Commentary: Steve Roberts

Every person who wants to attract or keep jobs in West Virginia should focus on the upcoming election, particularly the race for a 12-year term on the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. No race is more critical to West Virginia's future. No race will determine the future of job retention and expansion more than this one.

Why is so much importance being placed on this race? The answer rests with the lack of fairness and balance that has crept onto the high court thanks to several activist jurists.

Earlier this year, the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce identified specific decisions of the West Virginia Supreme Court that illustrate how the court's actions are hindering job retention and spoiling job creation.

The listing, compiled using legal analysis and research done as part of the Chamber's CourtWatch program, is part of the ongoing Restore Balance W.Va. education initiative. The analysis can be found at wvchamber.com under "Court Decisions." While some more balanced decisions have come out of the high court recently, the pattern over the past four years has been unfavorable to West Virginia's future.

Our state has a reputation as an undesirable business location due to frivolous lawsuits and the anti-employer sentiments of the McGraw majority on the court. Its pattern of rulings is having a significant and detrimental impact on West Virginia's ability to retain and compete for new jobs.

Other legal analysis reports issued over the past couple of years have indicated this as well.

What's the impact to date? In the past few years, tens of thousands of jobs have been eliminated in West Virginia, and our state's "out of balance" judicial situation is making it difficult to retain our remaining jobs, much less create new jobs. West Virginia's anti-jobs judicial climate, driven by the Supreme Court, is a primary reason for the state's continued economic woes amid increasing international competition.

The cases identified by the West Virginia Chamber clearly illustrate the anti-job and anti-growth bias of the existing majority of our state Supreme Court.

The second reason why people need to focus on our state's anti-employer judicial environment is that it is costing them money -- lots of it. A recent national study shows that tort litigation costs on small business are enormous. The report, prepared recently by the U.S. Chamber's Institute for Legal Reform, says America's small businesses are paying a high price because of tort litigation costs.

U.S. businesses are paying this price in the form of lost businesses opportunities -- to the tune of $88 billion a year. Worse still, small businesses are bearing the largest burden of the tort liability costs in this nation. The institute's study provides a detailed picture of just how destructive our legal system can be to small businesses, according to Lisa Rickard, president of the ILR. The report notes that this impact is being felt mostly on those small businesses with $10 million or less in revenue a year.

These businesses are bearing 68 percent of tort system costs, and each pays nearly $150,000 a year to cover these expenses. As for truly small businesses, the average tort liability cost is $17,000 a year. Those businesses bear 26 percent of the nation's tort liability costs, but take in only 8 percent of business revenues. This doesn't even include the escalating cost for liability insurance that is hitting all across our state.

This ‘hidden tort tax' is money that could be used to hire additional employees, increase production, or improve health benefits for workers.

This situation shows that legal reform -- the battle to rein in runaway litigation costs -- is not just a fight solely between large businesses and the plaintiffs' bar. In fact, lawsuit abuse affects businesses in every community. This national report clearly shows that West Virginia's small employers have much to gain or lose depending on the outcome of the state Supreme Court election.

Our leaders often pay homage to small businesses as the backbone of our economy, yet little is being done in West Virginia to ease the burden placed on these enterprises by the steadily growing costs of litigation. Small business employers all across our state are crying out for relief and reforms.

In response, the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce continues to advocate for the need for civil justice reforms in West Virginia.

Simply put, our state is one of the last in the nation that hasn't addressed the serious problems associated with frivolous lawsuits, third-party bad faith lawsuits, class-action costs and ever-growing tort litigation costs. We must correct this and restore fairness and integrity to our judicial system before another worker loses his or her job or another business closes its doors.

West Virginia's small business community can no longer afford to labor under this costly, out-of-step environment. Nor can they endure the lack of balance and fairness on our state's highest court.

We must restore the West Virginia Supreme Court as a fair, independent body -- not one that is driven for political or personal activism reasons.

Roberts is president of the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce.