Straight talk about torts and business.

Lawyer jokes and uninformed statements bashing the civil justice system have dogged plaintiff attorneys through many a golf game, PTA meeting, or dinner party. When a myth about civil justice rears its head, you need to respond with the facts.

Q: Aren't lawsuits filed against businesses hampering American companies' competitiveness and even causing some to take their business overseas?

A: Actually, there are no reliable numbers showing that lawsuits have had a negative impact on companies or are even a significant cost of doing business.

Proponents of civil justice restrictions make their case by relying on one Tillinghast-Towers Perrin study, which estimates that the court system costs American businesses $260 billion per year. But the study methodology could not be more faulty. For example, in assessing "costs" of the legal system, it counts multimillion-dollar salaries for insurance company CEOs, rent on office buildings, and administration overhead.

The Wall Street Journal and Business Week have both debunked this study as a wildly inaccurate reflection of litigation costs to American businesses.

In reality, companies rely on the objectivity of our civil justice system to enforce their contractual obligations. In fact, one reason foreign businesses flock to the United States is the unassailable quality of our courts and their strict enforcement of contracts. The American civil justice system is not the "Achilles' heel" for our economy as some contend; it is the basis for our nation's economic stability and strength.

If recent corporate scandals have taught us anything, it's that CEOs would rather cover their tracks than take responsibility for the harm their companies cause--whether it be squandering employees' pensions or denying policyholders' fair claims after a hurricane, The civil justice system is often the last resort for everyday Americans to hold accountable corporations that knowingly endanger the public.

Multinational corporations, big oil and gas companies, and the insurance industry try to undermine the civil justice system by falsely claiming it increases their costs--when in fact they are putting their bloated bottom lines ahead of Americans' health and safety.