Colorado has a housing shortage greatly exacerbated by construction defects liability. Legislators beholden to predatory lawyers – those who pollute an otherwise noble field – pass laws that ease their pursuits of ill-begotten gains.

Just as our old construction defects law has put starter homes out of reach for average young families, similar laws enacted mostly for courthouse bottom feeders take an insidious toll on Colorado’s economy.

A new study by Colorado’s non-partisan Common Sense Institute, released last week, finds 43 new laws that create, and/or modify civil causes of action. All benefit the lower end of our state’s attorney surplus, a group that seems to get whatever it wants.

Recent legislation has created liability for businesses that don’t offer more than a week of sick leave. Another law eases collective bargaining and strike options for farm and ranch workers.

One new law allows lawyers to punish landlords who charge tenants late rent fees. Another eases the process for homeowners to sue neighborhood associations.

HB23-1162 creates a new market for lawyers to help plaintiffs obtain loans to pay them. The list exposes nearly every major element of Colorado’s small-business economy to expensive lawsuits filed with legislation favoring plaintiffs typically dredged up and encouraged by lawyers who knock on doors and advertise.

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Large businesses, a sliver of Colorado’s employers, don’t care so much. They can absorb the costs and pass them to customers. These laws jeopardize mom & pop shops and their customers to the benefit of Walmart, Target and the like.

The study’s author, Lang Sias, is an attorney, commercial pilot, a former Navy and Air National Guard fighter pilot, Jefferson County state representative and nominee for lieutenant governor. We agree with Sias regarding the importance of civil litigation. When conducted by scrupulous attorneys, it is our system’s means of upholding fair play.

“Civil actions play a vital and positive role in our free enterprise system when they efficiently compensate injured parties and punish bad behavior,” the report explains. “By appropriately shifting costs from injured to responsible parties, civil actions help protect private property and facilitate commerce.”

The report was not conducted to highlight abuse of tort litigation, which is rampant. Save that for another day. Instead, it examines the cumulative cost of 43 new lawyer-friendly laws on Colorado’s economic competitiveness.

“It encourages policymakers to weigh carefully the benefits and costs of policy choices, especially in aggregate, as they percolate through the economy,” the report explains. Key findings include:

? The vast majority of the 43 bills shift costs to businesses which pass the costs to consumers.

? Litigation has contributed to a $2 billion annual increase in taxation.

? Litigation contributes to Colorado’s high inflation, which has cost the average Colorado household $19,300 since 2020.

? Small businesses, which employ 48% of Colorado’s workforce, endure the most harm.

? Between 2016 and 2020, Colorado experienced the second-highest rate of population-adjusted tort cost growth among the eight states studied. Only California’s costs grew faster.

? The average wage has increased by 16%, three percent lower than inflation, putting real wages and purchasing power into a steady decline.

The report offers a list of potential methods to reduce liability abuse while preserving reasonable options for injured parties to sue. It begins with the legislature establishing an “interim committee to review the aggregate cost and overlaps among recent tort laws and how they compare to other states.”

We hope all legislators and Gov. Jared Polis read this report and prepare to improve a system overly hostile to our state’s economy, small businesses and households.

Colorado Springs Gazette Editorial Board