Frivolous lawsuits cost our economy jobs.  In 2003, our legal system cost an astonishing $246 billion. This is a drag on Michigan's economy, stifling small business expansion and depressing job growth. Litigation effects all aspects of our economy.  Girl Scouts in the Detroit metro area will need to sell more than 36,000 boxes of Thin Mints just to pay their liability insurance.  And American manufactures are tattooing their products with outrageous warning labels to protect themselves for potential lawsuits. A popular toilet brush has a label which reads: "not for personal hygiene."  A baby carriage has a warning: "remove baby before folding," and a brass fishing lure with a three-pronged hook on the end warns: “Harmful if swallowed"

Keeping jobs in Michigan requires keeping small business out of court defending themselves against frivolous lawsuits.  Last year, I worked to pass into law bipartisan class action reform that removes multistate lawsuits from a handful of courts in Illinois and Mississippi and places these national lawsuits in federal courts.  In Congress, I also worked to pass into law bipartisan bankruptcy reform legislation that will lower the cost of doing business by making common-sense reforms to our banking system.