2.2% of GDP on litigation!

GM expects to save $5.3 billion per year on healthcare costs thanks to litigation changes.:

"`This is the best opportunity we've had in recent history,' says Kevin McMahon, chairman of the American Tort Reform Association, a business coalition that includes Detroit- based GM and New York-based Pfizer. "

The cost of litigation is high:

"Lawsuits over torts, which are wrongful acts that can be compensated with damages, cost businesses $162 billion in 2003, up from $153 billion in 2002, according to a study by Tillinghast, a division of the Philadelphia-based consulting firm Towers Perrin. Individuals accounted for another $84 billion in tort costs, primarily from automobile accidents. The total of $246 billion was 2.2 percent of the Gross Domestic Product; in 1960, total tort costs of $5.4 billion accounted for 1 percent of GDP. "