Am Tort Reform ass atra

=capt 816amtortreffdn ASSOCstarted in PM dirty tricks shop? bucking for evil<a href="http://www.exposedbycmd.org/2017/03/07/pruitt-emails-reveal-communications-alec-kochs/">http://www.exposedbycmd.org/2017/03/07/pruitt-emails-reveal-communications-alec-kochs/</a>...<h3 style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-transform: uppercase; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">KEEPING UP WITH THE KOCHS AS OKLAHOMA ATTORNEY GENERAL</h3>The stack of Pruitt emails received by CMD reveal <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3472487-Produce-4000.html/#document/p111" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration: none;">email exchanges</a> between Aaron Cooper, Director of Public Affairs for the attorney general’s office and Matt Ball, Oklahoma State Director for Americans for Prosperity (AFP), the right-wing political advocacy arm of the Koch political empire.July 2013 emails show Ball organizing an August 22 event featuring Pruitt, Sen. James Lankford (OK-R), and William Yeatman, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI). Both <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Koch_candidates,2016#Oklahoma_2" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration: none;">Lankford</a> and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Competitive_Enterprise_Institute#CEI.27s_Foundation_Funders" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration: none;">CEI</a> have received Koch funding. In organizing the event, Ball helpfully instructs the AG’s staff on what he wants Pruitt to say,“Frankly, I just assume the AG and Lankford talk sue and settle, how the EPA is deploying these tactics and what their respective offices have done on oversight and litigation, and let Yeatman from CEI give an objective analysis of costs to ratepayers from revised state implementation plan on regional haze (which includes the PSO rate increase). That way you guys don’t have to deliver those messages and can focus on what the AG does best, opposing the Obama administration and its nasty tactics on the environment.” Industry groups and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce claim that agencies like EPA are “regulating” outside the normal rule making process when they are sued by environmentalist groups, like Greenpeace and Sierra Club, for not following the law and then settle those lawsuits in legally binding, court ordered agreements without inviting states or industry to participate.Cooper promptly responds, “I think that what be good from our standpoint.” Ball, on August 14, sends an <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3472487-Produce-4000.html/#document/p136" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration: none;">email</a> with the final schedule detailed in which he praises Pruitt for “all they are doing to push back against President Obama’s EPA and its axis with liberal environmental groups.” Pruitt led a group of state attorneys general in suing the EPA for its correspondence with environmental groups.In <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3472487-Produce-4000.html/#document/p181" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration: none;">another</a> email, Ball requests a same day meeting with Pruitt’s Chief of Staff and Assistant Attorney General, Melissa Houston and she agrees to meet him the next day in the AG’s conference room. The fractured emails do not indicate what the meeting was about.Yet <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3472489-Produce-6000.html/#document/p51" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration: none;">another email</a> from December 2013, invites Dean Kuckelman, Senior Counsel, Litigation and Discovery, for Koch Companies Public Sector to a conference call with two of Pruitt’s assistant attorneys general and the Solicitor General. The topic of the conference is not known. This email followed an email from Kuckelman to Houston with an attachment produced by the American Tort Reform (ATR) entitled, “Judicial Hell Holes.” The Kochs share ATR’s goals to make it harder for consumers to sue over products and services that kill or injure people. Judicial “hell holes” refer to states where it is easier for consumers to sue or unite in class action suits against giant, deep-pocketed corporations.This is only a small sampling of the emails between Koch and ALEC staff and Pruitt staff, CMD is fighting for 1,600 pages withheld by Pruitt’s office in the lawsuit and additional emails, which will likely shed further light on these meetings and relationships.The cozy relationship between Pruitt, the Kochs, ALEC crew, and the big polluters who fund ALEC will no doubt continue as Pruitt begins to dismantle the EPA.Upon his appointment ALEC released a statement lauding Pruitt and claiming that Trump has “found just the right person to bring fresh leadership and much-needed reform to an agency currently out of control. Anyone who values striking a balance between sensible environmental regulations and the rule of law should delight in Pruitt’s appointment.”While the corporate-fueled ALEC may be delighted, Americans concerned about the future of America’s lakes, bays, rivers, and more find Pruitt’s close relationship with polluters not very charming.=<div>=</div><div>no lnx in orfig (monsanto tag]</div><div><a href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/oct/10/monsantos-triumph-over-junk-science/">
</a></div><div><a href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/oct/10/monsantos-triumph-over-junk-science/">https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/oct/10/monsantos-triumph-over-junk-science/</a></div><div>LAW_CRIMEMONSANTOIllustration on resisting junk science by Linas Garsys/The Washington TimesCOMMENTARYBy Tiger Joyce - - Monday, October 10, 2022OPINION:[note no cya caveats]One of the country’s most vilified companies prevailed in a recent jury trial against sympathetic witnesses in the “judicial hellhole®” that is the 21st Judicial District of Missouri. The story of how the truth won out over an elaborate scheme cooked up by junk scientists and the trial bar is worth exploring.All 10 jurors in that St. Louis courtroom sided with Monsanto after a month of testimony that opened with plaintiffs brought to tears as they recalled the horror of learning of their diagnosis of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a severe form of cancer. Expert witnesses testified that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s signature Roundup weedkiller, was to blame for triggering the disease.The trial bar successfully monetized the same argument in June 2020, to the tune of over $10 billion in settlements and verdicts. Yet more trials are underway, featuring a long list of victims of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma who were attracted by a $60 million advertising campaign holding out the hope of “substantial compensation.”But the St. Louis case fell apart under cross-examination as their expert witnesses proved less than credible. One of those expert witnesses, William Sawyer, advertised on his LinkedIn resume that he was a “board-certified toxicologist.” But when confronted on the stand, was forced to admit he was unable to obtain certification from the American Board of Toxicology after twice failing the required exam. Mr. Sawyer then turned to Robert O’Block, founder of the American College of Forensic Examiners, who supplied an appropriate diploma. However, Mr. O’Block was so willing to certify any paying customers that some reports say he once certified a cat. Mr. Sawyer’s “career” as a full-time expert witness in glyphosate product liability trials has made him a millionaire. Billing $785 an hour, he’s collected $2.5 million from his testimony in four Roundup trials.But at least Mr. Sawyer had academic training in toxicology. By contrast, fellow expert witness Charles Benbrook testified about glyphosate’s health effects despite having no training in medicine, chemistry or epidemiology. Mr. Benbrook, an economist, took a physics course in college — that’s the sum of his formal education in the sciences.Mr. Benbrook runs the Heartland Health Research Alliance (HHRA), which produces studies linking cancer to herbicides such as Roundup, as well as competing herbicides like dicamba and 2,4-D. His studies are likely laying the groundwork for a future lawsuit against those products. The trial bar values Mr. Benbrook’s endeavors, rewarding him $1.3 million for his testimony in addition to his $220,000 salary. The trial bar not only provides funding to Mr. Benbrook’s nonprofit, scientific research organization, but it also provides management direction. HHRA’s vice chair, Robin Greenwald, is a partner at Weitz & Luxenberg — one of the many firms suing Monsanto.Trial lawyers funding and managing the organization producing “scientific” studies cited as evidence in a trial is a clear conflict of interest. But conflicts of interest aren’t new to Mr. Benbrook. A few years ago, he was caught coordinating his academic work with outside interests, forcing the New England Journal of Medicine to update a paper it published to reveal Mr. Benbrook’s previously undisclosed funding from litigators and the organic food industry. In April, Cornell University microbiologist Kathleen Hefferon pointed out that another scientific journal article co-authored by Mr. Benbrook violated clear ethical standards for peer review.There’s a reason the trial bar turned to individuals with dubious credentials and a loose appreciation of ethical norms — the truth simply isn’t on their side.Environmental safety agencies in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the European Union have spent decades reviewing the health impacts of glyphosate. All agree that no credible evidence exists linking glyphosate to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.But one outlier organization says otherwise. An advisory group of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) deemed glyphosate a “probable human carcinogen.” In 2017, a senior scientist on that IARC panel testified critical evidence favorable to glyphosate had been withheld and would likely have changed IARC’s conclusion. The panel, however, was run by Christopher Portier, a scientist who received $160,000 from litigators and worked under the direct supervision of Ms. Greenwald.It seems that most evidence against Monsanto was produced by individuals under the direct financial sway of litigators.It’s a tribute to the resilience of our judicial system that a set of brave jurors stood for the truth in this instance, but it’s also a warning. Judges and state legislatures across the country must implement reforms to align expert evidence standards with those set forth by the Federal Rules of Evidence and the Supreme Court. This will ensure jurors hear only evidence reflecting the true consensus of the scientific community and not unproven conclusions of paid litigation “experts.” Ultimately, the onus falls on individual judges to prevent lawsuit abuse and junk science in their courtrooms.    Tiger Joyce is president of the American Tort Reform Association. note no coi disclosures]=<div class="SoaBEf xuvV6b" data-hveid="CAgQAA" style="margin: 0px 0px 29px; color: rgb(32, 33, 36); font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div data-hveid="CAkQAA" data-ved="2ahUKEwjCpeeludv6AhVFkWoFHfYzDoUQxPQBKAB6BAgJEAA"><a jsname="YKoRaf" class="WlydOe" href="https://insidesources.com/the-time-for-tort-reform-is-now/" data-ved="2ahUKEwjCpeeludv6AhVFkWoFHfYzDoUQxfQBKAB6BAgJEAE" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://insidesources.com/the-time-for-tort-reform-is-now/&ved=2ahUKEwjCpeeludv6AhVFkWoFHfYzDoUQxfQBKAB6BAgJEAE" style="color: rgb(26, 13, 171); text-decoration-line: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; outline: 0px;" /><div class="vJOb1e aIfcHf Hw13jc" style="display: flex; flex-direction: row-reverse; justify-content: space-between;"><a jsname="YKoRaf" class="WlydOe" href="https://insidesources.com/the-time-for-tort-reform-is-now/" data-ved="2ahUKEwjCpeeludv6AhVFkWoFHfYzDoUQxfQBKAB6BAgJEAE" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://insidesources.com/the-time-for-tort-reform-is-now/&ved=2ahUKEwjCpeeludv6AhVFkWoFHfYzDoUQxfQBKAB6BAgJEAE" style="color: rgb(26, 13, 171); text-decoration-line: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; outline: 0px;" /><div class="iRPxbe" style="flex-grow: 1; width: 0px; position: relative; padding: 0px 0px 24px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><a jsname="YKoRaf" class="WlydOe" href="https://insidesources.com/the-time-for-tort-reform-is-now/" data-ved="2ahUKEwjCpeeludv6AhVFkWoFHfYzDoUQxfQBKAB6BAgJEAE" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://insidesources.com/the-time-for-tort-reform-is-now/&ved=2ahUKEwjCpeeludv6AhVFkWoFHfYzDoUQxfQBKAB6BAgJEAE" style="color: rgb(26, 13, 171); text-decoration-line: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; outline: 0px;" /><div class="CEMjEf NUnG9d" style="color: rgb(32, 33, 36); font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px;"><a jsname="YKoRaf" class="WlydOe" href="https://insidesources.com/the-time-for-tort-reform-is-now/" data-ved="2ahUKEwjCpeeludv6AhVFkWoFHfYzDoUQxfQBKAB6BAgJEAE" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://insidesources.com/the-time-for-tort-reform-is-now/&ved=2ahUKEwjCpeeludv6AhVFkWoFHfYzDoUQxfQBKAB6BAgJEAE" style="color: rgb(26, 13, 171); text-decoration-line: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; outline: 0px;">inside Sources</a></div><div class="mCBkyc y355M ynAwRc MBeuO nDgy9d" aria-level="3" role="heading" style="font-size: 20px; line-height: 24px; display: -webkit-box; overflow: hidden; -webkit-box-orient: vertical; text-decoration-line: underline; -webkit-line-clamp: 3;">The Time for Tort Reform Is Now – InsideSources</div><div class="GI74Re nDgy9d" style="display: -webkit-box; overflow: hidden; -webkit-box-orient: vertical; color: rgb(77, 81, 86); font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.42857em; margin: 8px 0px 0px; -webkit-line-clamp: 3;">While the lawyers worked to launch the glyphosate litigation, ... as my organization, the American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) reports,...</div>.<div jsname="g3rANb" class="OSrXXb ZE0LJd YsWzw" style="overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; color: rgb(112, 117, 122); left: 0px; line-height: 16px; position: absolute; width: 544px; margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; bottom: 0px;">Oct 24, 2021</div></div></div></div></div><div class="SoaBEf xuvV6b" data-hveid="CAoQAA" style="margin: 29px 0px 0px; color: rgb(32, 33, 36); font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div data-hveid="CAsQAA" data-ved="2ahUKEwjCpeeludv6AhVFkWoFHfYzDoUQxPQBKAB6BAgLEAA"><a jsname="YKoRaf" class="WlydOe" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/02/09/how-republicans-learned-love-frivolous-lawsuits/" data-ved="2ahUKEwjCpeeludv6AhVFkWoFHfYzDoUQxfQBKAB6BAgLEAE" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/02/09/how-republicans-learned-love-frivolous-lawsuits/&ved=2ahUKEwjCpeeludv6AhVFkWoFHfYzDoUQxfQBKAB6BAgLEAE" style="color: rgb(26, 13, 171); text-decoration-line: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; outline: 0px;" /><div class="vJOb1e aIfcHf Hw13jc" style="display: flex; flex-direction: row-reverse; justify-content: space-between;"><a jsname="YKoRaf" class="WlydOe" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/02/09/how-republicans-learned-love-frivolous-lawsuits/" data-ved="2ahUKEwjCpeeludv6AhVFkWoFHfYzDoUQxfQBKAB6BAgLEAE" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/02/09/how-republicans-learned-love-frivolous-lawsuits/&ved=2ahUKEwjCpeeludv6AhVFkWoFHfYzDoUQxfQBKAB6BAgLEAE" style="color: rgb(26, 13, 171); text-decoration-line: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; outline: 0px;" /><div class="iRPxbe" style="flex-grow: 1; width: 0px; position: relative; padding: 0px 0px 24px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><a jsname="YKoRaf" class="WlydOe" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/02/09/how-republicans-learned-love-frivolous-lawsuits/" data-ved="2ahUKEwjCpeeludv6AhVFkWoFHfYzDoUQxfQBKAB6BAgLEAE" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/02/09/how-republicans-learned-love-frivolous-lawsuits/&ved=2ahUKEwjCpeeludv6AhVFkWoFHfYzDoUQxfQBKAB6BAgLEAE" style="color: rgb(26, 13, 171); text-decoration-line: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; outline: 0px;" /><div class="CEMjEf NUnG9d" style="color: rgb(32, 33, 36); font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px;"><a jsname="YKoRaf" class="WlydOe" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/02/09/how-republicans-learned-love-frivolous-lawsuits/" data-ved="2ahUKEwjCpeeludv6AhVFkWoFHfYzDoUQxfQBKAB6BAgLEAE" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/02/09/how-republicans-learned-love-frivolous-lawsuits/&ved=2ahUKEwjCpeeludv6AhVFkWoFHfYzDoUQxfQBKAB6BAgLEAE" style="color: rgb(26, 13, 171); text-decoration-line: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; outline: 0px;"><g-img class="QyR1Ze ZGomKf" style="display: inline-block; height: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; margin-right: 8px;"><img id="dimg_7" src="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAABAAAAAQCAMAAAAoLQ9TAAAAZlBMVEX///8AAACrq6v39/fHx8d0dHTj4+PMzMzR0dHa2tq5ubnw8PA1NTXn5+ft7e2enp5NTU2Dg4NSUlIaGhpiYmJ8fHzAwMCwsLBHR0coKCiUlJQICAgTExOkpKQxMTGOjo5ra2tAQECDU3esAAAAgUlEQVQYlYXP7Q7CIAwF0F4LjI3BxIkfTKZ7/5dc8R+LiU2TNidp2hL9jzAd4BwPUNDDdGAP2y+DQAd1EdM8X1WCwA3uDhoTz9pIQx4IJ4H4gDbSEFu4ClryC6TgpT5zhTpCbsGAV6GMiPVd9/JEoRCXMWXVHLR+THvhZn0L/PvXHWUHBNCK7AF/AAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" class="YQ4gaf zr758c" height="16" width="16" alt="" data-atf="1" data-frt="0" style="display: block; border: 0px; border-radius: 2px;" /></g-img>The Washington Post</a></div><div class="mCBkyc y355M ynAwRc MBeuO nDgy9d" aria-level="3" role="heading" style="font-size: 20px; line-height: 24px; display: -webkit-box; overflow: hidden; -webkit-box-orient: vertical; -webkit-line-clamp: 3;">Opinion | How Republicans learned to love frivolous lawsuits</div><div class="GI74Re nDgy9d" style="display: -webkit-box; overflow: hidden; -webkit-box-orient: vertical; color: rgb(77, 81, 86); font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.42857em; margin: 8px 0px 0px; -webkit-line-clamp: 3;">In 1986, President Ronald Reagan told the American Tort Reform Association ... Trial lawyers, ATRA President Sherman “Tiger” Joyce t</div></div></div></div></div></div>=hans s ~ ricograduate of Princeton University and Catholic University Law School, he served as Legislative Assistant to U.S. Senator John C. Danforth until 1984. In 1987, after being admitted to the Virginia Bar, he became minority counsel to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, where he worked on product liability legislation. Mr. Joyce assumed his current position in August 1994.=hiltachk era?Philip Morris also hired APCO to manage a massive national effort aimed at altering the American judicial system to be more hostile towards product liability suits ("Tort Reform"). <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Tort_reform" title="Tort reform" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; line-height: 22.4px; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Tort reform</a> was an internal corporate program of Philip Morris, who led other companies into the plan. According to a 1995 Philip Morris Tort Reform Budget, the industry paid APCO Associates almost $1 million in 1995 to implement behind-the-scenes tort reform efforts. APCO's job was to create chapters of "grassroots" citizens' groups called <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Citizens_Against_Lawsuit_Abuse" title="Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; line-height: 22.4px; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse</a> (CALAs). The budget shows the tobacco industry alone budgeted $21.8 million to fund the tort reform effort in the single year of 1995.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/APCO_Worldwide#cite_note-2" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[2]</a><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">prop 37:</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Maryann Marino and the California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse (CALA): Defending small farmers?Maryann Marino is the Southern California regional director of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Citizens_Against_Lawsuit_Abuse" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse (CALA)</a>, which according to <a href="http://www.citizen.org/preshttp:/www.citizen.org/pressroom/pressroomredirect.cfm?ID=481sroom/pressroomredirect.cfm?ID=481" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Public Citizen</a> is one of many so-called "lawsuit abuse" groups throughout the country that are part of a national, corporate-backed network of front groups that receive substantial financial and strategic assistance from the tobacco industry and some of America's biggest corporations.According to Public Citizen, “These groups masquerade as grassroots citizens groups spontaneously manifesting citizen anger against so-called ‘lawsuit abuse.’ The groups aim to incite public scorn for the civil justice system, juries and judges, and to pave the way for enactment of laws immunizing corporations from liability for actions that harm consumers.”Sure enough, Marino recently <a href="http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/food_coach&id=8645922" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">told KABC-TV</a>, Los Angeles, the GMO labeling initiative is “not really about the right to know, but rather the right to sue.”In 2000, the Center for Justice and Democracy issued a <a href="http://centerjd.org/content/cala-files-secret-campaign-big-tobacco-and-other-major-industries-take-away-your-rights" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">report on CALA</a> which unmasked "funding by self-serving mega-corporations that secretly spawned a national network of fake citizens’ organizations," said Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook. "These so-called citizens groups are doing the bidding of the corporate funders and are pushing at all levels to deny Americans access to the courtroom and to create a legal environment that shields corporate wrongdoers from accountability."American Tort Reform Association (ATRA): Champion of food safety?Maryann Marino’s organization, CALA,  is a state chapter of the American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) – which receives substantial financial and strategic assistance from the tobacco industry and America's biggest corporations, including Philip Morris, Dow Chemical (currently seeking approval for Agent Orange Corn), Exxon, General Electric, Aetna, Geico and Nationwide. ATRA now keeps its membership secret, but according to a 1993 American University Law Review <a href="http://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/aulr/vol42/iss4/16/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">article by P.R. Sugarman</a>, Monsanto Chemical Company, RJR/Nabisco, E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Company were among just a few of the companies and industry trade association members.  According to "Justice For Sale: Shortchanging the Public Interest for Private Gain," <a href="http://www.ratical.org/corporations/Justice4sale.html" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">a 1993 report</a> by the Alliance for Justice, "The ATRA is made up of corporation trade groups such as the National Association of Manufacturers, the Chemical Manufacturers Association, the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association -- thus giving corporations a decoy and accomplice group two full steps removed from their board rooms."In 2008, the last time they made the names of any of their members public, a list of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=ATRA#Members" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">"sample members"</a> included Kraft Foods Inc., the 3rd largest packaged food company in the U.S. Kraft opposes GMO labels, but <a href="http://www.capwiz.com/grassrootsnetroots/issues/alert/?alertid=30612501&type=CU" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">defends its use of GMOs.</a>In return for Monsanto's support, ATRA has been a relentless cheerleader for the company's lawlessness.<a href="http://www.atra.org/newsroom/alabama-supreme-court-denies-new-claim-medical-monitoring" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">ATRA applauded Monsanto</a> for skirting plaintiffs' claims for medical monitoring after Monsanto was found to have been knowingly polluting the small town of Anniston, Alabama, with dangerous levels of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs). (The residents surrounding the Monsanto plant were predominantly minorities. The first lawsuit, brought in state court, went to trial and the jury found Monsanto guilty of a variety of torts, including negligence, nuisance and trespass. This case was eventually folded into a similar federal case, concluding in a global settlement fining Monsanto $700 million for its egregious behavior toward the Anniston residents.)ATRA's publication, <a href="http://www.judicialhellholes.org/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Judicial Hellholes</a>, in a <a href="http://www.judicialhellholes.org/2012/02/28/food-eaters-1-organic-industry-0/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">post</a> titled, "Food Eaters 1, Uncompetitive Organics Industry 0," calls atrazine, the infamous <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/03/opinion/kristof-how-chemicals-change-us.html" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">endocrine-disrupting pesticide</a>, "a safe and widely used weed killer."Neither CALA nor ATRA have voiced concern about Monsanto <a href="http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/pubs/CFSMOnsantovsFarmerReport1.13.05.pdf" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">suing farmers</a> in 143 different patent infringement lawsuits when their crops were unintentionally contaminated with Monsanto's GMOs.  Marino does, however, have a problem with farmers getting together to bring one lawsuit against Monsanto to stop the harassment.Find our Common Ground: Advocating for moms and regular folks?http://www.alternet.org/story/155675/meet_the_corporate_front_groups_fighting_to_make_sure_you_can't_know_what's_in_your_food</div><a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/155675/meet_the_corporate_front_groups_fighting_to_make_sure_you_can't_know_what's_in_your_food">http://www.alternet.org/story/155675/meet_the_corporate_front_groups_fighting_to_make_sure_you_can't_know_what's_in_your_food</a>
agwatch defunct?
report:<a href="http://www.bcnys.org/inside/legalreform/2010/ATRA-Report-Beyond-Reproach.pdf" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">http://www.bcnys.org/inside/legalreform/2010/ATRA-Report-Beyond-Reproach.pdf</a>dl AGwatch<blockquote style="margin: 0px 0px 0.75em 30px; padding: 0px; line-height: 18.72px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The study, entitled <a href="http://www.agwatch.org/pdfs/beyond-reproach.pdf" style="text-decoration: none; outline: none;">Beyond Reproach? Fostering Integrity and Public Trust in the Offices of State Attorneys General</a>, examines ethical, fairness and conflict issues related to state attorneys general hiring private attorneys. It reports the findings of campaign finance research linking large donations by plaintiffs' firms and lawyers to some attorneys general who subsequently handed out state contracts potentially worth millions of dollars in fees to those same lawyers.</blockquote>The study highlights Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York and West Virginia. As ATRA's adviser, former Virginia Attorney General Jerry Kilgore, says, ""At the top of the 'to-do' list for attorneys general should be setting policies that engender stronger public confidence in the office of the attorney general - particularly in those special circumstances when the hiring of private lawyers to litigate on behalf of the state is justified. In those cases it should be done on a competitive, transparent, accountable and value-driven basis."=
Tiger Joyce Kudos to Jim Copland and all our allies at the Manhattan Institute's Center for Legal Policy. Their latest edition of Trial Lawyers Inc. (TLI) appropriately turns up the heat on certain state attorneys general (AGs), whose mutually beneficial...>Turning up the Heat on AGs and their Personal Injury Lawyer Political Patrons

OCTOBER 31, 2011 8:15 AMTiger Joyce
Kudos to Jim Copland and all our allies at the Manhattan Institute's Center for Legal Policy. Their latest edition of Trial Lawyers Inc. (TLI) appropriately turns up the heat on certain state attorneys general (AGs), whose mutually beneficial relationships with private sector personal injury lawyers raise serious ethical questions and blur the line between self-interest and the public interest. 
With increasing regularity, some AGs are hiring personal injury lawyers - often by way of a cozy, no-bid agreement ? to prosecute lawsuits on behalf of their states against deep-pocketed defendants. Resulting contingency fees can sometimes be worth hundreds of millions of dollars in state funds. TLI continues the important work of documenting these arrangements, which the Wall Street Journal and others have characterized as "pay to play," wherein outside counsel express their thanks for the lucrative legal work with generous campaign contributions to the AGs who hired them. 
My organization, the American Tort Reform Association also seeks to educate policymakers and the taxpaying public about these unsavory AG-outside counsel relationships and the need for standards of public accountability. In 2007, ATRA published its Transparency Code for AGs, comprising the following good-government principles: 
DISCLOSURE All contracts with outside counsel to perform legal work in the name of the state should be posted on the Internet for public inspection.
VALUE In every instance, the attorney general should seek to provide the highest quality services at the best value to state citizens when contracting with outside counsel. Unless an extraordinary situation requires assistance from a specific legal expert with technical or scientific experience not generally available, every effort should be made to competitively bid contracts for outside counsel.
OVERSIGHT Given that contingent fee-based contracts are often used when attorneys general are pursuing litigation that potentially has a significant public policy or regulatory impact, such contracts should be subject to review by the Legislature.
REPORTING Outside counsel providing services to the attorney general on behalf of a state's citizens and taxpayers on a contingent fee basis shall be required to disclose detailed information on the hours worked, services performed, and fees received from the state, as long as this reporting does not undermine the attorney-client privilege.
ACCOUNTABILITY All monies recovered by the attorney general in excess of $250,000 as a result of lawsuits won or settled by the state should be deposited in the state treasury for appropriation by the legislature unless a settlement with the attorney general's office stipulates that the funds shall be allocated to a specific entity. At no time, shall an attorney general enter into a settlement that allows the office of the attorney general to disseminate funds at its discretion.
A number of states have already incorporated some or all of these important principles into law, including Arizona, Indiana and Missouri just this year. And with help from the Manhattan Institute, the American Legislative Exchange Council and others, ATRA will continue to urge additional states to do the same. Tort reform group highlights AG contingency-fee dealsBY CARTER WOOD ON DECEMBER 7, 2010 1:25 PM
From the American Tort Reform Association, a news release, "National Study Documents Abuse In Contracting Practices of Certain State Attorneys General":WASHINGTON, Dec. 2, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today the American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) released a study documenting inappropriate uses of contracts between certain state attorneys general and political campaign contributors who stand to make millions by being selected to litigate cases on behalf of state governments. Some state attorneys general, in contrast, operate at the highest ethical standards, according to the report's research by ATRA's AG Agenda Watch project.The study, entitled Beyond Reproach? Fostering Integrity and Public Trust in the Offices of State Attorneys General, examines ethical, fairness and conflict issues related to state attorneys general hiring private attorneys. It reports the findings of campaign finance research linking large donations by plaintiffs' firms and lawyers to some attorneys general who subsequently handed out state contracts potentially worth millions of dollars in fees to those same lawyers.
The study highlights Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York and West Virginia. As ATRA's adviser, former Virginia Attorney General Jerry Kilgore, says, ""At the top of the 'to-do' list for attorneys general should be setting policies that engender stronger public confidence in the office of the attorney general - particularly in those special circumstances when the hiring of private lawyers to litigate on behalf of the state is justified. In those cases it should be done on a competitive, transparent, accountable and value-driven basis."
Sherman "Tiger" Joyce, ATRA's president, also gives a post-election rundown on civil justice issues in The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, "Trial Lawyer Lobby's Focus Likely To Shift To Executive Branch In 2011-2012."refd<p itemprop="articleBody" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 35px; line-height: 1.8;" benton="Benton" sans="Sans" helvetica="Helvetica" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Actions Range from Seemingly "Pay-to-Play" to Good-Government Practices<p itemprop="articleBody" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 35px; line-height: 1.8;" benton="Benton" sans="Sans" helvetica="Helvetica" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">WASHINGTON, Dec. 2, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today the American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) released a study documenting inappropriate uses of contracts between certain state attorneys general and political campaign contributors who stand to make millions by being selected to litigate cases on behalf of state governments.  Some state attorneys general, in contrast, operate at the highest ethical standards, according to the report's research by ATRA's AG Agenda Watch project.<p itemprop="articleBody" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 35px; line-height: 1.8;" benton="Benton" sans="Sans" helvetica="Helvetica" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">The study, entitled <a class="linkOnClick" data-include="111197729" target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.agwatch.org/pdfs/beyond-reproach.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">Beyond Reproach? Fostering Integrity and Public Trust in the Offices of State Attorneys General</a>, examines ethical, fairness and conflict issues related to state attorneys general hiring private attorneys. It reports the findings of campaign finance research linking large donations by plaintiffs' firms and lawyers to some attorneys general who subsequently handed out state contracts potentially worth millions of dollars in fees to those same lawyers.<p itemprop="articleBody" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 35px; line-height: 1.8;" benton="Benton" sans="Sans" helvetica="Helvetica" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">"Some members of the plaintiffs' bar have exploited their relationships with some attorneys general.  They bankroll attorneys general campaigns, which not coincidentally leads to highly lucrative state contracts that are frequently awarded without any public disclosure," observed ATRA President Sherman Joyce. "In certain states, attorneys general relationships with private attorneys appear to be highly questionable or unethical, but may be nearly impossible to trace due to state campaign finance laws.  In other states, the record of past attorney general practices contrasts with recent promises of ethics reform by state leaders – creating a cautionary tale of 'practice versus promise' that voters and good-government advocates should closely watch."<p itemprop="articleBody" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 35px; line-height: 1.8;" benton="Benton" sans="Sans" helvetica="Helvetica" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><a class="linkOnClick" data-include="111197729" target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.agwatch.org/pdfs/beyond-reproach.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">Beyond Reproach?</a> spotlights six states – Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York and West Virginia– with varying public records of attorney general and plaintiff lawyer partnerships, ranging from outright abuse to apparent impropriety to cause for concern. Collectively, events in these states point to variations of an alarming nationwide trend characterized by a cyclical flow of cash between attorneys general and plaintiffs' lawyers. This "unholy alliance" jeopardizes public trust in the attorneys' general offices across the country.<p itemprop="articleBody" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 35px; line-height: 1.8;" benton="Benton" sans="Sans" helvetica="Helvetica" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">"At the top of the 'to-do' list for attorneys general should be setting policies that engender stronger public confidence in the office of the attorney general – particularly in those special circumstances when the hiring of private lawyers to litigate on behalf of the state is justified.  In those cases it should be done on a competitive, transparent, accountable and value-driven basis," said Jerry Kilgore, the former Attorney General of Virginia and an adviser to ATRA.<p itemprop="articleBody" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 35px; line-height: 1.8;" benton="Benton" sans="Sans" helvetica="Helvetica" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">In addition to documenting abuse, <a class="linkOnClick" data-include="111197729" target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.agwatch.org/pdfs/beyond-reproach.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">Beyond Reproach?</a> also points to positive examples where reforms, policies or practices successfully govern outside counsel contracts to prevent abuse. In 2007, ATRA introduced the <a class="linkOnClick" data-include="111197729" target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.agwatch.org/transparency/index.cfm" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">Attorney General Transparency Code</a> as a system of good-government principles to serve as a guide to help state attorneys general avoid pitfalls historically associated with outside counsel contracts. The <a class="linkOnClick" data-include="111197729" target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.agwatch.org/transparency/index.cfm" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">Transparency Code</a> serves as model policy to ensure that contracts are adequately disclosed, fundamentally fair and provide value to taxpayers.<p itemprop="articleBody" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 35px; line-height: 1.8;" benton="Benton" sans="Sans" helvetica="Helvetica" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Importantly, the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) recently called attention to private attorney hiring and included the topic in an orientation session for new attorneys general at its winter meeting fromNovember 29 - December 2 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.  ATRA commends NAAG's acknowledgement of this issue and calls NAAG's decision to develop training on the use of outside counsel a step in the right direction toward safeguarding against future abuses.  <p itemprop="articleBody" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 35px; line-height: 1.8;" benton="Benton" sans="Sans" helvetica="Helvetica" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Moreover, as attorneys general work to institute sound policies in their offices, they can also serve as influential advocates for legislation to permanently codify the principles embodied in ATRA's <a class="linkOnClick" data-include="111197729" target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.agwatch.org/transparency/index.cfm" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">Transparency Code</a>. The adoption of legislation, such as the American Legislative Exchange Council's Private Attorney Retention Sunshine Act, is an additional step that can be taken to correct the problem and protect against future indiscretion.<p itemprop="articleBody" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 35px; line-height: 1.8;" benton="Benton" sans="Sans" helvetica="Helvetica" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">-ATRA-<p itemprop="articleBody" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 35px; line-height: 1.8;" benton="Benton" sans="Sans" helvetica="Helvetica" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">The American Tort Reform Association, based in Washington, D.C., is the only national organization dedicated exclusively to tort and liability reform through public education and the enactment of legislation. Its members include nonprofit organizations and small and large companies, as well as trade, business and professional associations from the state and national level.AG Agenda Watch is a project of the American Tort Reform Association that monitors the litigation and political agendas of state attorneys general who, since the mid-1990s, have increasingly, if quietly, worked with personal injury lawyers to target entire industries with lawsuits, sometimes turning accepted legal practices and theories on their heads while seeking to create public policy through the courts instead of legislatures.  At the same time, AG Agenda Watch seeks to identify exemplary ethical actions on the part of state attorneys general and make the legal community and the public aware of those best practices.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 35px; line-height: 1.8;" benton="Benton" sans="Sans" helvetica="Helvetica" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" /><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 35px; line-height: 1.8;" benton="Benton" sans="Sans" helvetica="Helvetica" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">SOURCE American Tort Reform Association<div id="linkcat-1102" class="widget widget_links" style="width: auto; padding: 10px; margin: 8px; border: 0px solid rgb(252, 218, 136); border-radius: 5px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><div class="widget-title" style="width: auto;"><h3 style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 4px; font-weight: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 1px; border-bottom: 0px solid rgb(238, 238, 238);">ATRA PROJECTS</h3></div><ul class="xoxo blogroll" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto; list-style-type: none;"><li style="display: block; margin: 2px 0px; border-left: 0px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 1px 5px 1px 12px !important; background-image: url(" http="http" www.judicialhellholes.org="www.judicialhellholes.org" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" atahualpa="atahualpa" images="images" bullets="bullets" round-gray.gif="round-gray.gif" background-attachment="background-attachment" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-position="background-position" px="px" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"><a href="http://agsunshine.com/" title="Transparency in Attorney General Contracting" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; display: inline;">AG Sunshine</a></li><li style="display: block; margin: 2px 0px; border-left: 0px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 1px 5px 1px 12px !important; background-image: url(" http="http" www.judicialhellholes.org="www.judicialhellholes.org" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" atahualpa="atahualpa" images="images" bullets="bullets" round-gray.gif="round-gray.gif" background-attachment="background-attachment" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-position="background-position" px="px" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"><a href="http://www.atra.org/" title="Since 1986, the only national organization exclusively dedicated to reforming the civil justice system. " target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; display: inline;">ATRA Website</a></li><li style="display: block; margin: 2px 0px; border-left: 0px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 1px 5px 1px 12px !important; background-image: url(" http="http" www.judicialhellholes.org="www.judicialhellholes.org" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" atahualpa="atahualpa" images="images" bullets="bullets" round-gray.gif="round-gray.gif" background-attachment="background-attachment" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-position="background-position" px="px" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"><a href="http://www.consumerlawsunhinged.org/" title="ATRA’s Consumer Protection Laws Unhinged highlights the abuses and misuses of state consumer protection acts, and calls on policy makers and judges to restore sanity to the litigation." target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; display: inline;">State Consumer Protection Laws Unhinged</a></li></ul></div><div id="linkcat-3" class="widget widget_links" style="width: auto; padding: 10px; margin: 8px; border: 0px solid rgb(252, 218, 136); border-radius: 5px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><div class="widget-title" style="width: auto;"><h3 style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 4px; font-weight: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 1px; border-bottom: 0px solid rgb(238, 238, 238);">NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS</h3></div><ul class="xoxo blogroll" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto; list-style-type: none;"><li style="display: block; margin: 2px 0px; border-left: 0px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 1px 5px 1px 12px !important; background-image: url(" http="http" www.judicialhellholes.org="www.judicialhellholes.org" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" atahualpa="atahualpa" images="images" bullets="bullets" round-gray.gif="round-gray.gif" background-attachment="background-attachment" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-position="background-position" px="px" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"><a href="https://www.alec.org/task-force/civil-justice/" title="Civil Justice Task Force" style="text-decoration: none; display: inline;">American Legislative Exchange Council</a></li><li style="display: block; margin: 2px 0px; border-left: 0px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 1px 5px 1px 12px !important; background-image: url(" http="http" www.judicialhellholes.org="www.judicialhellholes.org" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" atahualpa="atahualpa" images="images" bullets="bullets" round-gray.gif="round-gray.gif" background-attachment="background-attachment" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-position="background-position" px="px" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"><a href="http://www.atra.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; display: inline;">American Tort Reform Association</a></li><li style="display: block; margin: 2px 0px; border-left: 0px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 1px 5px 1px 12px !important; background-image: url(" http="http" www.judicialhellholes.org="www.judicialhellholes.org" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" atahualpa="atahualpa" images="images" bullets="bullets" round-gray.gif="round-gray.gif" background-attachment="background-attachment" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-position="background-position" px="px" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"><a href="http://www.lfcj.com/" style="text-decoration: none; display: inline;">Lawyers for Civil Justice</a></li><li style="display: block; margin: 2px 0px; border-left: 0px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 1px 5px 1px 12px !important; background-image: url(" http="http" www.judicialhellholes.org="www.judicialhellholes.org" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" atahualpa="atahualpa" images="images" bullets="bullets" round-gray.gif="round-gray.gif" background-attachment="background-attachment" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-position="background-position" px="px" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"><a href="https://www.manhattan-institute.org/legal-reform" style="text-decoration: none; display: inline;">Manhattan Institute</a></li><li style="display: block; margin: 2px 0px; border-left: 0px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 1px 5px 1px 12px !important; background-image: url(" http="http" www.judicialhellholes.org="www.judicialhellholes.org" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" atahualpa="atahualpa" images="images" bullets="bullets" round-gray.gif="round-gray.gif" background-attachment="background-attachment" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-position="background-position" px="px" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"><a href="http://www.nfib.com/legal-center" style="text-decoration: none; display: inline;">NFIB Small Business Legal Center</a></li><li style="display: block; margin: 2px 0px; border-left: 0px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 1px 5px 1px 12px !important; background-image: url(" http="http" www.judicialhellholes.org="www.judicialhellholes.org" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" atahualpa="atahualpa" images="images" bullets="bullets" round-gray.gif="round-gray.gif" background-attachment="background-attachment" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-position="background-position" px="px" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"><a href="http://www.plac.com/" style="text-decoration: none; display: inline;">Product Liability Advisory Council</a></li><li style="display: block; margin: 2px 0px; border-left: 0px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 1px 5px 1px 12px !important; background-image: url(" http="http" www.judicialhellholes.org="www.judicialhellholes.org" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" atahualpa="atahualpa" images="images" bullets="bullets" round-gray.gif="round-gray.gif" background-attachment="background-attachment" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-position="background-position" px="px" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"><a href="http://www.rand.org/jie/justice-policy/civil-justice.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; display: inline;">RAND Institute for Civil Justice</a></li><li style="display: block; margin: 2px 0px; border-left: 0px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 1px 5px 1px 12px !important; background-image: url(" http="http" www.judicialhellholes.org="www.judicialhellholes.org" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" atahualpa="atahualpa" images="images" bullets="bullets" round-gray.gif="round-gray.gif" background-attachment="background-attachment" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-position="background-position" px="px" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"><a href="http://www.sickoflawsuits.org/" style="text-decoration: none; display: inline;">Sick of Lawsuits</a></li><li style="display: block; margin: 2px 0px; border-left: 0px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 1px 5px 1px 12px !important; background-image: url(" http="http" www.judicialhellholes.org="www.judicialhellholes.org" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" atahualpa="atahualpa" images="images" bullets="bullets" round-gray.gif="round-gray.gif" background-attachment="background-attachment" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-position="background-position" px="px" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"><a href="http://www.instituteforlegalreform.com/" style="text-decoration: none; display: inline;">U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform</a></li><li style="display: block; margin: 2px 0px; border-left: 0px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 1px 5px 1px 12px !important; background-image: url(" http="http" www.judicialhellholes.org="www.judicialhellholes.org" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" atahualpa="atahualpa" images="images" bullets="bullets" round-gray.gif="round-gray.gif" background-attachment="background-attachment" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-position="background-position" px="px" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"><a href="http://www.wlf.org/" style="text-decoration: none; display: inline;">Washington Legal Foundation</a></li></ul></div><div id="linkcat-17" class="widget widget_links" style="width: auto; padding: 10px; margin: 8px; border: 0px solid rgb(252, 218, 136); border-radius: 5px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><div class="widget-title" style="width: auto;"><h3 style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 4px; font-weight: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 1px; border-bottom: 0px solid rgb(238, 238, 238);">STATE TORT REFORM COALITIONS</h3></div><ul class="xoxo blogroll" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto; list-style-type: none;"><li style="display: block; margin: 2px 0px; border-left: 0px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 1px 5px 1px 12px !important; background-image: url(" http="http" www.judicialhellholes.org="www.judicialhellholes.org" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" atahualpa="atahualpa" images="images" bullets="bullets" round-gray.gif="round-gray.gif" background-attachment="background-attachment" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-position="background-position" px="px" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"><a href="http://www.cjac.org/" style="text-decoration: none; display: inline;">Civil Justice Association of California</a></li><li style="display: block; margin: 2px 0px; border-left: 0px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 1px 5px 1px 12px !important; background-image: url(" http="http" www.judicialhellholes.org="www.judicialhellholes.org" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" atahualpa="atahualpa" images="images" bullets="bullets" round-gray.gif="round-gray.gif" background-attachment="background-attachment" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-position="background-position" px="px" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"><a href="http://www.ccjl.org/" style="text-decoration: none; display: inline;">Colorado Civil Justice League</a></li><li style="display: block; margin: 2px 0px; border-left: 0px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 1px 5px 1px 12px !important; background-image: url(" http="http" www.judicialhellholes.org="www.judicialhellholes.org" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" atahualpa="atahualpa" images="images" bullets="bullets" round-gray.gif="round-gray.gif" background-attachment="background-attachment" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-position="background-position" px="px" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"><a href="http://www.fljustice.org/" style="text-decoration: none; display: inline;">Florida Justice Reform Institute</a></li><li style="display: block; margin: 2px 0px; border-left: 0px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 1px 5px 1px 12px !important; background-image: url(" http="http" www.judicialhellholes.org="www.judicialhellholes.org" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" atahualpa="atahualpa" images="images" bullets="bullets" round-gray.gif="round-gray.gif" background-attachment="background-attachment" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-position="background-position" px="px" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"><a href="http://www.icjl.org/" style="text-decoration: none; display: inline;">Illinois Civil Justice League</a></li><li style="display: block; margin: 2px 0px; border-left: 0px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 1px 5px 1px 12px !important; background-image: url(" http="http" www.judicialhellholes.org="www.judicialhellholes.org" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" atahualpa="atahualpa" images="images" bullets="bullets" round-gray.gif="round-gray.gif" background-attachment="background-attachment" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-position="background-position" px="px" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"><a href="http://www.nylawsuitreform.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; display: inline;">Lawsuit Reform Alliance of NY</a></li><li style="display: block; margin: 2px 0px; border-left: 0px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 1px 5px 1px 12px !important; background-image: url(" http="http" www.judicialhellholes.org="www.judicialhellholes.org" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" atahualpa="atahualpa" images="images" bullets="bullets" round-gray.gif="round-gray.gif" background-attachment="background-attachment" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-position="background-position" px="px" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"><a href="http://www.njlra.org/" style="text-decoration: none; display: inline;">New Jersey Lawsuit Reform Alliance</a></li><li style="display: block; margin: 2px 0px; border-left: 0px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 1px 5px 1px 12px !important; background-image: url(" http="http" www.judicialhellholes.org="www.judicialhellholes.org" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" atahualpa="atahualpa" images="images" bullets="bullets" round-gray.gif="round-gray.gif" background-attachment="background-attachment" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-position="background-position" px="px" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"><a href="http://sccjc.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; display: inline;">South Carolina Civil Justice Coalition</a></li><li style="display: block; margin: 2px 0px; border-left: 0px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 1px 5px 1px 12px !important; background-image: url(" http="http" www.judicialhellholes.org="www.judicialhellholes.org" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" atahualpa="atahualpa" images="images" bullets="bullets" round-gray.gif="round-gray.gif" background-attachment="background-attachment" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-position="background-position" px="px" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"><a href="http://www.tortreform.com/" style="text-decoration: none; display: inline;">Texans for Lawsuit Reform</a></li><li style="display: block; margin: 2px 0px; border-left: 0px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 1px 5px 1px 12px !important; background-image: url(" http="http" www.judicialhellholes.org="www.judicialhellholes.org" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" atahualpa="atahualpa" images="images" bullets="bullets" round-gray.gif="round-gray.gif" background-attachment="background-attachment" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-position="background-position" px="px" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"><a href="http://www.tcjl.com/" style="text-decoration: none; display: inline;">Texas Civil Justice League</a></li><li style="display: block; margin: 2px 0px; border-left: 0px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 1px 5px 1px 12px !important; background-image: url(" http="http" www.judicialhellholes.org="www.judicialhellholes.org" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" atahualpa="atahualpa" images="images" bullets="bullets" round-gray.gif="round-gray.gif" background-attachment="background-attachment" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-position="background-position" px="px" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"><a href="http://ucjl.org/" title="Founded in 2008 the Utah Civil Justice League is your advocate for reducing excessive and abusive litigation that increases business and government expenses, discourages innovation, and drives up the cost of goods for all Utahns. We are dedicated exclusi" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; display: inline;">Utah Civil Justice League</a></li><li style="display: block; margin: 2px 0px; border-left: 0px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 1px 5px 1px 12px !important; background-image: url(" http="http" www.judicialhellholes.org="www.judicialhellholes.org" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" atahualpa="atahualpa" images="images" bullets="bullets" round-gray.gif="round-gray.gif" background-attachment="background-attachment" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-position="background-position" px="px" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"><a href="http://www.walrc.org/" style="text-decoration: none; display: inline;">Washington State Liability Reform Coalition</a></li><li style="display: block; margin: 2px 0px; border-left: 0px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 1px 5px 1px 12px !important; background-image: url(" http="http" www.judicialhellholes.org="www.judicialhellholes.org" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" atahualpa="atahualpa" images="images" bullets="bullets" round-gray.gif="round-gray.gif" background-attachment="background-attachment" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-position="background-position" px="px" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"><a href="http://www.wisciviljusticecouncil.org/" style="text-decoration: none; display: inline;">Wisconsin Civil Justice Council</a></li></ul></div><div id="linkcat-18" class="widget widget_links" style="width: auto; padding: 10px; margin: 8px; border: 0px solid rgb(252, 218, 136); border-radius: 5px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><div class="widget-title" style="width: auto;"><h3 style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 4px; font-weight: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 1px; border-bottom: 0px solid rgb(238, 238, 238);">CITIZENS AGAINST LAWSUIT ABUSE</h3></div><ul class="xoxo blogroll" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto; list-style-type: none;"><li style="display: block; margin: 2px 0px; border-left: 0px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 1px 5px 1px 12px !important; background-image: url(" http="http" www.judicialhellholes.org="www.judicialhellholes.org" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" atahualpa="atahualpa" images="images" bullets="bullets" round-gray.gif="round-gray.gif" background-attachment="background-attachment" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-position="background-position" px="px" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"><a href="http://www.bacala.net/" style="text-decoration: none; display: inline;">Bay Area CALA</a></li><li style="display: block; margin: 2px 0px; border-left: 0px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 1px 5px 1px 12px !important; background-image: url(" http="http" www.judicialhellholes.org="www.judicialhellholes.org" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" atahualpa="atahualpa" images="images" bullets="bullets" round-gray.gif="round-gray.gif" background-attachment="background-attachment" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-position="background-position" px="px" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"><a href="http://www.cala.com/" style="text-decoration: none; display: inline;">California CALA</a></li><li style="display: block; margin: 2px 0px; border-left: 0px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 1px 5px 1px 12px !important; background-image: url(" http="http" www.judicialhellholes.org="www.judicialhellholes.org" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" atahualpa="atahualpa" images="images" bullets="bullets" round-gray.gif="round-gray.gif" background-attachment="background-attachment" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-position="background-position" px="px" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"><a href="http://www.calactx.com/" style="text-decoration: none; display: inline;">Central Texas CALA</a></li><li style="display: block; margin: 2px 0px; border-left: 0px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 1px 5px 1px 12px !important; background-image: url(" http="http" www.judicialhellholes.org="www.judicialhellholes.org" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" atahualpa="atahualpa" images="images" bullets="bullets" round-gray.gif="round-gray.gif" background-attachment="background-attachment" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-position="background-position" px="px" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"><a