Many Groups fight lawsuit abuse including Faces of Lawsuit Abuse and the Anti-Lawyer Party. Biggest by far is the Chamber of Commerce with a special $49M budget.

Lisa Rickard is president of the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform whose mission is to "restore balance, ensure justice, and maintain integrity with the civil legal system by championing common sense legal reforms at the state, federal and global levels."

unprincipled prosecutionIt published in October 2014 Unprincipled Prosecution, subtitled, "Abuse of Power & Profiteering in the New Litigation Swarm," a 32-page study of legal abuses. Topics include "Roots of the Swarm: Multiple, Overlapping Enforcement," and "Self Interest Trumps Public Interest."

Says the Institute: "Lawsuit abuse is rampant. Unfettered litigation inhibits the creation of new products and companies, kills jobs, and drags down our entire economy. While the U.S. has the greatest legal system in the world, in some cases the courts have been hijacked by players who abuse the system…we conduct cutting edge research and tirelessly advocate for solutions with Congress, state legislatures, federal regulators, international policymakers, and the courts to effect meaningful change."

U.S. Legal Costs Are Highest

The U.S. CofC itself, world’s largest business group representing 3 million+ businesses, had revenues of $164M in 2013.

The U.S. has the highest liability costs as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product of any nation, says a 2013 study for the CofC’s Institute for Legal Reform, a separate affiliated entiry. Such costs are 2.6 times the average level of the Eurozone economies. Costs were found to be four times higher than those of the least costly European countries in the study – Belgium, the Netherlands and Portugal.

The number of lawsuits is viewed as a problem by 87% of American voters according to the April 2013 survey by Penn Schoen Berland and Public Opinion Strategies. Abuse of the legal system has risen in the past decade, said 69%.

“Rackard”Rickard

One in three voters and 43% of small business owners say they

have been threatened with or involved in a civil lawsuit. The CoC notes that small businesses account for 64% of jobs created in the U.S. economy.

There are currently 1.22 million U.S. lawyers filing 15 million civil lawsuits yearly—391 lawyers per 100,000 population. Japan has 23 per 100,000 and Canada, 26.

The weight that the CoC attaches to the task of bringing common sense to the legal system is attested to by the $1,795,889 salary plus $43,116 in benefits that was paid to Rickard in 2013.

A law graduate of American University, D.C., she has been president since 2003 and has led ILR’s battle against the "litigation explosion." She was previously VP, federal and state government affairs, Dow Chemical, and a partner in Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld.

Bryan Quigley, SVP of strategic communications was paid a total of $379,757.

Thomas Donohue, president, CEO and director of the CofC, had a salary of $5,448,419 in 2013. Karen Harbert, SVP, communications & strategy, was paid $1,242,685.

Legal Institute Invites Case

The ILR, which practices "aggressive outreach to reporters," invites comments and cases from businesspeople and citizens via a phone number and a comment box on its site.

We are sending it several instances that we feel illustrate the abuse of the legal system including the one described below.

Most current and costly is the legal onslaught against Southampton, Westhampton Beach, Quogue and Jewish People Opposed to the Eruv which has already cost them more than $1 million in legal fees with threats of millions more in costs and penalties.

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A 2002 Appeals Court finding quotes a precedent case from 1971 that is based on what a "reasonable, informed observer" would make of Jewish Orthodox markings on utility poles—he or she would not know what they mean.

Outdated, Fatuous Precedents Cited

Such a person has long ceased to exist. The new "reasonable" person, since at least 1995, is "more informed than the casual passerby" and knows the deep religious meanings behind the markers, according to UCLA Law Prof. Aexandra Susman who quotes an opinion by Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

Those who want a quick understanding of the horrors of modern litigation should open the link to the Appeals Court decision where they will find 16,981 words devoted to endless arguments favoring eruvim supported by links to 238 precedent cases.

The links access documents that total millions of words. All such words and support are fallacious because the "common sense" advocated by the Institute for Legal Reform leads to the conclusion that religious symbols have no business being permanently attached to telephone poles.

The N.J. Federal District Court that the Appeals Court over-ruled had it right: "It is quite clear that there is no evidence to support the conclusion that the [Tenafly] Borough Council acted out of animosity to Judaism in general or to Orthodox Jews in particular…the fundamental reason animating the Council’s decision was its concern that public property not be permanently allocated to a religious purpose."

Unconstitutional, Aristocratic Courts Hit

ILR’s blasts at the legal system seem strong but they are weak tea compared to the knocks being landed by other critics.

The Anti-Lawyer Party says states have "unconstitutional aristocratic courts since their constitutions and/or unconstitutional ‘lawyer systems’ require judges to be lawyers, creating a ruling class which is forbidden by Article IV, Section 4, U.S. Constitution."

The A-LP, in an essay last modified on May 6, 2013, highlights an abuse we see taking place in the Hamptons eruv battle—an endless series of court hearings and motions instead of a "speedy" trial by jury.

Says A-LP: "Lawyers and lawyer-judges created unconstitutional ‘lawyer system’ pre-trial ‘motions’ and ‘hearings’ to have extortionist litigation, which is barratry [litigation for harassment or profit] and is also in violation of the U.S. Constitution as this places defendants in double jeopardy a hundred times over.

"The multitude of pre-trials are actually pre-trials for the pre-trials for the pre-trials for the pre-trials, benefiting lawyers only." Defendants are supposed to have "a trial, not trials," A-LP writes.

That is what is taking place in the Hampton where the eruv docket for Southampton lists 78 motions and filings and the docket on the WHB website lists more than 70 as of Dec. 22, 2014.

Where Is the Speedy Eruv Trial?

Another point made by A-LP is that those accused of wrongdoing are entitled to a "speedy and public trial."

Yet, it points out, judges have lawyers approach the bench and talk in whispers, meet in the judge’s chambers, and send the jury out of the courtroom. Litigants, witnesses, lawyers, news media and others are ordered not to discuss the trial, making it an "unconstitutional secret trial."

Lawsuits were initially filed against SH, WHB and Quogue by the East End Eruv Assn. on Jan. 13, 2011. The initial suits named officials personally as well as in their "official capacities." The personal lawsuits were later removed.

The following passage is especially relevant to the Hamptons’ battle. "Money that is budgeted to county boards, school boards and other local and federal agencies eventually finds its way into the pockets of lawyers as all these agencies are ‘tricked’ and ‘forced’ into eternal extortionist litigation."

Another critic of lawyers is Constitutional Revival, Enfield, Conn.

Its members visited 175 of the 180 law school approved by the American Bar Assn. carrying signs that said, "This is a Den of Criminals."

It sought the opportunity to speak to faculty and student groups but was "completely ignored."

Says CR: "Few of even the most brilliant of students have any real knowledge of the mandates and supremacy of the U.S. Constitution, our highest law, against which all statutes must be weighed; that indeed they are being taught to ignore and circumvent its disciplines, through the unlawful use of equity procedures (Case/law/Precedents).