Faces of Lawsuit Abuse

FacesofLawsuitAbuse.org  

“It’s very apparent to me that this whole case isn’t about justice. It was about trying to legally extort as much money as possible.” Vytas Juskys · LT Properties · Los Angeles, CA

 The United States Chamber of Commerce has rolled out a campaign to bring to light some of the stories of people affected by lawsuit abuse. FacesOfLawsuitAbuse.org is a project of the Chamber's Institute for Legal Reform (ILR) which represents the nation's business community. The mission of the ILR and facesoflawsuitabuse.org is to make America's legal system simpler, fairer, and faster for everyone. By telling the stories of the victims of lawsuit abuse the ILR hopes to raise public awareness of the burdens these suits place on the legal system. 

Here are just a couple of examples of the stories that can be found on facesoflawsuitabuse.org:

• A Michigan man filed his 24th lawsuit against a family run metal casting foundry alleging that emissions from the foundry had contaminated his cars, his carpet, and the siding of his house. The foundry owners later learned the plaintiff did not even own some of the cars for which he wanted compensation, and he had disposed of the carpets and cleaned the house siding before any evidence could be collected. After almost 3 years of litigation the case was eventually dismissed. However, the foundry had paid its legal expenses out of pocket. The foundry was forced to squeeze the money for legal fees from other areas of the business - a hardship which ultimately led the foundry to lay off several employees.

• An apartment management business comitted to constantly upgrading and making repairs to its rental properties.  The company was making improvements to one property and in doing so it posted regular repair notices on the tenant's doors as the law requires.  One tenant later claimed that the notices had caused her emotional distress and sued the company for $500,000.  The distracting lawsuit not only took away the company's ability to focus on its tenants and properties, but also prevented the from starting new projects, hiring new employees, and creating jobs!

 For more stories like this visit facesoflawsuitabuse.org.