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 state politicians VOTE 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" 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 all the damages its actions caused. Through ALEC, corporations have "a VOICE and a VOTE" on specific changes to the law that are then proposed in state legislatures. Do you?
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ALEC connections to David and Charles Koch, the oil billionaires(here)
Proposals to change the rules for people injured on the job, along with union rights(here)
Efforts to limit the liability of health insurance companies and HMOs(here)
Bills on industry-specific agendas, like asbestos (here) and oil and gas (here)
Learn MORE about "Model Bills" that Limit the Liability of Corporations Accused of Injuring or Killing Americans
The Center for Media and Democracy has annotated the "model legislation" politicians and corporations voted on, and we will be adding our analysis below and other publications, such as our sister sites, PRWatch and SourceWatch. Please bookmark this page.
Ways Corporations Tried to Rewrite the Law
The bills corporations and their politician allies VOTED on behind closed doors through ALEC try to change American's rights 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" procedures which strengthen their negotiating power; Making it more difficult to introduce new scientific research in injury cases through expert witnesses; Limiting the liability of corporations by changing the rules for apportioning fault and thus limiting recover; Limiting the ability of Americans to sue for injuries where the cause or effect was not known until much later;
Changing the rules about where an injured American can sue and the process for appealing a ruling; Limiting liability for injuries or death to Americans from defective products if a product is approved by the government (even though many regulatory agencies have been captured through the revolving door between government and the industries being regulated, many of the same industries pushing these bills); 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 in personal injury cases.
Other Helpful Resources
Here are links to reports by reporters and advocates that have been challenging the ALEC corporate agenda:(CMD is not affiliated with these organizations. If you would like to be listed as a resource, contact us.)
Some of this Corporate Agenda Has Already Become Law
Controversial Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, an alum of ALEC, proposed changes to the law from the ALEC corporate wish list on tort reform as one of his first acts as governor in January 2011. Those measures, in Wisconsin Bill 2, passed before people woke up to his radical agenda once he tried to force through dramatic changes to limit the rights of workers in the state in February. The changes to personal injury law Walker pushed through include X, Y, and Z (PLACEHOLDER). After Governor Walker changed the rights of injured Wisconsin residents as ALEC corporations had called for, ALEC publicly applauded Walker's actions. To learn more about this story, click here (PLACEHOLDER) (Have any of these bills been introduced or enacted in YOUR state? If so, please add that information to the ALEC Exposed page on your state by searching for your state's name in the search engine at the top of this page.)
Limiting Damages for the Loss of Your Child, Spouse, or Parent
One of the corporate-politician proposals of ALEC would limit the ability of a family to recover for emotional damages due to the death or injury of a loved one. (LINK) This type of legislation basically makes working class or poor people's lives--as well as the elderly--worth less to their families because any damages for pain and suffering due to the death of a child, spouse, or parent would be limited to an amount equal to twice their loved one's lost earnings and medical expenses. These kind of corporate provisions try to prevent a jury of YOUR peers from awarding you damages for all you have lost or suffered AFTER a jury finds that your loved one's death was the result of corporate negligence, misconduct, or greed. Is a local legislator who was elected to represent YOU actually protecting the profits of global corporate wrongdoers through such legislation instead of YOU and YOUR FAMILY?
Barring Corporate Liability for Killing Your Dog or Cat
In addition to limiting the rights of people injured by corporations, under the guise of limiting "frivolous" litigation in 2006, one of the proposals would make it harder for you to obtain any compensation from a company whose negligence killed your family pet.(LINK) 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. If passed in your state, ALEC's corporation-backed proposal would make it very difficult for YOU to recover any damages for the loss of your beloved animal companion due to corporate negligence or misconduct in manufacturing food for America's beloved pets.
ALEC Exposed is a project of the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD). CMD does NOT accept donations from for-profit corporations or government agencies. More information about CMD is available here. You can reach the publisher of ALEC Exposed, CMD's Executive Director, Lisa Graves, via editor AT alecexposed.org.
