The costs of our country’s civil justice system have increased by a factor of 100 since 1950. The societal costs of tort actions now equal a 5% tax on wages in the U.S.

So says Lord Levene, chairman of Lloyd’s of London, which helps provide capacity for commercial insurance policies in the United States and around the world. “The U.S. litigation system, if left unchecked, will destroy the American spirit of enterprise and drain the U.S. economy,” warned Levene.

“We need to strike a balance so that individuals do have a means of redress and risk-takers have a safety net should things go wrong but aren’t dragged into court at the most inconsequential slip,” Levene said, urging Congress to find this balance and act against the awarding of excessive damages.

He added that lawsuit abuse “strikes at the very heart of the American spirit for enterprise. We now have a system in which doctors can’t deliver babies for fear of being sued and can’t afford to pay for the insurance coverage. In such an environment, what hope is there to keep the spirit of risk-taking alive, to fuel the appetite for innovation and creation?” To make sure your liability insurance meets your legal needs, give us a call.