Keep one eye on the game, one on the court docket

The football season is well under way with millions of fans intently watching and analyzing countless hours of blitzes, bootlegs and buttonhooks all leading up to the national game of games: Super Bowl XL in February.

The audience includes millions of small business owners, their families and employees who find the game of football a welcome break from the day-to-day challenges of running a small company.

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The excitement and anticipation whenever the Green Bay Packers line up against an opponent will certainly overshadow the opening season of the U.S. Supreme Court, which begins its annual session this month  by hearing oral arguments on cases it will consider and rule on the following spring.

While recent news coverage of the Supreme Court centers on potential nominations of new justices and social issues, small business owners should pay careful attention to the court's docket; a significant number of the cases concern matters that affect virtually every aspect of free enterprise.

A recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court upset decades of long-standing property-rights laws by expanding the power of local governments to use the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution to condemn private property through the process of eminent domain. The ruling delivered that property into the hands of another landowner who promised to use it to boost "economic development."

In recent sessions, the high court has also handed down decisions that will make small employers liable for age discrimination if they create an employment policy that even unintentionally affects older workers. Additionally, the court ruled that independent small-business truckers have no recourse against states that want to impose even greater regulatory burdens on them than the federal government has established.

Recent decisions by the Wisconsin Supreme Court also delivered a blow to important legal reforms enacted by the Legislature 10 years ago. The court ruled the statutory limitation for an award of non-economic damages in medical malpractice lawsuits is "patently arbitrary with no rational relationship to a legitimate government interest" and is in violation of the equal-protection clause of the Wisconsin Constitution.

The ruling reduces the ability of small business owners to provide quality, affordable health-care coverage for themselves, their employees and their families.

In yet another ruling that stunned the business community, the court held that a plaintiff may sue virtually an entire industry for injuries even when it can't be proven the manufacturer actually produced the allegedly defective product.

These rulings come on the heels of past Supreme Court sessions where justices have offered opinions that instantly and almost permanently changed the rules of the game of entrepreneurship.

Punitive damage awards, pensions, taxation, product liability and regulations of even the most mundane nature are appearing on the court's docket with alarming frequency.

It is unfortunate that most Supreme Court justices, while experts in constitutional law, have virtually no experience with, and little understanding of, the trials and tribulations of starting and building a successful small business.

It may not be nearly as entertaining or exciting as watching the Green Bay Packers, but watching every play the court makes and pointing out offside moves to Congress and the Legislature is a task that small-business owners must undertake right away. This game is for keeps, and the stakes for small business are high.