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WASHINGTON, D.C., April 23, 2007
– The American Tort Reform
Association today called for increased transparency and
accountability from state attorneys general as it released a new
survey showing that Americans want these powerful state
officials to adhere to fundamental standards of good-government
when they enter contracts with private sector personal injury
law firms.
In each of five states
surveyed—Alabama, California, Ohio, Wisconsin and West
Virginia—roughly three of every four respondents said that all
contracts that state attorneys general (AGs) make with outside
lawyers should be posted on the Internet for public inspection.
Approximately 85 percent of those surveyed in each state also
believed that AGs should require outside lawyers working for
their states on a contingency fee basis to keep detailed records
of their hours and specific work performed. (The full survey
results are posted on ATRA’s dedicated AGAgendaWatch website,
www.agwatch.org.)
“In several states today, attorneys
general are working hand-in-glove with their political
supporters in private sector law firms, using the awesome power
of the state to target entire industries with litigation,”
explained ATRA president Sherman Joyce, noting recent lawsuits
against paint and pigment manufacturers, pharmaceutical
companies and makers of other consumer products.
“Frequently enough such litigation
seeks to achieve public policy ends that couldn’t be achieved
through democratic legislative and regulatory processes. But
sometimes these lawsuits appear to be little more than thinly
disguised efforts both to boost the media profiles of attorneys
general and enrich their political friends,” Joyce continued.
“Too often these arrangements are
governed by non-competitive contracts that are negotiated behind
closed doors,” he said, “and the contingency fees upon which
these contracts are typically based give private lawyers, backed
by state authority, a pernicious incentive to maximize the
damage awards a defendant may be obligated to pay, even if civil
justice is minimized in the process.”
Believing that relationships between
attorneys general and personal injury law firms pose a
considerable threat to constitutional democracy and certain
state economies, Joyce added that “these relationships require
public scrutiny and legislative oversight.” He said the public
apparently agrees.
“Our survey is a first step in
ATRA’s renewed effort to shine more light on and demand greater
accountability from our state attorneys general. There is
overwhelming public support for much more transparency, and
three-quarters of our survey respondents go so far as to support
a national code of ethics to regulate the relationships between
personal injury lawyers and state AGs,” Joyce concluded.
ATRA’s survey was conducted in five
key states across the country, all of which have either
newly-elected or historically activist attorneys general. Survey
details follow on the next page.
Research Methodology
The American Tort Reform Association
(ATRA) commissioned the Tarrance Group to conduct an objective
scientific survey with adults over 18. Interviews were conducted
by phone. All respondents interviewed were part of a fully
representative sample based on the latest census figures within
the state. The confidence interval associated with a sample of
this type is such that 95 percent of the time results will be
within the stated margins of error of the “true values” where
“true values” refer to the results obtained if it were possible
to interview every adult in each state.
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