Numerous metalcasters will be sympathetic, if not entirely familiar, with the problem faced by Acra Cast Investment Castings in Bay City, MI:

… In 2006, one the company’s neighbors – who had filed 23 previous lawsuits in the county – sued Acra Cast, … The plaintiff alleged that emissions from the foundry had contaminated his cars, his carpet, and the siding of his house...the case dragged on for almost three years, and Acra Cast had to pay for the suit out of pocket.

So far, the owners of Acra Cast, the Singer family, have been defending themselves at their own considerable expense against these 24 suits: they refuse to reach a settlement because they know they’ve done nothing wrong. You can read more about this continuing problem via the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Or, you can watch a video that has been made about Acra Cast’s dilemma, alerting the nation to the chronic problem of abusive litigation. The tag that the Institute for Legal Reform uses to highlight their campaign against this widespread problem — Jobs Not Lawsuits — helpfully draws the link between these legal snares that seem to plague one business after another, and the wider problem they create for all of us: They inhibit the growth of business. They destroy opportunities

The ongoing effort to find a federal solution to every problem — health insurance coverage being only the latest — seems at times to be an effort to override the authority of individual states to support their citizens’ welfare.  But, in the very tangible matter of employment, federal efforts at job creation have been less effective than originally promised. I suspect that job creation is something that very soon will remind us of how effective states can be in behalf of their citizens. States that encourage businesses to grow, rather than penalize them opportunistically, will gain economic benefits against states that do the opposite.   

Far-sighted states will recognize that curbing nuisance lawsuits is an effective way to stimulate job growth.