Commonweal Institute's website
The Attack on Trial Lawyers and Tort Law
A Commonweal Institute Report
David C. Johnson, Fellow
October 1, 2003
Commonweal Institute
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Copyright © 2003 by Commonweal Institute, Inc.
"With Republicans in charge of much of Washington - and moving to put limits on litigation - the headquarters of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA) could be described as a building under siege. [. . .] ATLA lobbyists are fighting a wave of legislation aimed at capping what juries can award, curbing class-action suits, and protecting individual industries from litigation. Similar bills are getting passed in states, and even attorneys themselves are piling on - filing petitions to limit plaintiff lawyers' fees.
At the offices of ATLA, chief lobbyist Linda Lipsen insists the atmosphere has been hostile to their interests since Republicans took control of the House in 1994. Yet the lawyers Ms. Lipsen represents smell a new brand of retribution.
'If you cut the legs off the trial lawyers, then you significantly weaken the Democratic Party, and that's what this is all about,' says Jeff Wigington, product liability lawyer from Corpus Christi, Texas, who recently won a $225 million suit against the Ford Motor Co.
In the trial-lawyer headquarters at ATLA, Lipsen, the organization's chief lobbyist, points out that they have only three lobbyists fighting for the 'freedom' of individual Americans from limits on their rights against 80 lobbyists on the other side. Not that a group representing the nation's fiercest litigators minds a fight. Lipsen smiles. "We're way up there on their enemy's list." [1]
- From the article "Now, trial lawyers could use a good lawyer"
Christian Science Monitor, June 10, 2003
This report is also available for download as a PDF file.
Table of Contents
Section 1 -- Tort Reform Organizations and the Far Right
A Network of Seemingly-Independent Organizations
The Funding Behind the Right-Wing Movement Organizations
Coordination and Interconnection of the Right-Wing Movement Organizations
Section 2 -- Reaching the Public, Legislators and Judges
Multi-Issue Think Tanks and Communications Organizations
The Right's Communications Infrastructure
A Broad Campaign, Utilizing Multiple Channels
Coordinated Dissemination of Ideological Messages
The Tactic of Creating Conventional Wisdom
Tort Reform Organizations Work to Influence, Elect, & Appoint Supportive Politicians and Judges
Section 3 -- Effectiveness of the Tort Reform Campaign
Appendix 1 -- Example Of Coordinated Dissemination of a Strategic Message
Appendix 2 -- An Example of Interconnectedness
Appendix 3 -- Examples of Ridiculing and Demeaning of Trial Lawyers
Appendix 5 -- Examples of the Involvement of Organizations That Advocate Tort Reform
Appendix 6 -- Examples of State Tort Reform Organizations