href="http://www.legalwatchdog.org/" style="text-decoration: none; display: inline;">East Texans Against Lawsuit Abuse</a></li><li style="display: block; margin: 2px 0px; border-left: 0px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 1px 5px 1px 12px !important; background-image: url(" http="http" www.judicialhellholes.org="www.judicialhellholes.org" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" atahualpa="atahualpa" images="images" bullets="bullets" round-gray.gif="round-gray.gif" background-attachment="background-attachment" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-position="background-position" px="px" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"><a href="http://www.calahouston.org/" style="text-decoration: none; display: inline;">Houston CALA</a></li><li style="display: block; margin: 2px 0px; border-left: 0px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 1px 5px 1px 12px !important; background-image: url(" http="http" www.judicialhellholes.org="www.judicialhellholes.org" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" atahualpa="atahualpa" images="images" bullets="bullets" round-gray.gif="round-gray.gif" background-attachment="background-attachment" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-position="background-position" px="px" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"><a href="http://www.illawsuitabusewatch.org/" title="Illinois Lawsuit Abuse Watch" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; display: inline;">Illinois Lawsuit Abuse Watch</a></li><li style="display: block; margin: 2px 0px; border-left: 0px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 1px 5px 1px 12px !important; background-image: url(" http="http" www.judicialhellholes.org="www.judicialhellholes.org" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" atahualpa="atahualpa" images="images" bullets="bullets" round-gray.gif="round-gray.gif" background-attachment="background-attachment" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-position="background-position" px="px" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"><a href="http://llaw.covalentwords.com/" title="Louisiana Lawsuit Abuse Watch (LLAW) is a local non-partisan, nonprofit, citizen watchdog group dedicated to stopping lawsuit abuse that hurts Louisiana’s families and threatens local businesses and jobs." target="_blank" style="text-decoration: none; display: inline;">Louisiana Lawsuit Abuse Watch</a></li><li style="display: block; margin: 2px 0px; border-left: 0px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 1px 5px 1px 12px !important; background-image: url(" http="http" www.judicialhellholes.org="www.judicialhellholes.org" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" atahualpa="atahualpa" images="images" bullets="bullets" round-gray.gif="round-gray.gif" background-attachment="background-attachment" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-position="background-position" px="px" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"><a href="http://www.minnesotansala.nonprofitoffice.com/" style="text-decoration: none; display: inline;">Minnesotans for Lawsuit Reform</a></li><li style="display: block; margin: 2px 0px; border-left: 0px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 1px 5px 1px 12px !important; background-image: url(" http="http" www.judicialhellholes.org="www.judicialhellholes.org" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" atahualpa="atahualpa" images="images" bullets="bullets" round-gray.gif="round-gray.gif" background-attachment="background-attachment" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-position="background-position" px="px" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"><a href="http://www.tala.com/" style="text-decoration: none; display: inline;">Texans Against Lawsuit Abuse</a></li><li style="display: block; margin: 2px 0px; border-left: 0px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 1px 5px 1px 12px !important; background-image: url(" http="http" www.judicialhellholes.org="www.judicialhellholes.org" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" atahualpa="atahualpa" images="images" bullets="bullets" round-gray.gif="round-gray.gif" background-attachment="background-attachment" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-position="background-position" px="px" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"><a href="http://www.wvcala.org/" style="text-decoration: none; display: inline;">West Virginia CALA</a></li></ul></div>bs 8/16Thanks to Governor Nixon’s Vetoes, Missouri Remains the ‘Show Me Your Lawsuits State’Tiger JoyceOwned and operated by personal injury lawyers, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon yesterday vetoed two bipartisan tort reform bills that could have helped make civil litigation a little more fair in his notorious Judicial Hellhole . . . ? Read More: Thanks to Governor Nixon’s Vetoes, Missouri Remains the ‘Show Me Your Lawsuits State’
 COMMENTS ARE CLOSED    JUDICIAL HELLHOLES    "SHOW ME YOUR LAWSUITS STATE", 847, AMERICAN TORT REFORM ASSOCIATION, GOV. JAY NIXON. DANIEL P. MEHAN, MISSOURI, MISSOURI CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, SENATE BILL, SENATE BILL 591, TIGER JOYCE, VETOES  MARCH 3RD, 2016ATRA Praises Longtime California Ally, John SullivanThe American Tort Reform Association today offered condolences to the family and colleagues of a longtime tort reform ally in California, John H. Sullivan, who lost a courageous battle with cancer last week at the age of 73 . . . ? Read More: ATRA Praises Longtime California Ally, John Sullivan
 COMMENTS ARE CLOSED    UNCATEGORIZED    ATRA, CJAC, CONDOLENCES, JOHN H. SULLIVAN, TIGER JOYCE  FEBRUARY 10TH, 2016ATRA: NY Assembly’s Anti-Arbitration Bills ‘Driven by Trial Lawyers and Lopsided Media Coverage’The American Tort Reform Association today criticized elements of the New York State Assembly for pursuing legislation that, at the behest of the politically powerful plaintiffs’ bar, would make fair, quick and relatively inexpensive dispute arbitration more costly and less accessible for consumers and businesses, contrary to federal law . . . ? Read More: ATRA: NY Assembly’s Anti-Arbitration Bills ‘Driven by Trial Lawyers and Lopsided Media Coverage’
 COMMENTS ARE CLOSED    JUDICIAL HELLHOLES    A.B. 108 AND A.B. 8191, ANTI-ARBITRATION LEGISLATION, ATRA, NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY, NEW YORK TIMES, SHELDON SILVER, TIGER JOYCE  SEPTEMBER 30TH, 2015New Report Unearths ‘Trial Lawyer Underground’Hoping to inspire Congress, 2016 presidential candidates and the media to pay closer attention to the lawsuit industry’s extraordinary access to and influence with Obama administration regulators, the American Tort Reform Association and the U.S. Chamber’s Institute for Legal Reform today released “The Trial Lawyer Underground: Covertly Lobbying the Executive Branch,” a report documenting a nearly seven-year expansion of civil liability at the expense of investment, innovation and economic competitiveness . . . ? Read More: New Report Unearths ‘Trial Lawyer Underground’
 COMMENTS ARE CLOSED    UNCATEGORIZED    ATRA, ILR, OBAMA ADMINISTRATION, TIGER JOYCE, TRIAL LAWYER UNDERGOUND  JUNE 12TH, 2015ATRA Calls Albany’s ‘Bad Faith’ Bill ‘Another Tone-Deaf Gift to Trial Lawyers’With former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver facing federal corruption charges in connection with questionable asbestos litigation, the American Tort Reform Association today urged Albany lawmakers to “promptly kill an insurance litigation bill that would open yet another lucrative line of business for personal injury lawyers at the expense of New York consumers and jobseekers.” . . . ? Read More: ATRA Calls Albany’s ‘Bad Faith’ Bill ‘Another Tone-Deaf Gift to Trial Lawyers’
 COMMENTS ARE CLOSED    JUDICIAL HELLHOLES    ATRA, BAD FAITH LITIGATION, INSURANCE LAW, NEW YORK, PREET BHARARA, SHELDON SILVER, TIGER JOYCE  JANUARY 14TH, 2015Citing Latest Bombshell Allegations of Trial-Lawyer Fraud, ATRA Urges Congress, DOJ to InvestigateIn light of a stunning defense motion filed today in a West Virginia federal court, alleging massive fraud on the part of plaintiffs’ lawyers in their aggressive recruitment of clients for pelvic mesh litigation, the American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) renewed its call on Congress, prosecutors and bar associations to investigate and prosecute those who defraud the civil justice system . . . ? Read More: Citing Latest Bombshell Allegations of Trial-Lawyer Fraud, ATRA Urges Congress, DOJ to Investigate
 COMMENTS ARE CLOSED    JUDICIAL HELLHOLES    ATRA, JOHNSON & JOHNSON SUBSIDIARY ETHICON, PELVIC MESH MDL, TIGER JOYCE, U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE JOSEPH R. GOODWIN, WEST VIRGINIA  AUGUST 18TH, 2014ATRA Disappointed Again by Alabama High Court’s Unprecedented ‘Innovator Liability’ DecisionAs the Supreme Court of Alabama on Friday reaffirmed its earlier, first-and-only-in-the-nation state high court embrace of an expansive theory of civil liability known as “innovator liability,” the American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) condemned the 6-3 decision, saying “the court majority denies the broader and dangerous implications of this decision, but it’s as disappointing as the first” . . . ? Read More: ATRA Disappointed Again by Alabama High Court’s Unprecedented ‘Innovator Liability’ Decision
 COMMENTS ARE CLOSED    JUDICIAL HELLHOLES    AMERICAN TORT REFORM ASSOCIATION, INNIVATOR LIABILITY, SUPREME COURT OF ALABAMA, TIGER JOYCE, WYETH V. WEEKS  OCTOBER 17TH, 2013Using RICO to Punish, Deter Plaintiffs’ Lawyer-Driven Fraud on Our CourtsThe Pittsburgh Post-Gazette this morning published American Tort Reform Association president Tiger Joyce’s op-ed, holding up the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act as a means to discourage plaintiffs’ lawyers from promulgating fraudulent lawsuits . . . ? Read More: Using RICO to Punish, Deter Plaintiffs’ Lawyer-Driven Fraud on Our Courts
 COMMENTS ARE CLOSED    UNCATEGORIZED    ASBESTOS, CHEVRON, CSX, FRAUD, PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, RICO, STEVEN DONZIGER, TIGER JOYCE  JUNE 5TH, 2013Another Oklahoma DisasterReacting to news that the Oklahoma Supreme Court has, by a vote of 7-2, struck down a comprehensive package of civil justice reforms enacted by overwhelming majorities of elected lawmakers and the governor in 2009, the American Tort Reform Association today criticized the court majority for “disrespecting both the legislators’ hard-won compromises and the will of voters who had endorsed the judgment of those legislators.” . . . ? Read More: Another Oklahoma Disaster
 COMMENTS ARE CLOSED    JUDICIAL HELLHOLES    COMPREHENSIVE TORT REFORN STATUTE, DOUGLAS V. COX RETIREMENT PROPERTIES, INC., OKLAHOMA SUPREME COURT, TIGER JOYCE  MAY 21ST, 2013ATRA Ally Calls out Louisiana Attorney General for Pay-to-Play ‘Buddy Sytem’An investigative report by a New Orleans television station has turned up the heat on Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell and his so-called “Buddy System,” wherein his big campaign contributors not so coincidentally get the lion’s share of no-bid contracts for litigation work on behalf of the state . . . ? Read More: ATRA Ally Calls out Louisiana Attorney General for Pay-to-Play ‘Buddy Sytem’
 COMMENTS ARE CLOSED    JUDICIAL HELLHOLES    BUDDY CALDWELL, DAVID HAMMER, LOUISIANA, MELISSA LANDRY, TIGER JOYCE, WWL-TV  OCTOBER 24TH, 2012ATRA’s ‘Hellholes’ Program Recognized by Chamber’s ILRThe U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform (ILR) today recognized the American Tort Reform Association’s “Judicial Hellholes” program for its effectiveness in spotlighting problems in notoriously unfair civil court jurisdictions . . . ? Read More: ATRA’s ‘Hellholes’ Program Recognized by Chamber’s ILR
 COMMENTS ARE CLOSED    UNCATEGORIZED    ATRA, INSITUTE FOR LEGAL REFORM, LISA RICKARD, RESEARCH AND POLICY AWARD, TIGER JOYCE  AUGUST 1ST, 2012ATRA Critical of Missouri High Court Decision Striking Down Limits on Noneconomic DamagesReacting to the Missouri Supreme Court’s 4-3 decision yesterday to strike down a legislated limit of $350,000 for pain and suffering awards in medical liability lawsuits, ATRA today issued a news release, saying the court’s “activist majority has sided with personal injury lawyers over doctors and hospitals” . . . ? Read More: ATRA Critical of Missouri High Court Decision Striking Down Limits on Noneconomic Damages
 COMMENTS ARE CLOSED    JUDICIAL HELLHOLES    MEDICAL LIABILITY, MISSOURI SUPREME COURT, NONECONOMIC DAMAGES, TIGER JOYCE, WATTS V. COX  MAY 23RD, 2012ATRA Lauds Mississippi’s ‘Sunshine Act’Mississippi has now enacted a reform law that will keep present and future attorneys general and other state officials from hiring their friends and political supporters to do legal work without appropriate scrutiny and accountability . . . ? Read More: ATRA Lauds Mississippi’s ‘Sunshine Act’
 COMMENTS ARE CLOSED    POINTS OF LIGHT    JIM HOOD, MISSISSIPPI, PHIL BRYANT, SUNSHIINE ACT, TIGER JOYCE  FEBRUARY 6TH, 2012New Data Add to ‘Hellholes’ Case Against Philadelphia’s ‘Complex Litigation Center’Nearly 7 in 10 lawsuits Filed in Philadelphia’s plaintiff-friendly Complex Litigation Center have no connection to the city or to Pennsylvania, more broadly . . . ? Read More: New Data Add to ‘Hellholes’ Case Against Philadelphia’s ‘Complex Litigation Center’
 COMMENTS ARE CLOSED    JUDICIAL HELLHOLES    ASBESTOS CLAIMS, COMPLEX LITIGATION CENTER, INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR LAW & ECONOMICS, LITIGATION TOURISM, PENNSYLVANIA, PHILADELPHIA, TIGER JOYCE  AUGUST 24TH, 2011Will Surging Patent Litigation Make Eastern Texas the First Federal Court District to Be Declared a ‘Judicial Hellhole’?Echoing growing concerns voiced by the high-tech and finanacial service sectors, ATRA president Tiger Joyce’s August 24 letter to the editor in the Wall Street Journal criticizes the patent troll-friendly federal courts in the Eastern District of Texas . . . ? Read More: Will Surging Patent Litigation Make Eastern Texas the First Federal Court District to Be Declared a ‘Judicial Hellhole’?
 COMMENTS ARE CLOSED    JUDICIAL HELLHOLES    EASTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS, PATENT TROLLS, TIGER JOYCE, WALL STREET JOURNAL  <h1 class="title" id="page-title" style="outline: none; margin: 20px 0px; padding: 0px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Fact Sheet: American Tort Reform Association</h1><div class="tabs" style="outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="region region-content" style="outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div id="block-system-main" class="block block-system " style="outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="content" style="outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div id="node-1262" class="node node-documents node-full clearfix" style="outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="meta submitted" style="outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><div class="content clearfix" style="outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden" style="outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="field-items" style="outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="field-item even" style="outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) is a Washington-DC-based group that was formed in 1986 to represent hundreds of U.S. and foreign corporations in their bid to overhaul civil liability laws at the state and national levels.<ul style="outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 35px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: outside;"><li class="style1" style="outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 5px;">ATRA's members are largely Fortune 500 companies with a direct financial stake in restricting lawsuits. Members have included representatives of the tobacco, insurance, chemical, auto and pharmaceutical industries. Corporate giants like Philip Morris, Dow Chemical, Exxon, General Electric, Aetna, Geico and Nationwide have all supported ATRA. Gannon, Tort Deform - Lethal Bedfellows, Essential Information, 1995, pp. 23-25. Legal Times also reported that, "most of [ATRA's] funding comes from large corporate donors. Insurance firms … are each good for $50,000 or $75,000, one unnamed lobbyist familiar with the Association told the publication." "Proponents of Reform," Legal Times, April 17, 1995, cited in Silverstein, Smoke & Mirrors, Public Citizen Congress Watch, 1996, p. 11.  </li><li class="style1" style="outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 5px;">The tobacco industry has supported ATRA, directly through Philip Morris, and indirectly through Covington & Burling, the law firm for the now-defunct Tobacco Institute and other major tobacco companies. Newly released documents from the Tobacco Archives show that in 1995, the tobacco industry allocated nearly $5.5 million for ATRA, more than half of ATRA's $10.2 million budget according to the Associated Press. The documents also show that Covington & Burling acted as a funnel for much of this tobacco industry money, which was then paid out to other organizations. "Report Says Tobacco Industry Quietly Backed Tort Reform," Associated Press, February 21, 1999; Tort Reform Project Budget, Covington & Burling, October 3, 1995, Document #2041201160 et seq. The budget indicates that by October 3, the project had already given about $3 million to ATRA.  </li><li class="style1" style="outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 5px;">Although sponsored by major industries, ATRA has worked hard to present a dramatically different public image of itself. While John Gannon reported in 1995 that not one of ATRA's 300 organizational members included an organization devoted to representing workers, homeowners or average citizens, ATRA calls its members "the average citizen looking for an end to the threat of being sued." ATRA wrote in an early fundraising letter, "ATRA is not a wealthy special-interest group backed by vast cash resources." Its literature mentions its "large and very diverse membership, consisting of … non-profits, public agencies, professional societies, trade associations, large corporations and small businesses." (For a copy of their 1989 membership list and steering committee, the latest year available, contact CJ&D).</li></ul></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>http://centerjd.org/content/fact-sheet-american-tort-reform-association=
ironically, nothing on souceWATCH?

American Tort Reform Association is a coalition of medical professional associations and various industry groups -- such as from the chemical, tobacco and drug industries -- promoting changes to U.S legislation to limit corporate and professional liability for damage caused by their products and services. It had revenues of $6.1 million in 2009. It's president in 2009 was <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Sherman_Joyce&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Sherman Joyce (page does not exist)">Sherman Joyce</a>. In 2009, the firm reported paying almost $1.2 million to the PR firm <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=APCO_Worldwide" title="APCO Worldwide">APCO Worldwide</a> for "consulting," $544,000 to the corporate law firm <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Shook,Hardy%26_Bacon" title="Shook, Hardy & Bacon">Shook, Hardy & Bacon</a> for "lobbying," and a total of $1.17 million for lobbying, although the organization claims. Sherman Joyce's compensation and benefits package totaled over $405,000 in 2009.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tort_Reform_Association#cite_note-0" title="">[1]</a>

<h2>Contents</h2>

[<a href="javascript:toggleToc()" class="internal" id="togglelink">hide</a>]</div>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tort_Reform_Association#History_and_formation">1 History and formation</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tort_Reform_Association#Description">2 Description</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tort_Reform_Association#Lobbying_Efforts">3 Lobbying Efforts</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tort_Reform_Association#Members">4 Members</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tort_Reform_Association#Personnel">5 Personnel</a>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tort_Reform_Association#Staff">5.1 Staff</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tort_Reform_Association#Contact_details">6 Contact details</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tort_Reform_Association#SourceWatch_resources">7 SourceWatch resources</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tort_Reform_Association#External_resources">8 External resources</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tort_Reform_Association#References">9 References</a></li></ul></td></tr></tbody></table>

<h2>History and formation</h2>

<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Philip_Morris" title="Philip Morris" class="mw-redirect">Philip Morris</a> hired <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=APCO_Worldwide" title="APCO Worldwide">APCO Worldwide</a> to manage a massive national effort aimed at altering the American judicial system to be more hostile towards product liability suits ("Tort Reform"). <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Tort_reform" title="Tort reform">Tort reform</a> was an internal corporate program of Philip Morris, who led other companies into the plan. According to a 1995 Philip Morris Tort Reform Budget, the industry paid APCO Associates almost $1 million in 1995 to implement behind-the-scenes tort reform efforts. APCO's job was to create chapters of "grassroots" citizens' groups called <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Citizens_Against_Lawsuit_Abuse" title="Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse">Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse</a> (CALAs). The budget shows the tobacco industry alone budgeted $21.8 million to fund the tort reform effort in the single year of 1995.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tort_Reform_Association#cite_note-1" title="">[2]</a>

</a><h2><a name="Description" id="Description">Description</a></h2>

<a name="Description" id="Description">ATRA was purportedly co-founded in 1986 by the </a><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Medical_Association" title="American Medical Association">American Medical Association</a> and the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Council_of_Engineering_Companies&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="American Council of Engineering Companies (page does not exist)">American Council of Engineering Companies</a> as a non-profit organization based on promoting tort & liability reform through public education and legislative action. In particular ATRA lobbies for limits on class actions, abolition of the "rule of joint and several liability", limits on punitive and non-economic damages and "<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Sound_science" title="Sound science">sound science</a> in the courtroom."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tort_Reform_Association#cite_note-ATRA_At_a_Glance-2" title="">[3]</a>

On its website ATRA compalins that personal injury lawsuits "are bad for business; they are also bad for society. They compromise access to affordable health care, punish consumers by raising the cost of goods and services, chill innovation, and undermine the notion of personal responsibility. The personal injury lawyers who benefit from the status quo use their fees to perpetuate the cycle of lawsuit abuse. They have reinvested millions of dollars into the political process and in more litigation that acts as a drag on our economy."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tort_Reform_Association#cite_note-ATRA_At_a_Glance-2" title="">[3]</a>

Public material published to support these positions include an annual list of "<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Judicial_Hellholes" title="Judicial Hellholes">Judicial Hellholes</a>" outlining areas that they find to favor plaintiffs.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tort_Reform_Association#cite_note-3" title="">[4]</a>

ATRA has developed model tort reform laws (The Times 6/12/94).

<h2>Lobbying Efforts</h2>

In the first two quarters of 2012, ATRA spent $20,000 lobbying to support the Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act of 2011, and the House companion bill, HR 966, as well as the Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency (FACT) Act of 2012, They also lobbied in support of the "Help Efficient, Accessible, Low-cost, Timely Healthcare (HEALTH) Act of 2011", They lobbied to oppose the Sunshine in Litigation Act of 2011 and the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paycheck_Fairness_Act" title="Paycheck Fairness Act">Paycheck Fairness Act</a>.

