There’s an old joke about the legal profession that goes something like this: The trouble with lawyers is that 98% of them give all the rest a bad name.

We need lawyers, of course, and many of them do good work. While there’s certainly nothing wrong (and often something very right) with lawyers making a good living, some of them abuse the system for profit over justice and routinely sue for outrageous sums of money.

This causes us to wonder: What are they doing with that massive windfall? Answer: They’re donating to Democrat politicians and causes, of course.

A recent report by the Alliance for Consumers identifies eight major law firms — known as the Shady Eight — whose employees made a combined $15 million in campaign contributions to Democrat candidates and committees.

“The partisan bent to the $15 million coming out of the Shady Eight is likewise in a class of its own,” according to the report. “The Shady Eight sent 99% of their combined federal donations from 2017-2020 to Democratic campaigns and allied political committees. That means that of the $15 million of combined donations, over $14.85 million went to Democrats and their allies.”

Another concern is the cost being passed along to the consumer by lawyers seeking these wildly excessive awards.

Just last month, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform issued a report titled “Tort Costs in America,” which claims that the tort system costs nearly $450 billion per year. That works out to more than $5,000 per household in some states and an average of $3,621 per household overall in 2020. As the report detailed: “The costs of the tort system grew at an average annual rate of 6% a year over the period 2016 to 2020, outpacing the growth in inflation and GDP over the same period. The study also breaks down tort costs by state, revealing significant variations among them.”

“Tort costs per household came to about $2,000 in states like Maine, New Hampshire, and South Dakota, but reached over $4,500 in states like California, Florida, and New Jersey,” the Chamber’s report adds. Meanwhile, “The tort system is highly inefficient at delivering relief to claimants — only 53 cents of every dollar paid in the tort system made its way to claimants, while the rest went to litigation costs and other expenses.”

As for litigiousness, “California and New York battle it out for the most ‘no-injury’ consumer class action lawsuits and the most claims under the ADA,” according to the American Tort Reform Association. “New York also continues to see a surging number of nuclear verdicts [those that exceed $10 million]. … The state has adopted an open-door policy for predatory lawsuit loans, and the litigation climate contributes to the state being one of the worst for doctors.”

Not be ignored is Illinois, whose biggest city, Chicago, is well known for its corruption. It’s no wonder that last year alone saw Cook County’s no-injury food and beverage lawsuits soar by 450%. Nor is it any wonder that no-injury lawsuit specialists seek out Cook County as a place favorable to land an outrageous award. As American Tort Reform Association President Tiger Joyce put it, “Cook County is ground zero for lawsuit filings where the person suing doesn’t actually claim they suffered any injury, called no-injury lawsuits.” Joyce added, “The county has also become a hot spot for high-dollar, nuclear verdicts.”

Across the country, Americans are beginning to take note. A few years back, a poll by Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse showed that an increasing number of people in various states are worried about lawsuit abuse and the ripple effect it has on jobs, the economy, the price of goods, and the cost of doing business.

Until we pressure our elected officials to push for serious tort reform, the problem will continue to grow. And every time we see a plaintiff winning a ridiculous jury award from an ostensibly negligent defendant, we need to remember that we’re all paying the price.