Section 1 of "The Attack on Trial Lawyers and Tort Law"

Tort Reform Organizations and the Far Right

"For the last 15 years, insurance companies, manufacturers of dangerous products and chemicals, the tobacco industry and other major industries have been engaged in a nationwide assault on the civil justice system. In nearly every state and in Congress, corporations and their insurers have waged a relentless campaign to change the laws that give sick and injured consumers the ability to hold their offenders responsible for the injuries they cause. . .

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Section 3 of "The Attack on Trial Lawyers and Tort Law"

Section 3 - Effectiveness of the Tort Reform Campaign

The Right Sets the Public Agenda

In recent years, the Right and the tort reform movement have enjoyed unprecedented success in influencing both federal and state legislation and policies by: 1) using organizations perceived by the public as independent, 2) repeating the anti-tort message as consistently as possible through multiple channels, 3) employing sophisticated communications methods, 4) following a coherent long-term plan, and 5) coordinating both ideologically and tactically with the Right's network of advocacy organizations.

As a result, the Right's message amplification infrastructure successfully drowns out significant opposing voices. As People for the American Way Foundation's study "Buying a Movement" has put it:

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Appendix 4 of "The Attack on Trial Lawyers and Tort Law" 

Examples of the Involvement and Funding of Right-Wing Organizations That Advocate Tort Reform

Heritage Foundation

Heartland Institute

Americans for Tax Reform (ATR)

Washington Legal Foundation (WLF)

American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)

Federalist Society

National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA)

Manhattan Institute's Center for Legal Policy

Cato Institute

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Section 2 of "The Attack on Trial Lawyers and Tort Law"

Multi-Issue Think Tanks and Communications Organizations

The right-wing foundations described in Section 1 fund a coordinated network of advocacy organizations, providing general operating support rather than funding narrowly-focused programs. At the center of this network are multi-issue, e.g., tort reform, school privatization, pro-life, etc., think tanks that are marketing and communications organizations, oriented aggressively toward media relations and public communications, as well as traditional scholarly idea generating institutions. Because they address a variety of issues from the same philosophical perspective, the think tanks are able to advance an underlying ideological agenda.

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