I was indeed shocked by the uncontrolled level of litigations in the USA, as discussed in http://www.cala.com/lawsuitabuse_facts.html, to wit:
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1. In 1998-1999 in the state of California, there were 1,594,807 civil lawsuits filed ...that's one lawsuit for every 21 Californians.
2. In the 2000 election cycle, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America contributed $124,000,000. 90% of those contributions went to Democrat candidates.
3. Every man, woman and child in the state of California pay about $1200 a year in a lawsuit tax, which is extra cost for goods and services because of taxes brought about by civil lawsuits.
4. From 1993 - 1999, the median jury award in the United States went from $500,000 to $1.8 million, and this does not include punitive damages.
5. According to the January 29, 2001 edition of Business Week, tort litigation is costing the nation nearly two- percent of the gross domestic product. In 1998, that would have amounted to $170 billion.
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