Wisconsin's Supreme Court race attracted the attention of the Wall Street Journal (editorial, March 24), which admonishes Justice Butler and other court members for making the state an unfriendly environment for business, potentially depressing business activity and discouraging investment in the state. Over the years that I have studied the patterns and effects of civil litigation, I have never encountered any direct evidence of this, nor evidence that actual Wisconsin businesspeople (as opposed to their lobbyist spokesmen) are despairing about the state's civil justice system.
A ranking of the liability systems of the various states by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce gives Wisconsin's civil justice system high marks. The study is based on telephone interviews with a nationally representative sample of 1,599 in-house general counsel or other senior litigators at companies with annual revenues of at least $100 million, so it clearly reflects the perspective of corporate America. Respondents who said they were "very or somewhat familiar with a given state" were asked to rate various aspects of the state's liability system
In the 2007 rankings, Wisconsin emerged as 10th best among the 50 states. The state was ranked third (among all 50) in juries' fairness and 10th in juries' predictability; seventh in judges' impartiality and 12th in judges' competence. In the overall treatment of tort and contract litigation, it ranked ninth; in treatment of class action suits, third; in discovery procedures, eighth; in awarding of non-economic (i.e., pain and suffering) damages, eighth; and in handling of punitive damages, ninth. It appears that actual lawyers for actual businesses regard Wisconsin's civil justice system as comparatively strong and fair.
We also have an indication closer to home that actual Wisconsin business people are far less enflamed about the civil justice system than their advocates would have us think. In 2006, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) conducted an online survey of 600 manufacturing CEOs (http:// www.wmc.org/pdffiles/mfgsurveyresults-5-06.pdf). The response rate was low: there were only 81 responses to the question "What is the top public policy issue facing Wisconsin?" Of these, 13 chose "lawsuit abuse," making it the third highest "top issue," behind taxes and health care costs. However, when the CEOs were asked to identify "one thing that state government could do to help your business" none of the 34 respondents identified tort reform.
Similarly when respondents were asked to identify "one thing that state government could do to improve Wisconsin's business climate," tort reform attracted two of 34 votes to be in a three-way tie (with "reduce spending" and "affordable heath care") for sixth place out of 10 alternative ways to improve Wisconsin's business climate. When the CEOs were asked to rate 10 factors "in terms of their negative impact on your company's operations," "fear of litigation" came in 10th.
Although a fraction of business people cite civil justice issues as a general problem, only a vanishingly small minority identify the civil justice system as a significant problem for their own businesses. So we should take alarms of the Wall Street Journal and its local acolytes for the sky-is-falling fantasies that they are.
A ranking of the liability systems of the various states by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce gives Wisconsin's civil justice system high marks. The study is based on telephone interviews with a nationally representative sample of 1,599 in-house general counsel or other senior litigators at companies with annual revenues of at least $100 million, so it clearly reflects the perspective of corporate America. Respondents who said they were "very or somewhat familiar with a given state" were asked to rate various aspects of the state's liability system
In the 2007 rankings, Wisconsin emerged as 10th best among the 50 states. The state was ranked third (among all 50) in juries' fairness and 10th in juries' predictability; seventh in judges' impartiality and 12th in judges' competence. In the overall treatment of tort and contract litigation, it ranked ninth; in treatment of class action suits, third; in discovery procedures, eighth; in awarding of non-economic (i.e., pain and suffering) damages, eighth; and in handling of punitive damages, ninth. It appears that actual lawyers for actual businesses regard Wisconsin's civil justice system as comparatively strong and fair.
We also have an indication closer to home that actual Wisconsin business people are far less enflamed about the civil justice system than their advocates would have us think. In 2006, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) conducted an online survey of 600 manufacturing CEOs (http:// www.wmc.org/pdffiles/mfgsurveyresults-5-06.pdf). The response rate was low: there were only 81 responses to the question "What is the top public policy issue facing Wisconsin?" Of these, 13 chose "lawsuit abuse," making it the third highest "top issue," behind taxes and health care costs. However, when the CEOs were asked to identify "one thing that state government could do to help your business" none of the 34 respondents identified tort reform.
Similarly when respondents were asked to identify "one thing that state government could do to improve Wisconsin's business climate," tort reform attracted two of 34 votes to be in a three-way tie (with "reduce spending" and "affordable heath care") for sixth place out of 10 alternative ways to improve Wisconsin's business climate. When the CEOs were asked to rate 10 factors "in terms of their negative impact on your company's operations," "fear of litigation" came in 10th.
Although a fraction of business people cite civil justice issues as a general problem, only a vanishingly small minority identify the civil justice system as a significant problem for their own businesses. So we should take alarms of the Wall Street Journal and its local acolytes for the sky-is-falling fantasies that they are.
