Law Suit Abuse Reform Survey Conducted

The ASCPA would like to thank the members who participated in the phone survey on law suit abuse reforms. An independent research organization randomly selected 400 members to be a part of the survey.

Law suit abuse reform is an effort to change the laws under which torts or civil crimes, acts which are illegal but not criminal, are judged. Torts include a wide range of acts from auto accidents to medical malpractice to injuries suffered by a customer who slips and falls in a retail store. For accountants, a tort might be failure to exercise due diligence in auditing the books of a client. At present, Arizona’s Constitution forbids the state legislature from limiting the amount of damages that can be recovered for death or injury and forbids any limitation on the right to sue for damages.

According to the survey, 44 percent of members had read or heard about the issue of law suit abuse reform in Arizona. Based on the knowledge that members have about law suit abuse reform, 75 percent are in favor of reform.

The survey also asked about the most important issue facing CPAs today. Some of the most common answers included: ethics scandals; government overregulation through Sarbanes-Oxley and peer review; recruiting new CPAs and lack of qualified CPAs; the need for access to research on new methods, technology and continuing education; the lack of the public’s understanding of their job and the function of CPAs; and tort reform.

The Board of Directors will use this information to help them in their strategic planning session in November and to plan legislative priorities. The ASCPA will keep you updated on any action that is taken in response to this survey.