Study: Trial Lawyers Spent More Than $22 Mil. on Kansas TV Ads Over Past 5 Years
From 2017 through 2021, trial lawyer groups flooded Kansas airwaves
with nearly 1 million TV ads
A new report analyzing trial lawyer advertising over the past five years revealed that $24 million was spent on nearly 1 million legal services ads in Kansas between 2017 and 2021.
The American Tort Reform Association released its latest study today, which includes data on spending and frequency of legal services ads in media markets across nearly every U.S. state and Washington, DC.
The nationwide survey shows that trial lawyers and aggregators spend enormous sums of money on television, radio and outdoor advertising in Kansas to recruit new clients.
“These latest advertising numbers show that plaintiff’s attorneys aren’t slowing down in their relentless pursuit of their next payday,” said American Tort Reform Association President Tiger Joyce. “It is clear that trial lawyers continue to put profits ahead of vulnerable members of our society who are being misled by deceptive ads.”
In January, the Kansas Senate Committee on Judiciary recommended the passage of and a full Senate vote on Senate Bill 150, legislation to crack down on misleading advertising for legal services. The bill was originally introduced in February 2021.
“While some states have taken action to prevent misleading legal advertisements, Kansas can increase accountability and transparency in legal ads and protect consumers from bad actors by passing this important legislation,” Joyce said.
From 2017 to 2021, more than 946,000 ads for legal services aired on local television broadcast networks across the Sunflower State at a cost exceeding $22 million. In 2021 alone, trial lawyer groups aired over 224,000 ads on local television in the state totaling $4.7 million, a nine-percent increase over the previous year. For comparison, pizza companies only spent $348,300 on 5,456 local television ads across Kansas in 2021 and furniture companies spent $1.1 million on 23,218 ads.
A 2019 FDA study shows the real-life consequences of deceptive trial lawyer ads. The report found 66 incidents of adverse events following patients discontinuing the use of blood thinner medication (Pradaxa, Xarelto, Eliquis, or Savaysa) after viewing a lawyer advertisement. The median patient age was 70, and 98% stopped medication use without consulting their doctor. Thirty-three patients experienced a stroke, 24 experienced another severe injury, and seven died.
Dr. Shawn H. Fleming, the doctor for one of the deceased, stated before a 2017 U.S. House Judiciary Committee hearing, “It’s my opinion that the tone and content of these advertisements imply a qualitative judgment about these medications that are just not true. When you say call 1-800-BAD-DRUG, that implies it’s a bad drug, which runs counter to current medical evidence and also to the FDA’s recommendations.”
The full report on trial lawyer advertising is available at ATRA.org and utilizes Kantar data.
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