Turns out that litigation, not Samuel Colt's best-known invention, might just be the most effective mechanism for leveling the playing field in the United States today. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform recently released a study showing that the total annual cost of the tort system to U.S. businesses is $129 billion. But, while tobacco settlements and myriad other class action tort suits grab the headlines, it is contract disputes, and labor and employment claims that keep most corporate counsel awake at night, according to Fulbright & Jaworski LLP (New York).
In its latest annual 2005 Litigation Trends Survey, the firm found that regardless of size, industry or location, there is certain to be a sizeable number of disputes diverting the resources of American businesses. Nearly 90 percent of U.S. corporations are embroiled in some type of litigation, they learned, and the average company balances a docket of 37 lawsuits. And bigger means more; the average $1 billion-plus company is juggling 147 cases at any one time.