Class-Action Warfare - the tort reform votes

[housewolf]

Class-Action Warfare
Why are so many congressional Democrats voting against their own interests?

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Instead, Kerry simply said, “John Edwards and I support tort reform.”

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Democrats leaning toward tort reform have been egged on by their policy-generating institutions, such as the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC). These New Democrats, led by former Solicitor General Walter Dellinger, have been cheerleaders for the class-action bill. Dellinger, of course, now works for Exxon and other large companies backing the tort-reform movement. Likewise, the DLC’s Progressive Policy Institute recently teamed up with Common Good, a corporate-funded tort-reform group that refers to the justice system as “a tool for extortion,” to push a measure that would take malpractice lawsuits out of the hands of juries.

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the biggest tort reformers among the Democrats also get significant campaign contributions from insurance companies, a key beneficiary of restrictions on lawsuits. Senator Ben Nelson, for instance, is a conservative Democrat and a tort-reform supporter whose largest donors are companies such as AIG, Allstate, Aflac, and Mutual of Omaha. Likewise, Senator Christopher Dodd voted with his donors on the class-action bill. Metropolitan Life, a life-insurance company that recently settled a class action for $120 million for overcharging African American policyholders, has showered Dodd with its largesse.

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“It’s the result of 30 years and hundreds of millions of dollars by the business community to convince people that tort reform is right,” says Pamela Gilbert, a Washington attorney who served as the executive director of the Consumer Products Safety Commission during the Clinton administration and has lobbied for consumer groups against tort reform. “The public is beginning to believe that we have too many lawsuits and the people to blame are the ones suing, not the wrongdoers. The Democrats who vote for tort reform should know better.”

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http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=9270