"Trial lawyers, long a cornerstone of Democratic fund-raising, have outdone themselves for Al Gore's presidential race. No surprise given Gore's consistent opposition to federal legislation that would limit court awards to victims of corporate negligence. "Clinton has vetoed every effort at tort reform. "We've reached the point where the Democratic Party's captivity has become an embarrassment and threat to the nation." "The Founding Fathers gave us a mechanism for imposing excise taxes and it wasn't lawsuits. Since their (Democrats) dependence on lawsuit money has become harder not to talk about, they are now claiming they're just protecting "the right to sue."
"Our tort system should be a means of compensating the truly wronged and not a means of transferring large amounts of wealth to those who are adept at manipulating the levers." "The Lawyer Issue: Democrats' favorite special interest threatens the rule of law."
opinionjournal.com Monday, October 16, 2000 Editorial, WSJ
"Personal tort law says that an injured person's claim is equal to or greater than any suffering indirect harms like the employer of an injured person who has to pay workman's compensation. In some cases these indirect losses were barred completely. These principles were respected parts of tort law for 200 years. Now personal injury lawyers hired by state attorney generals successfully argued that state governments should have greater legal rights than those of individual smokers. Some judges have “bent the rules” of tort to facilitate these “Big Government” recoupment suits. The states now do not have to show a specific harm, nor that an individual was harmed as a result of smoking a particular product; it was sufficient to show that the statistical correlation between product use and public health care expenses. The states could now impose liability based on speculative market share. This principle could easily be applied to impose massive liabilities on other industries."
"However, juries will not impose verdicts against popular industries— only against unpopular ones. Of course, "popular industries" can quickly become unpopular, by campaigns of vilification mounted by personal injury lawyers. First, the officials and personal injury lawyers launch their efforts by vilifying a potential defendant through massive public relations efforts. Then they may use political allies to conduct hearings and provide further ammunition to make the potential defendant un-popular. Only then do they file a lawsuit."
"Some judges now see their role as being the regulators of society. Only they can “make things right. Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich has termed the new-style class action lawsuits "blatant end runs around the democratic process." From "REGULATION THROUGH LITIGATION HAS JUST BEGUN: WHAT YOU CAN DO TO STOP IT" VICTOR E. SCHWARTZ LEAH LORBER Volume 3, Number 11 November 1999
nlcpi.org
Lawyers and Law firms, "a deep-pocketed constituency of a few thousand, have contributed more overall than any other industry; more than labor unions; more than the Securities/Investment industry; Real Estate; or the Insurance industry. opensecrets.org Lawyers and Law Firms and Lobbyists contributed $82,9333,722 to the 2000 election campaign, with 65% going to the Democrats and 34% to Republicans. Lawyers and Law firms alone gave over $72 million to the 2000 Election campaign; with 72% going to the Democrats. opensecrets.org
In December '99, an executive from The Association of Trial Lawyers of America, Ken Suggs, reminded its members to contribute to Gore's campaign, in a note titled: Future of the profession"
overlawyered.com
"In 1995, as a law harmful to trial lawyers hung in the balance, Gore's name was linked to an attempt to raise $100,000 from a Texas trial Lawyer- Walter Umphrey, in return for President Clinton's promised veto of a tort reform. Ironically, when Gore claimed he was with FEMA inspector James Witt observing forest firest, on the nationally televised debates; he was actually attending a dinner for trial lawyers in Texas. Time Special Report hereliesalgore.com
"The "New Commissars" are the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA) who exploit the tort lottery to get rich, then turning those riches into political power that in turn makes it easier to loot another private industry, according to a Wall Street editorial April 25th, 2000. "The New Commissars" blackmailed senators to force them to drop their support for a bipartisan bill attempting to end asbestos litigation fairly. Lawyers didn't like this bill, as they would only have received 25% settlements instead of 50% and patients would have to be examined. So the trial lawyers called senators, saying if they did not drop their support of the bill, they would launch negative media campaigns. It worked. The bill died and right after, the number and dollar amount of asbestos claims increased dramatically. Owens Corning and other firms declared bankruptcy, unable to face the mounting litigation costs. (Wall Street Journal, 4/25/2000, The New Commissars).
The loot from the huge class action lawsuits has been used by "former trial lawyers" like Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, to finance their own campaigns. There are more trial lawyers running for Senate now: John Ciresi in Minnesota, is running for Rod Grams Senate seat.
"No wonder liberals wants to ban corporate "soft money" to political parties. Soft money is the only way non-rich Senators such as Mr. Grams (one of the senators who refused to be blackmailed by Patton Boggs) can counter independent expenditure assaults of the kind the trial bar is mounting against him. Campaign-finance "reform" is a ticket to a Senate full of plaintiffs lawyers." "The asbestos outrage is one more sign that our runaway tort system deserves to be a Presidential campaign issue. Al Gore toes the trial-bar line, while George W. Bush incurred its wrath in Texas. The only people in America less popular than politicians are plaintiffs lawyers. Their power to extort has to be curbed."
"Clinton's legacy" has been to empower the Fourth Arm of Government which is the Plaintiff's Bar. "The Clintons Helped Fuel the New Wave of Class Actions"
"Pulling for the Plaintiffs Bar" By Walter Olson Monday, March 6, 2000
www5.law.com
"Bill and Hillary Clinton emerged from a Yale Law School milieu that admired litigation as the remedy for practically every social ill and assumed that the more people could be persuaded to assert their rights in court, the better off society would be - what some of us call the "invisible fist" theory. In office, they proceeded to lend a hand as some of their wealthy supporters in the powerful plaintiffs bar established themselves as a "fourth branch" of government and recycled tobacco-fee fortunes into assaults on gunmakers, health maintenance organizations, Microsoft, and dozens of other targets.
"Regulation through litigation depends in part on a new link between public officials and wealthy personal injury lawyers. The Los Angeles Times described how this new link between the Department of Justice, the Private Trial Lawyers, and States Attorney Generals developed through a "behind-the-scenes lobbying campaign" that started in mid-1998 when four trial lawyers marched into the White House for the first of a series of meetings: They were Richard Scruggs, John Coale, Mississippi Attorney General Michael Moore, and Hugh Rodham, who happens to be Hillary Clinton's brother. Scruggs happens to be married to Sen. Trent Lott's sister.) The White House then twisted the arms of Justice Department careerists who did not think the feds had a case. By enlisting the Justice Department as an ally, the trial lawyers obtained invaluable credibility for arguments that carry ominous implications for other industries they may wish to sue - such as the idea that industry wide liability can arise from trade association efforts to take part in public debate.
Attorneys from the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA) and the States Attorney Generals sued the tobacco industry to recoup Medicaid costs paid by the States to cover smokers, and charged the tobacco companies with racketeering. What constitutes "racketeering acts" per the DOJ: It include such misdeeds as buying full-page newspaper ads to argue their positions; circulating favorable magazine clips; commissioning partisan, one-sided scientific research (certainly a shocking departure from the way we expect things to be done in Washington); and even sending out press releases - all of which adds up, in the DOJ's memorable phrase, to the legal offense of advancing "false and misleading positions on issues." How many other unpopular interest groups will be chargeable with such offenses in the future? "
The settlement of more than $250 billion is being divided between the states and private trial lawyers over 25 years. The money is not going to smokers injured by tobacco, but to build new roads; provide jobs for tobacco farmers; and for education to prevent teens from smoking. Texas was awarded $15 billion; $4 billion went to the private trial lawyers. The huge fees for private trial lawyers from the tobacco settlement; $500 million a year, for 25 years, mean the states and the private trial lawyers want to keep the tobacco companies healthy. They are encountering some unforeseen problems now from the huge verdict awarded in the Engles case in Florida which threatens their loot. Tsk tsk The tobacco money has been put to work to target new industries, like lead paint, HMOs and the pharmaceuticals companies, the automobile industry..... Apparently the Attorney General of Rhode Island said "Let's do latex gloves next." The notorious strike-suit firm Milberg Weiss will join with a New York law firm famous for job-discrimination suits. Milberg Weiss is suing Microsoft for employer discrimination, another bogus class action lawsuit, imo.
Patton Boggs, the third most powerful lobbying firm in the US in 1998, represents the "The Association of Trial Lawyers of America" Patton Boggs is also the major lobbying firm for the Democratic party. In 1998, Patton Boggs was the fourth largest recipient of "funds" from the Tobacco Lobby. opensecrets.org Patton Boggs routinely hires former high level members of Congress and works hand in hand with the DOJ and the FTC. Lawyers from Patton-Boggs wrote the drafts for the recent guidelines: "Antitrust Update: FTC and DOJ Propose Antitrust Guidelines for Collaborations Among Competitors. pattonboggs.com
pattonboggs.com
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An attorney from Patton Boggs, Glenn Manishin, was the principle author of a landmark White Paper released in February of 1999 for the Software and Information Industry Association, a trade group representing Microsoft's competitors, on remedies in the antitrust case. Manishin has also served as counsel to the CCIA and various Microsoft competitors such as Oracle, Sun, and Netscape in the past. But Microsoft's competitors won't admit to using one of the most powerful lobbying firms in the country. It is interesting that the name Patton Boggs or Glenn Manishin does not appear anywhere on any of the Amici curiae submitted by the SIIA or the CCIA. pattonboggs.com
A debate was broadcast on the internet, hosted by John Gallant, a networking IT expert: "Microsoft: The Penalty Phase - Will breaking up Bill's Baby protect your network from Microsoft's clutches?" June 2nd, 2000 that may still be available. The Pro-side was represented by Glen Manishin, from Patton Boggs.
events.network24.com |
