Letter: Legal, regulatory climate costing businesses, jobs

As an Illinois business owner, it saddens me to watch our state's business climate deteriorate due to misguided government policies. Last year alone, three of our 35 Fortune 500 businesses - Boeing, Caterpillar and Citadel - left Illinois for more friendly jurisdictions, taking thousands of jobs with them.

Just like the rest of our country, Illinois endures the ups and downs of macroeconomic cycles, so current national headwinds mostly are not to blame for our problems here at home. Instead, our judicial system, especially in the Chicago area, makes life increasingly more difficult for business owners through higher costs and increased regulation. In fact, Cook County was just ranked the fifth worst "Judicial Hellhole" in America by the American Tort Reform Foundation (ATRF).

Our state's legislature and judicial system have become increasingly anti-business and side with trial bar priorities at nearly every turn. For example, our legislature has barred companies from working directly with aggrieved employees to settle workers' compensation disputes in most cases. Instead, nearly every case goes to court, where high legal fees, longer settlement times and more disadvantageous settlements - for both sides - are the norm.

Similarly, lawmakers passed Senate Bill 72 last year, making our state the most expensive in the country for lawsuits against employers. We now rank fourth in the country for "nuclear verdicts" ($10 million or more) per capita in personal injury and wrongful death cases.

The list of problematic legal tripwires goes on, but the sad reality is these issues go beyond just courtrooms. Recent data shows Illinoisans pay a "tort tax" of $1,544 per person and our state loses nearly 200,000 jobs annually due to our poor legal climate. If this continues, businesses will keep leaving, jobs will decline and prices will increase to offset the high cost of doing business.

Bob Goray

Cary