Consumer Law

NFIB Says, Once Again, that ?Lawsuits? Are of Small Concern For Small Businesses

By Joe Consumer

Dunno, somehow we thought it might be different this year.

Every four years, the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), which fashions itself as the nation?s largest small business lobby group (and indeed, it spends millions lobbying Congress and states each year), publishes a member survey. This is to present an accurate picture of current small-business problems. It?s called Small Business Problems & Priorities. It includes the most important and least important concerns out of 75 possible problems faced by small businesses. This is supposed to inform NFIB?s lobbying priorities because, they allege, ?NFIB was founded on the principle that the membership governs.?

Once again this year, what NFIB dubs, ?Cost and Frequency of Lawsuits/Threatened Lawsuits,? is an issue of less importance to small businesses than almost any issue they could possibly face, or on which they want lawmakers to focus. According to the NFIB?s 2020 small business survey (just released), this issue ranks 69 out of 75 possible small business concerns. That?s an even lower rank than it was four years ago. It is of less concern to them than, say, ?Access to High-Speed Internet? (#63).  Perhaps even more telling, when NFIB broke down the results into ?clusters? of issues looking specifically at ?Costs,? the topic ?Cost and Frequency of Lawsuits/Threatened Lawsuits? ranked dead last.

Drilling down to business size, it is also clear that for ?Mom and Pop? establishments, this issue is even less important to them. For small businesses with 1 to 4 employees, the issue came in at #70. For those with 5 to 9 employees as well as 10 to 19, the issue ranked #72.

And it doesn?t matter the state. Here are the state ?Cost and Frequency of Lawsuits/Threatened Lawsuits? rankings, all out of 75 possible concerns:

Texas: #64

California: #65

Ohio: #70

New York: #71

For years, NFIB has devoted its substantial lobbying muscle to limiting lawsuits, arguing that this is an urgent issue for small businesses. It obviously isn?t yet it remains an important priority for NFIB lobbyists. 

NFIB?s disconnect from its own members when it comes to liability issues has been going on for years. 

NFIB says it has ?an ear to the ground on what?s happening in Washington, D.C., and the state capitals.? Maybe it needs to put those ears near the voices of its own members. It is clearly not hearing them.

Full post as published by ThePopTort on August 14, 2020 (boomark / email).