per week (up from 3.9 per week last year), and a $25 billion budget deficit. We’ve been hearing these types of stats like a broken record for three years now.
Letters to the Editor
Mar 5, 2012
In response to Emily Green’s well done summary of the debate over Assembly Bill 1208 (“Courts bill would shift power but to whom?” – Feb 21st), the Civil Justice Association of California (CJAC) must emphasize a few points about this legislation.
Aug 11, 2010
In its plan to make offshore oil drilling safer Congress should delete the lawyer-driven scheme to eliminate the damage liability cap it established in 1990. Destroying the cap would inspire lawsuits that would direct millions of dollars away from people whose livelihood was disrupted by the Deepwater Horizon spill. Instead, the money would go into the pockets of plaintiffs’ lawyers. The cost risks of future drilling would increase because with no liability limit, smaller independent oil producers may find that insurance to cover accidents is unaffordable.
Mar 25, 2010
Out here in California we see fraud-convicted Mississippi asbestos lawyers (“Asbestos Turnabout,” Review & Outlook, March 18) William Guy and Thomas Brock simply guilty of bad timing and picking the wrong state to double-dip for damages.
Jan 11, 2010
Jeffrey Lowe’s column, “Tort Reform ‘Savings’ Ring Hallow” (Dec. 30, 2009) on tort reform and the federal health care proposal was remarkable — for what it left out.
Sep 16, 2009
The Sacramento Bee
Re “Insurance bill sent to governor” (Capitol & California, Sept. 11): The Bee’s coverage of the Legislature’s approval of a health care insurance rescission bill failed to describe the “litigation-sparking” amendments that undercut the bill’s reasonable goals - and the fact that they were stuck in by a major behind-the-scenes player in the legislation: the personal injury lawyers.
Recent Reports
Apr 16, 2012
A report written by Chapman University Law Professor Anthony Caso examines the "bounty hunter" provision of California's Proposition 65, an initiative approved by voters in 1986.
Feb 14, 2012
A study conducted by Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers estimates that approximately $2 billion per year in unnecessary health care costs result from the practice of defensive medicine by U.S. orthopedic surgeons.
Sep 28, 2011
A new study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine highlights one troubling cause of rising healthcare costs: doctors providing more medical care than is necessary because they fear malpractice lawsuits.
Jul 11, 2011
A new study from Health Affairs finds that most medical malpractice claims are neither settled nor adjudicated, but abandoned by the plaintiffs. Out of 3,695 claims filed in Massachusetts, 59% were dropped, with the most important reason being that plaintiffs obtain more information during a lawsuit and conclude that a claim is weaker than they thought.
Apr 4, 2011
The New England Journal of Medicine finds in a new study that high-quality nursing homes are sued almost as often as low-quality nursing homes, showing that litigation, or the threat of litigation, doesn’t lead to better patient care.
Recent Research
Oct 8, 2010
Over time, many companies with significant asbestos-related liabilities have filed for bankruptcy, and payments by trusts set up by bankruptcy courts have played an increasingly important role in the compensation of asbestos-related injuries. While the role of trusts in providing compensation to asbestos claimants has grown, information about the operating procedures and activities of these trusts is not readily available in a convenient form.
Oct 20, 2008
If there was any doubt that civil liability is costing local governments big money, it was removed by a study just released by School Services of California, Inc. The respected school consulting group surveyed 650 K-12 school districts representing more than half the students in the state and found that the price tag on defending, insuring, and paying tort and other liability claims is running $80 million annually.
Apr 8, 2003
The Civil Justice Association of California (CJAC) released this study which looked at the contingency fee policies of all the state’s 58 counties related to cases where the Plaintiffs are minors.
Jan 1, 2002
In April 1998 the Civil Justice Association of California (CJAC) published A Study of Campaign Contributions to the California Judiciary, its first comprehensive examination of contributions to candidates for California’s judiciary. The study documented the source of campaign contributions to candidates running for various Superior Court seats. The original study examined four California counties (Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco) during the period of 1993 to 1996. This update to the original study examines the same four counties during the period 1997 to 2000.
Members of the press or general public, click here for more information and to sign up for press releases and media alerts from CJAC.
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During the past decade, CJAC has tracked donations from plaintiff’s lawyers through the California Secretary of State’s web site and made the results public.
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