The American Tort Reform Association Spent $80,000 on lobbying efforts in 2008, $90,000 in 2009, $40,000 in 2010, and $40,000 in 2011. ATRA does most of its lobbying itself, but also contracts out to notorious lobby-shop <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Shook,Hardy,%26_Bacon&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Shook, Hardy, & Bacon (page does not exist)">Shook, Hardy, & Bacon</a>.

<h2>Members</h2>

On its website ATRA does not include a full list of members but provides only a "sample" list of members. These members, as of July 2012, are:<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tort_Reform_Association#cite_note-4" title="">[5]</a>

<ul>

<li>AEGIS Insurance Services</li>

<li>Advance Medical Technology Association</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Altria_Group" title="Altria Group">Altria Client Services</a></li>

<li>American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons</li>

<li>American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists</li>

<li>American Institute of Architects</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Insurance_Association" title="American Insurance Association">American Insurance Association</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Legislative_Exchange_Council" title="American Legislative Exchange Council">American Legislative Exchange Council</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Medical_Association" title="American Medical Association">American Medical Association</a></li>

<li>American Suzuki Motor Company</li>

<li>American Trucking Associations</li>

<li>Associated Wire Rope Fabricators</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bayer" title="Bayer">Bayer</a> Pharmaceutical Corporation</li>

<li>CNA Financial Corporation</li>

<li>CSX Corporation</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Caterpillar" title="Caterpillar">Caterpillar</a></li>

<li>Chrysler Group</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Coca-Cola_Company" title="Coca-Cola Company">Cocal-Cola Bottlers’ Association</a></li>

<li>Cybex International</li>

<li>Doctors' Company</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Eli_Lilly" title="Eli Lilly">Eli Lilly</a> and Company</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Farmers_Insurance_Co." title="Farmers Insurance Co.">Farmers Insurance Co.</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ford" title="Ford">Ford</a> Motor Company</li>

<li>Emerson Electric Company</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=ExxonMobil" title="ExxonMobil" class="mw-redirect">ExxonMobil</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=General_Electric" title="General Electric">General Electric</a></li>

<li>Great American Insurance Companies</li>

<li>Hyundai Motor America</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Johnson_%26_Johnson" title="Johnson & Johnson">Johnson & Johnson</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Koch_Industries" title="Koch Industries">Koch Industries</a>, Inc.</li>

<li>Medical Mutual</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Merck" title="Merck">Merck</a> & Company</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=MetLife" title="MetLife">MetLife</a></li>

<li>Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association</li>

<li>National Association of Home Builders</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Federation_of_Independent_Business" title="National Federation of Independent Business">National Federation of Independent Business</a></li>

<li>National Fuel Gas Distribution</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Nationwide" title="Nationwide">Nationwide</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Pfizer" title="Pfizer" class="mw-redirect">Pfizer</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Pharmaceutical_Research_and_Manufacturers_of_America" title="Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America">Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America</a></li>

<li>Physician Insurers Association of America</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=PPG_Industries" title="PPG Industries">PPG Industries</a></li>

<li>Preferred Physician Medical</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Prudential_Financial" title="Prudential Financial">Prudential Insurance Company of America</a></li>

<li>SeamCraft, Inc.</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Shell" title="Shell">Shell</a> Oil Company</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=State_Farm" title="State Farm">State Farm</a></li>

<li>Taussig Corporation</li>

<li>Unimin Corporation</li>

</ul>

As of March 2008, the "sample list" was slightly different:<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tort_Reform_Association#cite_note-5" title="">[6]</a>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=3M" title="3M">3M</a> Company</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Altria_Corporate_Services&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Altria Corporate Services (page does not exist)">Altria Corporate Services</a>/*<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Kraft_Foods" title="Kraft Foods" class="mw-redirect">Kraft Foods</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Advance_Medical_Technology_Association&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Advance Medical Technology Association (page does not exist)">Advance Medical Technology Association</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Academy_of_Orthopaedic_Surgeons&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (page does not exist)">American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Association_of_Neurological_Surgeons&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="American Association of Neurological Surgeons (page does not exist)">American Association of Neurological Surgeons</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Blood_Centers&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="American Blood Centers (page does not exist)">American Blood Centers</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Chemistry_Council" title="American Chemistry Council">American Chemistry Council</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_College_of_Obstetricians_%26_Gynecologists&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists (page does not exist)">American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_College_of_Surgeons&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="American College of Surgeons (page does not exist)">American College of Surgeons</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Council_of_Engineering_Companies&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="American Council of Engineering Companies (page does not exist)">American Council of Engineering Companies</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Furniture_Warehouse&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="American Furniture Warehouse (page does not exist)">American Furniture Warehouse</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Health_Care_Association&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="American Health Care Association (page does not exist)">American Health Care Association</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Institute_of_Architects&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="American Institute of Architects (page does not exist)">American Institute of Architects</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Society_of_Mechanical_Engineers&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="American Society of Mechanical Engineers (page does not exist)">American Society of Mechanical Engineers</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Anheuser_Busch_Companies&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Anheuser Busch Companies (page does not exist)">Anheuser Busch Companies</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Associated_Wire_Rope_Fabricators&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Associated Wire Rope Fabricators (page does not exist)">Associated Wire Rope Fabricators</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Baxter" title="Baxter">Baxter</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Boeing" title="Boeing">Boeing</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bunn_Brothers&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Bunn Brothers (page does not exist)">Bunn Brothers</a> Ltd</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Caterpillar" title="Caterpillar">Caterpillar</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=City_of_New_York_Law_Department&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="City of New York Law Department (page does not exist)">City of New York Law Department</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Cooper_Industries&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Cooper Industries (page does not exist)">Cooper Industries</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Court_Security_Systems&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Court Security Systems (page does not exist)">Court Security Systems</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=CSX_Transportation" title="CSX Transportation" class="mw-redirect">CSX Transportation</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=DaimlerChrysler_Corporation&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="DaimlerChrysler Corporation (page does not exist)">DaimlerChrysler Corporation</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Defense_Research_Institute&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Defense Research Institute (page does not exist)">Defense Research Institute</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Delmar_Emergency_Specialists&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Delmar Emergency Specialists (page does not exist)">Delmar Emergency Specialists</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=DeWald_Northwest_Company&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="DeWald Northwest Company (page does not exist)">DeWald Northwest Company</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=DiaDexus&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="DiaDexus (page does not exist)">diaDexus</a>, Inc.</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Doctor%27s_Company&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Doctor's Company (page does not exist)">Doctor's Company</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Erickson_Retirement_Communities&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Erickson Retirement Communities (page does not exist)">Erickson Retirement Communities</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Harleysville_Insurance_Companies&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Harleysville Insurance Companies (page does not exist)">Harleysville Insurance Companies</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Juvenile_Products_Manufacturers&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Juvenile Products Manufacturers (page does not exist)">Juvenile Products Manufacturers</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Johnson_%26_Johnson" title="Johnson & Johnson">Johnson & Johnson</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Kenyon_Plastering&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Kenyon Plastering (page does not exist)">Kenyon Plastering</a>, Inc.</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Koch_Industries" title="Koch Industries">Koch Industries</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Lovell_Safety_Management&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Lovell Safety Management (page does not exist)">Lovell Safety Management</a> Co.</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Manhattan_Orthopaedics&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Manhattan Orthopaedics (page does not exist)">Manhattan Orthopaedics</a>, PC</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=NCH_Corporation&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="NCH Corporation (page does not exist)">NCH Corporation</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Association_of_Home_Builders&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="National Association of Home Builders (page does not exist)">National Association of Home Builders</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Federation_of_Independent_Businesses&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="National Federation of Independent Businesses (page does not exist)">National Federation of Independent Businesses</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Fuel_Gas_Distribution_Corporation&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="National Fuel Gas Distribution Corporation (page does not exist)">National Fuel Gas Distribution Corporation</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=New_York_Blood_Centers&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="New York Blood Centers (page does not exist)">New York Blood Centers</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=New_York_Life_Insurance&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="New York Life Insurance (page does not exist)">New York Life Insurance</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Nexcare_Heathcare_Systems&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Nexcare Heathcare Systems (page does not exist)">Nexcare Heathcare Systems</a> LLC</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=PPM_Services&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="PPM Services (page does not exist)">PPM Services</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Pennsylvania_Medical_Society&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Pennsylvania Medical Society (page does not exist)">Pennsylvania Medical Society</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Pfizer" title="Pfizer" class="mw-redirect">Pfizer</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Pharmaceutical_Research_and_Manufacturers_of_America" title="Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America">Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Physician_Insurers_Association_of_America&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Physician Insurers Association of America (page does not exist)">Physician Insurers Association of America</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Rio_Grande_Valley_Chamber&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Rio Grande Valley Chamber (page does not exist)">Rio Grande Valley Chamber</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Roller_Skating_Association&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Roller Skating Association (page does not exist)">Roller Skating Association</a>, Intl.</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Scandia_Family_Fun_Center&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Scandia Family Fun Center (page does not exist)">Scandia Family Fun Center</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=SeamCraft&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="SeamCraft (page does not exist)">SeamCraft</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Small_Aircraft_Manufacturers_Association&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Small Aircraft Manufacturers Association (page does not exist)">Small Aircraft Manufacturers Association</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=SnowSports_Industries_America&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="SnowSports Industries America (page does not exist)">SnowSports Industries America</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=State_Farm" title="State Farm">State Farm</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Taussig_Corporation&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Taussig Corporation (page does not exist)">Taussig Corporation</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=TRW_Automotive&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="TRW Automotive (page does not exist)">TRW Automotive</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Wood_Machinery_Manufacturers_of_America&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Wood Machinery Manufacturers of America (page does not exist)">Wood Machinery Manufacturers of America</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Wyeth" title="Wyeth" class="mw-redirect">Wyeth</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Z-World&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Z-World (page does not exist)">Z-World</a> Inc.</li>

</ul>

<h2>Personnel</h2>

</a><h3><a name="Staff" id="Staff">Staff</a></h3>

<a name="Staff" id="Staff">As of March 2008, ATRA staff include</a><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tort_Reform_Association#cite_note-6" title="">[7]</a>:

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Sherman_Joyce&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Sherman Joyce (page does not exist)">Sherman Joyce</a>, President</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Darren_McKinney&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Darren McKinney (page does not exist)">Darren McKinney</a>, Director of Communications</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Matt_Fullenbaum&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Matt Fullenbaum (page does not exist)">Matt Fullenbaum</a>, Director of Legislation</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Elizabeth_Emery&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Elizabeth Emery (page does not exist)">Elizabeth Emery</a>, Assistant Director of Legislation</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Gretchen_S._Post&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Gretchen S. Post (page does not exist)">Gretchen S. Post</a>, Executive Assistant and Office Manager</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Geneva_Carney&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Geneva Carney (page does not exist)">Geneva Carney</a>, Membership Coordinator</li>

</ul>

</a><h2><a name="Contact_details" id="Contact_details">Contact details</a></h2>

<a name="Contact_details" id="Contact_details">American Tort Reform Association

1101 Connecticut Avenue, NW

Suite 400

Washington, DC 20036

Phone: 202 682-1163

Fax 202 682-1022

Website: </a><a href="http://www.atra.org/" class="external free" title="http://www.atra.org/" rel="nofollow">http://www.atra.org/</a>

<h2>SourceWatch resources</h2>

<h2>External resources</h2>

<ul>

<li>ATRA's <a href="http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments//2009/521/464/2009-521464785-06917391-9O.pdf" class="external text" title="http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments//2009/521/464/2009-521464785-06917391-9O.pdf" rel="nofollow">2009 IRS Form 990</a> (pdf, from Guidestar)</li>

</ul>

<h2>References</h2>

<li id="cite_note-0"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tort_Reform_Association#cite_ref-0" title="">↑</a> American Tort Reform Association/Internal Revenue Service/Guidestar <a href="http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments//2009/521/464/2009-521464785-06917391-9O.pdf" class="external text" title="http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments//2009/521/464/2009-521464785-06917391-9O.pdf" rel="nofollow">2009 IRS Form 990</a>, government reporting form, accessed January 25,2012</li>

