California is an expensive place to live, and many people blame high taxes and regulations for the high cost of living residents endure.

However, the cost of frivolous lawsuits is another “hidden tax” that all Californians pay. If you live in California, you’re really paying for every lawyer’s TV ad you see, whether you like it or not. Lawsuit abuse is costing you money.

Plaintiff and employment attorneys lobby for certain legislation that makes it incredibly easy to sue businesses in California. When these attorneys sue businesses, business owners have no choice but to settle with them due to the high costs of going to court. Essentially, you could call this extortion because if businesses decide to fight the lawsuits it will take exorbitant time and money. It is less expensive to settle with the plaintiff and employment attorneys than go to court and fight, even if the businesses did nothing wrong. Attorneys that specialize in plaintiff and employment law are notorious for frivolous lawsuits in California.

California’s high taxes and burdensome regulations alone already make it one of the most expensive states to do business in. It is even more costly for businesses to operate here because they often must deal with excessive lawsuits and massive settlements, which gets passed on to everyone living in California in the form of higher prices.

Further, the lawsuits also increase the insurance premiums for businesses, and this new cost will also be transferred to increases in the price of goods and services in California. This lawsuit-friendly environment has a real cost to California’s jobs and economy, to the tune of 200,000 jobs lost and $11,000,000,000 in personal income wiped out. There is even new legislation this year that will make it easier to file lawsuits and clog the court system (CCPA and Data Privacy, Expansion of Public Nuisance Law, PAGA, Attack on Arbitration). No wonder businesses and individuals are fleeing California for states like Texas and Nevada.

Trial attorneys in major California cities alone spent over $12,000,000 on 60,000 TV ads in just three months, trying to solicit clients to participate in class action lawsuits.

The cost to the economy means that if you live in California, every time you see a TV ad for a trial attorney, you are actually paying for it in the form of a weaker economy where you earn less money and have less opportunity to earn a living.

Allowing businesses and individuals to resolve their disputes in court is necessary, however California goes to the extreme in allowing people to sue and trial attorneys to reap billions of dollars in rewards. California residents and business owners need protection from lawsuit abuse.

Legislators need to fix laws that allow abusive lawsuits that threaten the prosperity of our state’s residents and businesses. Reform is needed to prevent big businesses and greedy individuals from using our courts to take advantage of everyone else for their own gain.

Meghan McNulty is an attorney, political commentator, and biomedical engineer based out of Southern California. She is a frequent commentator on national television and radio programs across the country.