ABOUT

Bay Area Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse (BACALA) is the local chapter of Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse (CALA) for the residents of Corpus Christi and surrounding areas. CALA groups are local, non-profit coalitions dedicated to educating the public about the cost and consequences of lawsuit abuse. These groups are supported by small business people, consumers and taxpayers across the state in response to junk lawsuits and the abuse of our legal system.

 

The CALA movement began in the Texas Rio Grande Valley in 1990 and has spread across the state and country. More than 25,000 Texans now support CALA chapters in the communities of Corpus Christi, East Texas, San Antonio, Houston, Central Texas as well as in the Rio Grande Valley. Please, join us in building a better community and putting a stop to lawsuit abuse.

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How Lawsuit Abuse Affects You

Even if you’ve never been sued, you have been the victim of lawsuit abuse.

You pay the price for junk lawsuits, excessive litigation and outlandish damage awards in the form of higher consumer prices and decreased availability of services your family depends on every day.

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Did you know?

“Nationwide, almost 40 percent of medical malpractice lawsuits are baseless – yet many of these cases are settled for an average payout of $313,000. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that health care providers were likely to spend more than $30 billion in 2008 to defend against and pay medical liability claims. Even baseless cases cost money to defend or settle and health care consumers ultimately inherit those costs.” Austin American Statesman, September 8, 2009; Dr. C Mark Chassay “Without legal reforms, the health care system will remain broken”

 

America’s tort system costs $865 billion annually – or $9,827 per year for a family of four. This staggering number – $865 billion – is 30 times the National Institutes for Health’s budget to cure deadly diseases, 27 times the entire federal spending on Homeland Security, and 13 times U.S. Department of Education funding. (Pacific Research Institute, Jackpot Justice: The True Cost of America’s Tort System, 2007)

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While concern grows about an obesity epidemic among American children, fear of litigation has led schools from Massachusetts to California to remove tall slides, swings and teeter-totters from playgrounds and even ban children from playing games like tag at school recess. “No running” signs have even been posted at school playgrounds in Broward County, Florida. Willett Elementary in Attleboro has banned tag, touch football and other “chasing” games that might “pose the risk of injury as well as liability to the school.” The Sun Chronicle, October 17, 2006; “Our View on Children’s Welfare: All Work and No Play… Makes Kids Fat and Passive” USA Today, November 28, 2006)

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PriceWaterhouseCoopers calculates that medical liability concerns increase annual health care spending by $124 billion in 2006 dollars. The additional cost of liability-based health care costs adds 3.4 million Americans to the rolls of the uninsured. (“Jackpot Justice: The True Cost of America’s Tort System,” Pacific Research Institute, March 27, 2007)

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Foreign companies are shunning the United States in large part due to the U.S. culture of litigation. European stock markets have now surpassed American stock markets in aggregate market capitalization for the first time since World War I. A recent study conducted by McKinsey and Company identified lawsuit abuse as one of the most crucial problems threatening New York as a financial center. A survey of chief executive officers cited in the study found that fully 85% of chief executives preferred the litigation environment in London to New York. (“Blocking Markets” New York Sun, April 19, 2007; “Litigation Puts Wall Street’s World Status at “Tipping Point” Financial Times, April 6, 2007)

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In Texas…

Texas remains one of the ten worst legal climates in the country, according to Lawsuit Climate 2008: Ranking the States. The new study shows the Texas legal climate ranked 41st in the nation, up three spots over last year. In addition, several Texas jurisdictions were once again named among the least fair and reasonable court systems in the country. (2008 State Liability Systems Ranking Study conducted for the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform)