Tort Reform

ALEC's Efforts to Limit the Rights and Remedies of Americans Injured or Killed by Corporations Through the corporate-funded American Legislative Exchange Council, global corporations and local politicians VOTED BEHIND CLOSED DOORS to change the laws to limit the rights and remedies of Americans injured or killed by corporations. These so-called "model bills," largely written by corporate agents, erode the rights of an injured person, or that person's family, who files a complaint alleging that a corporation caused injury or death and should be held responsible for the damages its actions caused. According to bills the Center for Media and Democracy has helped reveal through ALEC Exposed, corporations had "both a VOICE and a VOTE" in the specific changes to the law that were then proposed in legislatures across the country. DID YOU?

READ the "Model Bills" HERE Here are the bills the Center for Media and Democracy has analyzed that corporations on ALEC's "Civil Justice Task Force" VOTED for behind closed doors to try to change the rules for injured Americans. (The list of bills in the file folder that can be opened by clicking the link is also provided down below.) LINK GOES HERE. In most, if not all, of the instances the bills were not just VOTED on by corporations; many of the provisions were WRITTEN by corporate lawyers or lobbyists and then proposed in state legislatures by elected officials. This activity was usually done without any disclosure of ALEC's role in the legislative proposal and often without any public notice of the names of all of the corporations (or their representatives) that actually drafted key provisions or voted for the bills through ALEC. (add file links here) Examples of How ALEC Corporations Tried to Rewrite Americans' Rights The bills VOTED on by corporations and their politician allies through ALEC try to change the law by: Making it easier for corporations to get a judge to dismiss an injured American's case before it gets to a jury; Making it harder for injured people to use "class action" rules to strengthen injured Americans' negotiating power and cut costs; Making it more difficult to introduce new scientific research in injury cases through expert witnesses; Limiting the liability of corporations by changing the rules about apportioning who is at fault; Limiting the ability of Americans to sue for injuries where the cause or effect was not known until later; and Changing the rules about where an injured American can sue and the process for appealing a ruling; ALEC corporations and politicians also VOTED to change the legal rules by: Limiting liability for injuries or death to Americans from corporate products if a product is approved by the government (many regulatory agencies have been captured through the revolving door between government and the industries being regulated); Limiting the power of Congress to create national rules to protect Americans, no matter their state residence, if injured by defective corporate products distributed nationally; and, among other things, Limiting the power of courts to issue certain kinds of rulings in personal injury cases; ALEC also advanced the agenda for particularly industries through its tort "reform" legislation. For example, its corporate-politician groups VOTED for: Limiting litigation over cancer and other deadly diseases caused by exposure to asbestos; Limiting the power of state Attorneys General to protect dying Americans in tobacco litigation and other cases; and Limiting the liability of health insurance companies and doctors by changing the rules for suing for medical malpractice, when a doctor's negligence causes injury or death, and changing the rules for injured Americans who have health insurance through an HMO. The role of these three industries -- the asbestos industry, Big Tobacco, and the health care industry -- are addressed in more detail here (link), here (link), and here (link), respectively. ALEC also sought to change personal injury law for people injured on the job. Its "model" legislation to change the rules in workers compensation cases is discussed in the article about ALEC's efforts to limit or eliminate workers' rights (including the right to unionize), which is discussed here (link). PLACEHOLDER for information about the Civil Justice "Academy" in the states and ALEC's "Disorder in the Courts" PR campaign. Ways You Can Help ALEC Exposed Titles of "Model" Bills to Check for in Your State You can help your fellow Americans understand ALEC's corporate-politician agenda by creating or filling out articles on which of these bills was introduced in your state's legislature and by which politicians. You can also help by documenting the corporations that donated to those politicians as well as the corporate- or CEO-funded "non-profit" groups that run so-called "issue" ads in your state during elections to support those politicians. Were any of the bills in this link introduced in your state legislature to repeal the rights of people injured in your state? Link to list of bills goes here. Link to states goes here. Did You Know about these Bills? Limiting Recovery to Economic Damages versus Emotional Damages One of the corporate-politician approved bills via ALEC would limit the ability of a family to recover for emotional damages due to the death or injury of a loved one. This type of legislation basically makes working class or poor people's lives worth less to their families since they would be limited primarily to recovering the cost of lost earnings and medical care and not able to recover for the emotional damages caused by a traumatic injury or loss. These kind of provisions seek to prevent a jury of your peers from awarding you damages for all you have lost or suffered as a result of corporate negligence, malfeasance, or greed. Is a politician elected to represent and protect you actually protecting corporate profits through such legislation? Limiting Liability for Killing or Injuring Your Beloved Pets In addition to limiting the rights of people injured by corporations, under the guise of limiting "frivolous" litigation one of the proposed bills would make it harder for you to obtain any compensation from a company whose negligence killed your family pet. In 2009, Americans learned that many U.S. pet food companies had shipped the production of food for their four-legged companions overseas and that Chinese contractors had contaminated the pet food with melamine in order to increase profit margins, resulting in the death and serious injuries of numerous dogs and cats in the U.S. ALEC's corporate-politician bills would make it very difficult for a person to recover any damages for the loss of their beloved pet due to negligence in safely manufacturing pet food. Helpful Information on the Tort "Reform" Agenda link Add information about corporate ghostwriting here. Related ALEC Exposed Articles Add links to workers compensation and industry loopholes here Here are some of the other substantive issues VOTED on by corporations via ALEC that affect the rights of injured people: our article on workers comp changes is linked here, our article on other corporate loopholes goes here.

