Tim Fox for Attorney General 2008
Fighting for Montana's Small Businesses
Click here to print this page as a handout (Adobe .pdf)
Montana is a small business state. With small businesses as our state's economic engine, we must ensure that we have a healthy business climate that provides opportunity, consistency, and minimal government regulation.
In numerous national studies, Montana's legal system ranks low compared to many of our Rocky Mountain neighbors due to the ratio of lawsuits filed, the amount of damages awarded, and the willingness of judges to overturn laws passed by the legislature. Small businesses are hit especially hard—even one frivolous lawsuit can put a small operation out of business and leave workers unemployed. Our un-competitive business climate makes it difficult to run a small business in our state and limits economic opportunities. As a result, jobs are lost to neighboring states, our young people leave Montana for opportunities elsewhere, our insurance rates continue to rise, and many Montanans struggle to make a good living.
As your next Attorney General, I will work with small businesses, lawyers, and all other stakeholders to look for ways to improve our business climate, especially our legal environment, while protecting those who are injured or damaged. Additionally, I will work to maintain the legal reforms the legislature has passed over the last decade, such as caps on damage awards, protections for our health care providers, and limitations on damage awards in employment lawsuits. I firmly believe that all Montanans have a right to seek fair compensation for damages to their health, property, reputation, and rights according to the law. Working together we can find ways to make our legal system work without unfairly or unjustly penalizing businesses.
Tim Fox is endorsed by the Montana Contractors Association
Tim Fox is endorsed by the Montana Association of Realtors PAC
Positions on Small Business Development:
- I support legislation to improve Montana’s legal system by finding ways to improve the economic climate in Montana while insuring a fair and just system for all.
- I support the rights of the injured and damaged to be fairly and fully compensated for their losses.
- I support caps on excessive damage awards.
- I oppose the practice of abusing our court system to shut down all natural resource development in Montana rather than finding ways to allow development to proceed in a timely and environmentally protective manner.
- When advocating for the State of Montana in court, I will not encourage courts to legislate from the bench.
- I will not award contracts to private attorneys for providing legal services to the State of Montana based on their campaign contributions, and any outsourced legal work will be done according to sound procurement practices based on the best result for the State of Montana.