Small businesses get hit with an outsized share of lawsuits and end up paying out billions in damages.

A new study by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found the total liability costs of lawsuits against businesses totaled about $347 billion in 2021, with small businesses shouldering about $160 billion of those costs. Despite small businesses only accounting for about 20% of total revenue earned in 2021, they were responsible for about 48% of commercial lawsuit costs.