Last week, a letter to the editor from the group calling itself “Georgians for Lawsuit Reform” claimed that there has been a rapid decline in Georgia's legal system and warned of an array of adverse effects it supposedly would have on small businesses. As an attorney and a small business owner myself, I do not agree with these assertions about the nature of my career or my small business. I could give you anecdotal information from my own experiences to support my claims, but I believe that a compilation of facts from my fellow small business owners would be a much better representation of the facts.

Recently, there have been multiple studies from national small business associations exploring the challenges and triumphs of small businesses as viewed by small business owners themselves. For example, the National Federation for Independent Businesses (NFIB) had small business owners rank 75 distinct operation issues that they face in running their businesses. The “Cost and Frequency of Lawsuits/Threatened Lawsuits” came in at No. 68—out of a menu of 75 issues. The same issue was also ranked dead last when respondents were asked to rank 20 “cost” problems they encountered with their business.

Similarly, the National Small Business Association (NSBA) asked its members what challenges their businesses faced. Neither “lawsuits” nor “litigation” were mentioned even once. And in surveys conducted by M&T Bank, Bank of America, TD Bank and Wells Fargo, in which small business owners were asked about their top concerns or what lawmakers could do to help their businesses, lawsuits were not mentioned at all.

The results of these surveys by small business associations do not contain emotionally or politically driven accusations; they contain facts submitted by the very individuals this so-called advocacy group purports to help. I cannot speak for the thousands of other small business owners across this state, but, for myself, I rely on facts to determine how to run my small business. The facts of this matter tell me that the uproar over our legal system is merely a solution seeking a problem, and quite frankly, small business owners have plenty of actual challenges to address without concocting more issues for ourselves and our businesses. If this mouthpiece for the Georgia Chamber of Commerce really wants to help my small business and those of thousands of other Georgians, they should look into the real problems and challenges we face and stop creating new ones just for their political effect.

Jeffrey M. Hood

Calhoun

Last week, a letter to the editor from the group calling itself “Georgians for Lawsuit Reform” claimed that there has been a rapid decline in Georgia's legal system and warned of an array of adverse effects it supposedly would have on small businesses. As an attorney and a small business owner myself, I do not agree with these assertions about the nature of my career or my small business. I could give you anecdotal information from my own experiences to support my claims, but I believe that a compilation of facts from my fellow small business owners would be a much better representation of the facts.

Recently, there have been multiple studies from national small business associations exploring the challenges and triumphs of small businesses as viewed by small business owners themselves. For example, the National Federation for Independent Businesses (NFIB) had small business owners rank 75 distinct operation issues that they face in running their businesses. The “Cost and Frequency of Lawsuits/Threatened Lawsuits” came in at No. 68—out of a menu of 75 issues. The same issue was also ranked dead last when respondents were asked to rank 20 “cost” problems they encountered with their business.

Similarly, the National Small Business Association (NSBA) asked its members what challenges their businesses faced. Neither “lawsuits” nor “litigation” were mentioned even once. And in surveys conducted by M&T Bank, Bank of America, TD Bank and Wells Fargo, in which small business owners were asked about their top concerns or what lawmakers could do to help their businesses, lawsuits were not mentioned at all.

The results of these surveys by small business associations do not contain emotionally or politically driven accusations; they contain facts submitted by the very individuals this so-called advocacy group purports to help. I cannot speak for the thousands of other small business owners across this state, but, for myself, I rely on facts to determine how to run my small business. The facts of this matter tell me that the uproar over our legal system is merely a solution seeking a problem, and quite frankly, small business owners have plenty of actual challenges to address without concocting more issues for ourselves and our businesses. If this mouthpiece for the Georgia Chamber of Commerce really wants to help my small business and those of thousands of other Georgians, they should look into the real problems and challenges we face and stop creating new ones just for their political effect.

Jeffrey M. Hood

Calhoun