According to a 2024 Institute for Legal Reform (ILR) study, the costs of lawsuits, settlements, and related legal fees — commonly known as tort costs — totaled $529 billion, amounting to “2.1 percent of the U.S. GDP.” And the costs placed on consumers keep climbing: between 2016 to 2022, “tort costs have grown at an annual rate of 7.1 percent.” If these trends continue, the costs to American businesses will double in eight years, the ILR warns. This is unsustainable.
Families, small businesses, and the private sector aren’t alone in facing this burden. The Congressional Research Service estimates that the federal government paid out $525.35 million to individual claimants in fiscal year 2022 alone. That’s more than half a billion dollars in taxpayer money to settle claims — a staggering figure.
Yes, the trial lawyers, the ambulance chasers, the men in the middle of many a problem. They are taking a healthy cut of the economy, in many cases, where they should not be involved. Musk has run up against these people taking a huge cut of him for a plaintiff with only nine shares of Tesla to his name. Bon appetite!!