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It is rare for the entire Hoosier business community to speak with one voice. From family-owned shops to the trucking fleets that keep our shelves stocked and the manufacturers that drive innovation, a consensus has emerged: Indiana’s legal system has become a burden that every Hoosier is forced to carry.
This is why we formed the Indiana Alliance for Legal Reform. This coalition represents an unprecedented consensus that includes the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, the Indiana Manufacturers Association, the Indiana Motor Truck Association, the National Federation of Independent Business, the Indiana Bankers Association and a growing list of other business associations and companies.
As we look across the country at a legal system trending anti-business, both in verdicts and unpredictability, we want to restore fairness and balance to our system by modernizing tort law. While our system is meant to provide a path to justice, it has become skewed toward special interests and away from common-sense fairness. We want to build upon recent reforms Indiana has made, such as the 2024 law that requires transparency in third-party litigation funding, in which investors can front the costs of lawsuits in exchange for a percentage of any recovered money.
Discussions of tort law and legal reform can sound esoteric and disconnected from the average Hoosier, but they have a direct and real connection to every Hoosier. To put it in perspective, Indiana households bore an additional $3,000 from litigation-related costs in 2024, according to a study by the national Institute for Legal Reform. Statewide, this “tort tax” totals more than $7.8 billion—roughly 1.7% of our state’s GDP.
These staggering numbers show the immediate costs of an out-of-control legal landscape. They manifest in the real world as higher grocery prices, higher insurance premiums and paused or scuttled business expansion plans that otherwise would create jobs.
Our efforts are not intended to impede anyone seeking to redress legitimate grievances. A fair and impartial court system is necessary to a free society. However, we are seeing disturbing trends: out-of-control non-economic damages awards, “billboard lawyers” promoting frivolous claims, the rise of public-nuisance cases (like those filed against Kia for making cars that were “too easy” to steal), and businesses financially crippled when dragged into lawsuits to which they have no connection.
We can learn from other states whose legislatures have passed legal reforms and whose residents are benefiting. In 2025, Georgia enacted comprehensive legal reform that discouraged frivolous lawsuits and brought much-needed transparency to their court system. Similarly, Florida’s landmark legislative efforts in 2022 and 2023 have already delivered tangible results, yielding significant savings for families on their auto and homeowner insurance premiums.
Indiana needs to expand what we started in 2024 and go further to maintain our state’s economic development edge, remain a top destination for jobs and provide Hoosier businesses with a balanced, predictable legal system they need to plan for investment.
The current trajectory is unsustainable, especially for small businesses. As the NFIB can attest, a single opportunistic lawsuit can be enough to shutter a “Main Street” shop that took generations to build. Whether it’s a trucking company facing “nuclear verdicts” or a local bank navigating predatory litigation, the result is the same: The consumer pays the price.
The Indiana Alliance for Legal Reform believes that Hoosiers deserve a system of civil litigation that delivers justice without excess. We need an impartial legal environment that promotes jobs, lowers prices and maintains Indiana’s economic development advantage.
We ask the 150 members of the Indiana General Assembly to join us and create a legal system that works for all Hoosiers.•
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Langston is president of the Indiana Motor Truck Association. Sinders is CEO of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce. Berger is CEO of the Indiana Manufacturers Association. They are chair, vice chair and treasurer, respectively, of the Indiana Alliance for Legal Reform.
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