Kentucky is home to some of the largest, most-recognized companies in the world — GE, Ford, Toyota, UPS and others. But small businesses play an equally important role in shaping and driving our economy. The Commonwealth boasts more than 300,000 small businesses which employ more than 685,000 Kentuckians.
Despite their many positive impacts, businesses in Kentucky face a less than friendly legal liability environment. From your neighborhood pub to the manufacturing facility that employs your family and neighbors, companies of all sizes share a common challenge: the terrifying risk of a lawsuit that could cost them everything.
Nadina Dennie
Entrepreneurs and executives who set up shop in Kentucky are entering a legal “wild west” that unfairly favors personal injury attorneys over employers. Kentucky’s legal liability climate is ranked among the worst in the nation by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce due its unlimited risk and uncertainty. Instead of incentivizing businesses to come to Kentucky, our legal liability environment is driving them away to surrounding states where the risk of facing costly, and sometimes meritless lawsuits is much lower.
This lack of predictability drives up insurance costs for businesses like mine, leaving us with fewer resources to invest in employee wages and benefits, new equipment and research and development.
Elected officials in Frankfort recognize Kentucky’s legal liability system is holding us back and have proposed a step in the right direction. Senate Bill 2 asks Kentucky voters to approve a constitutional amendment that would allow our elected representatives to improve our liability environment by establishing commonsense thresholds for certain jury-awarded damages.
As a member of Kentucky’s small business community, I see Senate Bill 2 as a means to restore power to the people who keep our economy running and our family, friends and neighbors employed. Kentuckians deserve a voice when it comes to the type of environment we’re creating for businesses and employers, and that’s what Senate Bill 2 is all about.
To be clear, this legislation is not about letting businesses off the hook when a wrong has occurred. It clearly provides the General Assembly the ability to address such concerns. But we should take steps to clarify the risks of doing business in Kentucky and reduce the number of frivolous lawsuits filed by personal injury attorneys looking to make a quick buck.
Now more than ever, Kentucky must take action to create an environment that encourages entrepreneurism and job creation. It is time to pass Senate Bill 2 and put power over our legal liability environment back where it belongs -— with Kentuckians, not out-of-state law firms.
Nadina Dennie is chair of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Small Business Policy Council and vice president of Willow Ridge Plastics in Erlanger.
