Chris Christie: Justice System Becoming an “Industry Unto Itself”
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie put legal reform on the list of issues governors must tackle.
At the Legal Reform Summit put on by the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform, Christie warned that while “everyone wants a fair system” where people are “able to sue for appropriate causes and injuries,” trial lawyers have turned the justice system into “cottage industry unto itself.”
The New Jersey governor explained that this creates a poor business environment, puts businesses in a defensive posture, and keeps them from creating jobs and investing in their companies, as Andrew Ramonas of Corporate Counsel reports:
“Companies would have a lot more income to be able to pay to their folks in their businesses if they didn’t have to worry about putting away the billions and tens of millions of dollars they have to put away for legal fees and legal settlements in the system that we have today,” he said.
The U.S. legal system shouldn’t help “a narrow group of people in this country who either have not been truly injured” or have injuries that incentivize class actions as a way to generate revenue, not as “a true redress of grievances,” Christie said.
“Everybody in this country wants to have a fair legal system, which gives people the ability to be able to sue for appropriate causes and injuries,” he said. “What we don’t need is for that tort system to become an industry unto itself. And in America, that’s what’s happening.”
