Tort Reform

ALEC's Efforts to Limit the Rights of Americans Injured by Corporations and other Defendants Through the corporate-funded American Legislative Exchange Council, global corporations and politicians VOTED FOR changing state laws to limit the rights and remedies of Americans injured by corporations and other defendants. Below, you will find the "model" bills VOTED on by corporate-politician "task forces" to limit corporations' liability for injuries they may cause to Americans. We also link to information about global corporations involved in ALEC's "task" of rewriting almost every aspect of these "tort" or "personal injury" rules. There are also links about companies that have served in ALEC's "leadership" and contributed undisclosed sums for access to politicians to advance their agenda. ALEC describes its "reforms" as advancing "civil justice." But, in general, these proposed legal changes VOTED on by corporations and politicians would obstruct someone who is injured from obtaining "justice" by making it more difficult to secure a jury verdict in favor of the plaintiff for all the damage done to an injured person, his or her family, and their future. These bills affect the rights and remedies of an injured person, or that person's family, who files a legal complaint in civil court alleging that a corporation or other defendant is liable for causing serious injury or death. Through these changes to the law desired by big corporations, the rights of injured people and their families are sought to be limited in a variety of ways. According to the documents the Center for Media and Democracy has helped reveal through ALEC Exposed, corporations had "both a VOTE and a VOICE" in these specific changes to the law to limit corporate liability for injuring Americans. Did you?

Here Are the "Model" Bills Corporations VOTED For Corporate-Politician Bills (add file links here) Did You Know? 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? In addition to limiting the rights of people injured by corporations, 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. General Descriptions of the Bills The bills VOTED on by corporations and their politician allies attempt to change the law in many ways: Limiting the liability of defendants by changing the rules about apportioning who is at fault; Changing the rules for suing for medical malpractice (when a doctor or hospital's negligence causes injury); Changing the rules for people injured who have insurance through an HMO or "managed care" arrangement; Making it easier for corporations to get a judge to summarily dismiss an injured person's case and keep the case from a jury of your peers (summary judgment); Making it harder to use "class action" rules to aggregate claims and strengthen injured plaintiffs' negotiating power vis a vis corporations; Making it more difficult to introduce new scientific research in injury cases via expert witnesses; Changing the rules about where an injured person can sue and rights on appeal; Limiting the ability of plaintiffs to sue for injuries caused years earlier but where the cause or effect was not known until later; Limiting litigation over the cancer and other injuries caused by exposure to asbestos (ALSO industry protections); Under the guise of transparency, limiting the power of state Attorneys General to protect plaintiffs (tobacco etc); Limiting liability for product injuries if a company follows regulatory agency rules (regulatory agencies that have been largely captured by the industries they are regulating) Limiting the power of Congress to create national rules to protect plaintiffs across the country who are injured by defective corporate products Limiting the power of courts to issue certain kinds of rulings in personal injury cases; Expanding the use of procedures to resolve a case without have a jury trial; Addressing lawsuits claimed to be "frivolous"; Changing "good samaritan" laws; Changing the rules in workers comp litigation (MOVE to workers rights) 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 below introduced in your state legislature to repeal the rights of people injured in your state? list goes here. Helpful Information on the Tort "Reform" Agenda link Add information about corporate ghostwriting here. ALEC "Alum" Scott Walker Enacts the ALEC Corporate-Politician Agenda on Tort "Reform" Description of the January legislation goes 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's Corporations Corporations that VOTED FOR These Bills The following corporations are known to have been on ALEC's "Civil Justice Task Force" which VOTED FOR the changes to personal injury law described on this page. (This list is incomplete; if you know of additional corporations that have been involved in this through ALEC, please add that information to this section.) Spotlight on 2011 Corporate Task Force Chair Victor Schwartz 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? (summary and link goes here) Corporations that Have Served on ALEC's Corporate Board Here is a list of the corporations that have served on ALEC's corporate board (this is a partial list): Names and links go here. ALEC's 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 Supported 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.) ALEC and the Koch Connection Add links and brief connections here Is This Agenda Really "Conservative?" A Corporate Agenda Masquerading as "Conservative" ou 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.

What's Wrong with Rewriting the Law to Help Corporations that Injure People?? Here's what people are saying about ALEC's agenda Add select quotes here or swap in different section.

Disclaimer: ALEC Exposed is a project of the Center for Media and Democracy. You can contact the publisher of ALEC Exposed, CMD's Executive Director, Lisa Graves, via lisa AT prwatch.org.

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