First Things First

The Nation’s Worst Lawsuit Climate is in Illinois

The Land of Lincoln has the dubious distinction of having America’s worst lawsuit climate.

The U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform (ILR) released its 2019 Lawsuit Climate Survey, and Illinois wound up dead last.

It was ranked 48^th in the last two surveys, but its situation has only gotten worse.

Part of Illinois’ poor ranking has to do with Chicago/Cook County being found as the “least fair and reasonable litigation environment for both defendants and plaintiffs” in America.

ILR notes that for years, Illinois has been a magnet for asbestos lawsuits from across the country. Nine-two percent of plaintiffs filing such lawsuits were from outside the state.

Making matters worse is the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act, which regulates the collection and storage of biometric information. It has opened the door to lawsuits over alleged violations even if there weren’t injuries.

The state rankings come from The Harris Poll surveying businesses’ in-house counsels, senior lawyers, and executives with knowledge and experience dealing with state legal systems.

Following Illinois at the bottom are Louisiana, California, Mississippi, and Florida – which “reflects its past, not its future, and doesn’t account for recent meaningful reforms spearheaded by Gov. DeSantis and the state legislature,” said ILR Chief Operating Officer Harold Kim.

In contrast, Delaware regained the top spot in the rankings followed by Maine, Connecticut, Wyoming, and Alaska.

A sensible, reliable state litigation climate is important to businesses, the survey found. Eighty-nine percent of respondents said a state’s litigation environment is likely to affect important business decisions.

“The survey should be a wake-up call to policymakers that their state’s economic growth and prosperity depend in large part on the fairness and predictability of its legal system,” said Kim.

Diving In

In Los Angeles, doughnut shops have been a path for many immigrants to achieve the American Dream. Immigrants like Ted Nogy:

Born in a small Cambodian village in 1942, Ngoy was sent by his mother to study in Phnom Penh, the capital. There he married into a family that was intimate with the Cambodian royals. He became a major in the Cambodian army and eventually the country’s military attaché to Thailand. These connections helped him flee Cambodia after the rise of the Khmer Rouge. Ngoy was penniless when he arrived in America in 1975, and ended up in Tustin, California, where he worked at a Mobil petrol station. Noticing that a nearby Winchell’s donut store was doing a brisk trade, he bought one of its wares. The pastry reminded him of nom kong, a Cambodian rice-flour treat he enjoyed as a child. When his shift ended, he bought a dozen more. He soon entered a Winchell’s employee training programme, as one of the company’s first South-East Asian trainees and, eventually, became the manager of a franchise in Newport Beach.

In 1977 a local policeman who liked Ngoy’s donuts, and knew of his interest in running his own business, showed him an advert for a nearby donut store that was up for sale. With the money he had saved – approximately $20,000 – Ngoy bought the store, Christy’s Donuts, and made it a success. He started a chain of donut stores in Orange County, many of which were also named Christy’s. While establishing his donut empire, Ngoy lived in a motor home, traversing the state in search of new locations and popping into existing stores to spot-check the donuts and ensure their freshness.

…

He employed Cambodian refugees and sponsored their visas. Many went on to start their own stores. According to a survey by the Los Angeles Times, by the mid-1990s there were 2,400 Cambodian-owned donut shops in California.

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Caught My Eye

The trade war is unnerving middle market businesses. The RSM US Middle Market Business Index (MMBI) found 40% of middle market leaders reported that tariffs on imported goods are posing challenges for them.

The Big Picture

The team from CO–, the U.S. Chamber’s digital platform that helps business owners navigate the complexities of growing a business with timely, fiercely relevant content, rang Nasdaq’s Closing Bell in New York City. Learn more about CO– here.

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Looking Ahead

October 1, 2019: The U.S. Chamber in partnership with AACCLA will host the Forecast on Latin American and the Caribbean conference. The event offers valuable insights from top strategists and access to key public and private sector leaders from throughout the hemisphere.

October 10, 2019: The U.S. Chamber will host the 8th Annual Cybersecurity Summit, powered by FICO.

October 24, 2019: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation's national workforce conference, Talent Forward 2019, will convene education and workforce experts to discuss the future of talent and the future of work.

To Play Us Out

Speaking of legal things, let’s end this email with a song from the Clash.

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