ATRA CITIES NEW REPORT ON ASBESTOS LITIGATION ABUSE AS FURTHER EVIDENCE OF NEED FOR HEARINGS INTO 'TRIAL LAWYER MISCONDUT'

Washington, DC, May 07, 2008 -- Pointing to a new report documenting abuses of the nation’s civil justice system in connection with asbestos litigation, the American Tort Reform Association today renewed its urging of Congress to conduct hearings into potentially widespread misconduct by personal injury lawyers.

The latest edition of Trial Lawyers Inc., issued today by the Center for Legal Policy at the Manhattan Institute, summarizes the plaintiff bar’s business model underlying such “abusive litigation” as one that “uses sophisticated marketing to attract thousands of claimants, generates cases with flimsy medical diagnoses, and packages claims together to overwhelm defendants and courts.

“Ultimately,” the report explains, “the attorneys bully besieged defendants into settlements that enrich Trial Lawyers Inc., while leaving genuinely injured claimants high and dry.”

ATRA president Tiger Joyce said, “This very well-documented Manhattan Institute report adds to a growing body of bullet-proof evidence that many personal injury lawyers have been fraudulently using our civil courts as ATMs, bringing claims they know are bogus and delaying justice for those who are truly ill.

“Whether one considers the findings of a federal judge in Texas who condemned lawyers and their physician accomplices for introducing phony medical records, a New York federal grand jury’s ongoing investigation into similar asbestos and silica fraud, or any of the countless related incidents reported by the media – such as the non-existent doctor who supposedly signed off on a claimant’s diagnosis in a West Virginia asbestos case against CSX Transportation – one can only conclude that Congress should spend less time worrying about problems in professional baseball and football and more time worrying about the integrity of our civil justice system,” Joyce insisted.

He added that ATRA members welcomed a letter last week from House Republican Leader John Boehner (Ohio) and House judiciary committee ranking Republican Lamar Smith (Texas) asking committee chairman John Conyers (D-Michigan) to consider hearings into similarly scandalous securities litigation.

“Certainly securities litigation, as masterminded by Bill Lerach and Mel Weiss, is rife with abuse and poses a considerable drag on our economy,” Joyce acknowledged. Lerach and Weiss are former partners at indicted law firm Milberg Weiss, and both are headed to prison after recently entering guilty pleas to federal conspiracy charges for paying illegal kickbacks to a stable of ready-made plaintiffs.

“But, the case for congressional hearings into costly trial lawyer misconduct goes well beyond securities litigation,” Joyce said. His April 23 op-ed in The Hill newspaper and recent quotes in CQ Weekly have been part of ATRA’s leading effort to make that case.

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The American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) is the only national organization dedicated exclusively to tort and liability reform through public education and the enactment of legislation. ATRA's membership includes non profits, small and large companies, as well as state and national trade, business, and professional associations.