Tort Reform

News

Scott Walker Down the Rat Hole with the Palace Guard

by Mary Bottari — March 4, 2011 - 8:46am
  • Topics: Tort Reform, Real Economy Project

    • The Wisconsin State Capitol has erupted in a torrent of lawlessness this week that schoolchildren will be reading about for years. No, I don't mean rowdy protests resulting in mass arrests. Even though some 300,000 people have visited the capitol in the last two weeks, the crowds have been peaceful and fun; and only a few arrests have been reported. I mean the convulsion of lawlessness that has seized Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and the Republican leadership -- a track record that would make Richard Nixon proud.

    American Tort Reform Association Issues "Judicial Hellhole" Report

    by Anne Landman — December 14, 2010 - 3:00pm

    The American Tort Reform Association, a front group for big chemical, tobacco, insurance, pharmaceutical and other companies whose products or pollution have been known to make people sick or kill them, has released its ninth annual "judicial hellholes" report which attacks judges and juries who hold their members accountable in court. This year's top "hellhole" is Philadelphia, which won in part due to its Complex Litigation Center, which was created exclusively to handle complex, mass tort cases like those regarding asbestos, hormone replacement therapy, nursing home litigation and suits against drugs like Avandia, Paxil, Phen-Fen and Risperdal. The Center's most recent cases involve pharmaceutical defendants who are being sued over birth control pills in the Yaz/Yazmin/Ocella mass tort. Plaintiffs allege that the pills caused injuries like pulmonary embolism, blood clots in the legs, heart attacks, strokes, gall bladder and kidney disease.

    Main Source: 
    The Pop Tort, December 14, 2010

    Medical Malpractice in the Health Care Debate: Sucking Us Back Into the "Tort Reform" Bog?

    by Anne Landman — October 5, 2009 - 3:00pm
  • Topics: Tort Reform, Propaganda, Tobacco

    • The current debate over health insurance reform has led to renewed calls by conservatives for tort reform, which they point to as the best way to decrease the cost of medical malpractice cases. "Tort reform" refers to any changes in liability laws that place higher burdens on people injured by products or services, erect barriers to keep their grievances out of the court system and generally tilt the legal playing field in favor of big businesses. Ample information, like that put out by Public Citizen, SourceWatch and investigative reports from other news sources have demonstrated that the so-called "tort reform movement" is actually a massive, corporate-funded, fake "grassroots" campaign perpetrated by American industry to try and restrict citizens' access to the legal system for redress against harms caused by defective products and negligent practices.

    Justice, Texas-Style

    by Bob Burton — October 2, 2008 - 4:24am

    Justice Dale Wainwright, a sitting Republican member of the Texas Supreme Court, is up for election later this year.

    Main Source: 
    Houston Chronicle, September 28, 2008

    Rick Berman Gets Fat off the Obesity Industry

    by John Stauber — September 24, 2008 - 7:02am

    Kevin Anderson, blog editor for the UK Guardian, was bemused by an advertisement posted in the Washington DC subway. "This ad of a man's beer belly stuffed with bills railing away against trial lawyers probably makes little sense to the average American. ... Figuring out who is behind ads like this is even more interesting. The ad highlights an innocuous sounding website www.ConsumerFreedom.com (because who would be against consumer freedom?). What is this group?

    Main Source: 
    The Guardian (UK), September 23, 2008

    The Hidden War: Big Tobacco and the GOP Team up Against Southern Democrats

    by Anne Landman — June 27, 2008 - 11:59am

    When the major American tobacco companies signed the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement with the 46 states who sued to recover the costs of treating sick smokers, the companies agreed to nominal advertising restrictions and massive yearly payouts to the states.

    Main Source: 
    Raw Story, June 24, 2008

    A Lobbyist with Supreme Access

    by Diane Farsetta — July 8, 2005 - 5:43pm

    "Ed Gillespie, who will help promote President Bush's future nominee to a vacancy on the Supreme Court, is a top-tier lobbyist who represents a host of clients with direct and indirect interests in the outcome of Supreme Court decisions." Gillespie's task is "to use the tools and techniques of a presidential campaign to put together a conservative political machine equipped to take on the alliance of groups on the political left." But his firm,

    Main Source: 
    Washington Post, July 8, 2005

    The K Street Project Bears Fruit

    by Diane Farsetta — May 17, 2005 - 12:13pm

    The Washington Post reports on how House Majority Whip Roy Blunt "has converted what had been an informal and ad hoc relationship between congressional leaders and the Washington corporate and trade community into a formal, institutionalized alliance." Blunt's "organization of whips and lobbyist vote counters ...

    Main Source: 
    Washington Post, May 17, 2005

    Corporate Lobbyists at the Feeding Trough

    by Sheldon Rampton — February 18, 2005 - 8:17am

    "These are heady days on Capitol Hill for business lobbyists," writes Stephen Labaton. "After suffering numerous setbacks in President Bush's first term, business lobbyists now say they have the wind at their backs." In addition to pushing for "tort reform" (which limits what people can collect in damages if they sue a corporation), lobbyists are also getting Congress to ram through new legislation that "would make it significantly more difficult and expensive for poor and moderate-income families to use bankruptcy protection to shield themselves from creditors.

    Main Source: 
    New York Times, February 17, 2005

    Norquist Dreams of Twelve More Years

    by Bob Burton — December 23, 2004 - 10:11pm

    Conservative activist Grover Norquist, from Americans for Tax Reform, told Australian Financial Review journalist Tony Walker that three of his political priorities – tort reform, curtailing political contributions from unions, and promoting free trade – would have the combined effect of weakening support for the

    Main Source: 
    Australian Financial Review, December 23, 2004. (Sub req
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