<li id="cite_note-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tort_Reform_Association#cite_ref-1" title="">↑</a> Covington & Burling <a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/khu28d00" class="external text" title="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/khu28d00" rel="nofollow">Tort Reform Project Budget</a>, Budget, October 3, 1995, Bates No. 2047648299/8307</li>

<li id="cite_note-ATRA_At_a_Glance-2">↑ <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tort_Reform_Association#cite_ref-ATRA_At_a_Glance_2-0" title="">3.0</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tort_Reform_Association#cite_ref-ATRA_At_a_Glance_2-1" title="">3.1</a> American Tort Reform Association, <a href="http://www.atra.org/about/" class="external text" title="http://www.atra.org/about/" rel="nofollow">"ATRA - At a Glance"</a>, accessed March 2008.</li>

<li id="cite_note-3"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tort_Reform_Association#cite_ref-3" title="">↑</a> American Tort Reform Foundation, <a href="http://www.atra.org/reports/hellholes/" class="external text" title="http://www.atra.org/reports/hellholes/" rel="nofollow">Judicial Hellholes® 2007"</a>, 2007. (Pdf)</li>

<li id="cite_note-4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tort_Reform_Association#cite_ref-4" title="">↑</a> American Tort Reform Association, <a href="http://www.atra.org/about/sample-members" class="external text" title="http://www.atra.org/about/sample-members" rel="nofollow">Sample List of ATRA Members</a>, organizational website, accessed July 2, 2012</li>

<li id="cite_note-5"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tort_Reform_Association#cite_ref-5" title="">↑</a> American Tort Reform Association, <a href="http://www.atra.org/about/members.php" class="external text" title="http://www.atra.org/about/members.php" rel="nofollow">Sample List of ATRA Members</a>, organizational website, accessed March 2008, <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20080513200531/http://www.atra.org/about/members.php" class="external text" title="http://web.archive.org/web/20080513200531/http://www.atra.org/about/members.php" rel="nofollow">archived by the Wayback Machine</a>, May 13, 2008</li>

<li id="cite_note-6"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tort_Reform_Association#cite_ref-6" title="">↑</a> <a href="http://www.atra.org/about/staff.php" class="external text" title="http://www.atra.org/about/staff.php" rel="nofollow">"ATRA Staff"</a>, accessed March 2008</li>

</ol>

This article may include <a href="http://tobaccodocuments.org/profiles/people/am_tort_reform_assoc.html" class="external text" title="http://tobaccodocuments.org/profiles/people/am_tort_reform_assoc.html" rel="nofollow">information from Tobacco Documents Online</a>.

---

bs:

<h1>About</h1>

</div>

Since its inception in 2002, the American Tort Reform Foundation’s Judicial Hellholes program has documented in annually published reports various abuses within the civil justice system, focusing primarily on jurisdictions where courts have been radically out of balance.

Traditionally, Judicial Hellholes have been considered places where judges systematically apply laws and court procedures in an unfair and unbalanced manner, generally against defendants in civil lawsuits. Now, as both technology and the liability-expanding strategies of the nation’s formidable litigation industry evolve, the Judicial Hellholes program must evolve, too. Though it remains focused on judges and the courts, Judicial Hellholes reporting will occasionally expand its focus to the legislative and executive branches’ growing influence on the courts, while moving to a year-round online format that will offer real-time updates and analyses of civil justice developments as they occur.

Of course, most judges do a diligent and fair job for modest pay. Even in Judicial Hellholes jurisdictions, including some that have received national attention, the clear majority of judges are fair, and the negative publicity can be blamed on a few bad apples. Because judges generally set the rules in personal injury lawsuits, and those rulings weigh so heavily on the outcomes of individual cases, it may only take one or two judges who stray from the law to sully the reputation of an entire jurisdiction.

Though entire states may occasionally be cited as Hellholes, it is usually only specific counties or courts in a given state that warrant this citation. And, importantly, jurisdictions discussed in this report and online are not the only Judicial Hellholes in the United States; they are simply among the worst.

To the extent possible, ATRF is specific in explaining how and why particular courts, laws or regulations can produce unfair civil justice outcomes in the jurisdictions cited. These cities, counties or judicial districts are frequently identified by members of the American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) and other individuals familiar with the litigation. But because sources for Judicial Hellholes information may fear lawsuits or other retaliation in these jurisdictions, they sometimes prefer to have their names and cases kept out of the program’s reporting.

ATRF annually surveys ATRA members and others with firsthand experience in Judicial Hellholes jurisdictions as part of its research process. Because the program has become widely known, ATRF also continually receives and gathers information provided by a variety of additional sources. After interviewing such sources, Judicial Hellholes reporters work to confirm the information with independent research of publicly available court documents, judicial branch statistics, press accounts, and various studies. As the Judicial Hellholes program goes online, it also invites visitors to <a title="Tell on a Hellhole" href="http://www.judicialhellholes.org/tell-on-a-hellhole/">provide additional firsthand leads and inside information</a>.

(The Judicial Hellholes program considers only civil litigation; it does not reflect in any way on the criminal justice system.)

* * *

The American Tort Reform Foundation (ATRF) is a District of Columbia nonprofit corporation, founded in 1997.  The primary purpose of the Foundation is to educate the general public about how the American civil justice system operates; the role of tort law in the civil justice system; and the impact of tort law on the private, public and business sectors of society.

“Judicial Hellholes” is a registered trademark of ATRA used by ATRF under license. wd this prevent retaliation?

</div>

    
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Domain ID:D96699867-LROR
Domain Name:JUDICIALHELLHOLES.ORG
Created On:04-Apr-2003 19:33:12 UTC
Last Updated On:08-Feb-2012 20:02:05 UTC
Expiration Date:04-Apr-2015 19:33:12 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:Network Solutions, LLC (R63-LROR)
Status:CLIENT TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Registrant ID:34941500-NSIV
Registrant Name:ATRA
Registrant Organization:ATRA
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Registrant State/Province:PA
Registrant Postal Code:18222
Registrant Country:US
Registrant Phone:+1.5707088780
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Admin ID:34941500-NSIV
Admin Name:ATRA
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DNSSEC:Unsigned
</div><div class="form-field wide-80 normal">=</div><div class="form-field wide-80 normal"><header class="db-article-header" style="border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); padding-bottom: 1em; margin-bottom: 1.5em;" open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" line-height="line-height"><h1 style="border: 0px; font-family: " crimson="Crimson" text="Text" serif="serif" font-weight="font-weight" normal="normal" margin="margin" px="px" outline="outline" padding="padding" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" clear="clear" both="both" font-stretch="font-stretch" font-size="font-size" em="em" line-height="line-height">Tort Reform's Ground Zero</h1>William Tucker
The American Spectator
January 15, 2005</header><span class="db-content" style="border: 0px; font-family: " open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" margin="margin" px="px" outline="outline" padding="padding" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" line-height="line-height"><a href="http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=7586" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">
Original article</a>

William Tucker is a Senior Fellow of Discovery Institute

Today President George Bush will fly to Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, then drive 15 miles northwest to address a crowd at the Gateway Center in Collinsville, which is right next door to Edwardsville, the epicenter of America's tort crisis. 

Madison County, Illinois, has earned all this attention by becoming the nation's number-one "judicial hellhole," as the American Tort Reform Association has coined the phrase. "It's a place where the judicial system has broken down," says Sherman "Tiger" Joyce, executive director of the American Tort Reform Association.

Actually, Dickie Scruggs, the Pascagoula, Mississippi attorney who started the original $275 billion Medicaid/tobacco lawsuit (and collected several billion in the process) put it better. Speaking before an asbestos conference sponsored by Prudential Securities in 2002, Scruggs -- who at least has a streak of honesty -- described what he called "magic jurisdictions" in this way:

[W]hat I call the "magic jurisdiction,"…[is] where the judiciary is elected with verdict money. The trial lawyers have established relationships with the judges that are elected; they're State Court judges; they're popul[ists]. They've got large populations of voters who are in on the deal, they're getting their [piece] in many cases. And so, it's a political force in their jurisdiction, and it's almost impossible to get a fair trial if you're a defendant in some of these places. The plaintiff lawyer walks in there and writes the number on the blackboard, and the first juror meets the last one coming out the door with that amount of money.… The cases are not won in the courtroom. They're won on the back roads long before the case goes to trial. Any lawyer fresh out of law school can walk in there and win the case, so it doesn't matter what the evidence or the law is.

Madison County is one of those little rotten boroughs that -- with the help of the trial lawyers -- has turned lawsuits into a cottage industry. At last count close to 20 percent of the asbestos lawsuits in the nation were being heard before a single Illinois state judge in Madison. Out-of-state corporations as diverse as Prudential, Ford, AIG, Philip Morris, General Motors, and dozens of others have had to troop down to Madison County before judges and juries obviously intent on stripping them of their worldly goods.

In one particularly ironic case, Judge Nicholas Byron decided in 2003, without benefit of jury, that Philip Morris and its parent company, the Altria Group, had tricked the class of Illinois smokers out of $10.1 billion worth of damages by selling them Marlboro Lights, which plaintiff attorneys said fooled smokers into thinking they were less dangerous than Marlboro regulars. Judge Byron demanded that Altria post a $12 billion bond just to appeal the case to the state supreme court. Altria said it would have to declare bankruptcy.

The decision set off fire alarms in the offices of 49 other state attorney generals, who immediately rushed down to Madison to intervene. What's the problem? Most states have now built their entire budgets around the Master Tobacco Settlement of 1998, which promises the states $275 billion over the next twenty years. Since Philip Morris pays the lion's share of this settlement, bankrupting the company in Madison County would set off a financial crisis in 49 other states. Judge Byron finally lowered the bond to $6 billion but the case is still under review by the Illinois Supreme Court. 

Trial lawyers are able to concentrate their firepower in "magic jurisdictions" like Madison because of loopholes in the federal rules of procedure. The trick is to keep the case from being bounced up to federal court, where class actions are much more difficult to certify and where the judges are less susceptible to persuasion. (Madison County plaintiff attorneys raised $125,000 in campaign money for Judge Byron in the most recent election, in which he ran unopposed.) 

The Constitution says that cases involving plaintiffs and defendants from "diverse" states must be tried in the federal courts. But plaintiff attorneys circumvent this by digging up one local plaintiff and defendant to satisfy the requirement. When trial lawyers brought a class action against General Motors over the wording in a warranty plan, they were sure to include Four Flags Motors, a Madison car dealership, as one of the defendants. 

Federal procedures also require that any case involving more than $75,000 in damages be bumped up to federal court, but class action attorneys skirt this by making sure that each individual defendant claims no more than $74,999. In many instances, the plaintiffs specifically waive any damages that may exceed $75,000, in order to keep the case in state court.

The result is that a class action involving hundreds of thousands of alleged plaintiffs suing a host of major corporations for billions of dollars will be heard before one backwoods judge specifically chosen by the plaintiff attorneys. 

In 2001, for example, a Madison County resident named Nicoloff stayed one night in a Wyndham Hotel in Chicago, then sued the hotel over a $2.87 "energy surcharge" the hotel added to the bill. A trivial matter? Not when hundreds of thousands of other guests are combined into a class action certified by a judge in Madison County. Wyndham -- which has no hotels in Madison County -- was forced to put its fate in the hands of a notoriously pro-plaintiff judge. The usual outcome in such cases is that plaintiffs are offered coupons or credit on their next purchase while the lawyers walk away with millions in contingency fees.

The Class Action Reform Act -- which couldn't quite make it past Tom Daschle last summer -- would change all this by removing to federal court any case where there is true diversity among the major players and by outlawing "coupon settlements," where plaintiffs get non-cash awards while the lawyers walk away with real money.

As Walter Olson has pointed out, such lawsuits constitute the ancient violation of "champerty" -- lawyers suing for their own benefit rather than on behalf of clients. If the Bush Administration is going to rein in this fraud, Madison County is the place to start.

William Tucker is a frequent contributor to The American Spectator and a contributinig writer to the American Enterprise.</div><div class="form-field wide-80 normal"></div>

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