ALEC Corporations Involved in Limiting the Rights of Injured Americans Corporations that VOTED FOR Bills Through ALEC's "Civil Justice Task Force" The following corporations are known to have been on ALEC's "Civil Justice Task Force" that VOTED FOR changes to personal injury laws. (This list is incomplete; if you know of additional corporations that have been involved in trying to rewrite personal injury law this through ALEC, please add that information to this section.) ALEC Connections to David and Charles Koch and Koch Industries Short summary of Koch connections and links go here. Did you know Koch Industries was the Chairman of ALEC's "Private Enterprise Board?" ALEC "Alum" Scott Walker Pushes ALEC's Agenda against Injured Americans? Short summary of 2011 legislation and links go here. Spotlight on Tobacco Lawyer Victor Schwartz of Shook Hardy and the ALEC Agenda Short summary and links go here. In 2011 (and for an unknown by long period), Victor Schwartz has been actively pushing his corporate agenda and the corporate agenda of his clients through ALEC. Who is Victor Schwartz? Do You Know Which Corporations Have Served as Leaders of ALEC? Links to corporations that have sat on ALEC's "Private Enterprise Board" go here. Corporate Politicians on ALEC's "Civil Justice Task Force" Here Is a List of Politicians Who Served on the "Civil Justice Task Force" (This list is incomplete; if you know of other politicians who have served on this ALEC Task Force, please add that information.) Here Is a List of Politicians Who Have Introduced or Sponsored Bills from the "Civil Justice Task Force" (This list is incomplete; if you know of other politicians who have served on this ALEC Task Force, please add that information.) Here Is a List of the Politicians Who Have Served on ALEC's Board "Model" bills VOTED on by corporations and politicians on ALEC's Civil Justice Task Force were also adopted by ALEC's board of "public officials," which is advised by its corporate board. Here are the names of politicians that have been "leaders" of ALEC's board: (This list is incomplete; if you know of other politicians who have served on this ALEC Task Force, please add that information.) Is This Agenda Really "Conservative?" A Corporate Agenda Masquerading as "Conservative" You can share the link to this page on Facebook, Twitter, or via email to help your family and friends better understand how global corporations are working to rewrite your rights under the guise of supposed "conservative" ideals. There is nothing genuinely conservative about re-writing long-settled laws that were created to compensate ordinary people who are injured by the negligence of corporations or by greed-based disregard for the safety of consumers. There is nothing in the founding principles of our nation that justifies elected officials in our democracy serving as handmaidens to global corporations rather than serving the citizens who elected them to "establish justice" and "promote the general welfare" of We the People under our Constitution. ALEC's corporations and politicians have sought to change the rules for injured Americans using rhetoric about protecting the "free market" but corporations should not have the freedom to injure Americans without being held responsible. And, responsibility is supposed to be a conservative value.

What's Wrong with Rewriting the Law to Help Corporations that Injure Americans?? Here's what people are saying about ALEC's agenda Add select quotes here or swap in different section. Placeholder text: You can also share the link to this page on Facebook, Twitter, or via email to help your family and friends better understand how global corporations are working to rewrite your rights under the guise of supposed "conservative" ideals. There is nothing genuinely conservative about re-writing long-settled laws that were created to compensate ordinary people who are injured by the negligence of corporations or other defendants or by greed-based disregard for the safety of consumers. There is nothing in the founding principles of our nation that justifies elected officials in our democracy serving as handmaidens to global corporations rather than serving the citizens who elected them to "establish justice" and "promote the general welfare" of We the People, not the corporations.

ALEC Exposed is a project of the Center for Media and Democracy. CMD does NOT accept donations from for-profit corporations or government agencies. You can contact the publisher of ALEC Exposed, CMD's Executive Director, Lisa Graves, via editor AT prwatch.org.

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