06 Jan 2003 Legal Briefs newsletter #36: Lawsuits Cost Americans More Than Drugs

“An April 2002 study prepared by the White House Council of Economic Advisers determined that the U.S. has the most expensive tort system in the world, consuming 1.8% of GDP. At $636 per capita, it’s more than twice the average percentage of other industrialized nations.

Put another way, the $179 billion the nation spent in 2000 on direct costs for insurance administration, attorneys, witnesses, and awards to victims under the American tort adjudication system equals 150% of the amount Americans spent on pharmaceuticals.”

-Stuart J. Sweet, “Time to Leash the Lawyers,” National Review Online, January 6, 2003