Litigation

Cal Biz Lit's Proposals for New Legislation in 2011

By Bruce Nye

Happy New Year to Cal Biz Lit  readers!

This is the time of year when  pundits, bloggers and law firms write about the new laws coming into effect in the new year.  But frankly, the new California laws for this year are kind of a snooze:  Yeah, ok, marijuana possession is now only an infraction, subject to a $100  hand slap (although you'd better first give clear and reasonable warning, since it's a Proposition 65 toxin).  And there's a new procedure for expedited jury trials, a procedure CBL bets few, if any litigants will use.  Hospitals will soon be required to report radiation doses during CT scans (this actually takes effect in 2012).  It's now illegal to put more than half a gram of artifical trans fats in cake batter or yeast dough that will be deep fried.  And (big sigh of relief here by celebrities) there are now increased penalties for overly aggressive behavior by paparazzi. 

However.  Here at CBL, we've used a few minutes of the holiday break (and a two week blogging break) to think about this question:  How could we amend California laws in a way that kept them consistent with the will of Californians -- who are, let's face it, pretty progressive, pro-consumer and green -- while at the same time creating a level playing field for both sides in some of the litigation most often discussed in this blog. 

Here, in broad brush, is what we are thinking.  Most of the rest of the world thinks our Proposition 65 and its regulations ar the result of mass insanity on the part of California voters, and that our consumer protection and product liability laws were designed to drive all of those pesky businesses entirely out of the State, so we wouldn't have to be troubled by having an economy any more.  But for better or worse, Californians support these kinds of laws.  So reform, if it is ever to come, will come from tweaks that create a more business-friendly environment while at the same time allowing state citizens to keep their beloved precuationary principle, their relaxed class action rules for consumer litigation and their even more relaxed rules for product liabiilty litigation.

Impossible?  CBL says "no."  Politically possible?  Well, that's a different question.

But in the coming series of posts, CBL will suggest a handfull of modest proposals  that would, if enacted, make this state a whole lot more business-friendly while preserving the pro-consumer, risk-sharing, pro-environmental environment Californians seem to really want.

In the next post, we'll start with Proposition 65.

Full post as published by CalBizLit on January 03, 2011 (boomark / email).