"Frivolous" Lawsuits News

Now Even the Flu is the Trial Lawyers' Fault

What's Next, Hurricanes?

These days, whatever the problem, the response of some politicians and corporate executives is always the same: it's the trial lawyers' fault!

These politicans and executives failed to:

• create new jobs with decent wages,
• control the cost of prescription drugs,
• make health care more available and affordable, or
• stop sending American jobs overseas

Yet, they blame the trial lawyers.

And now, if you can believe it, lawyers are also being blamed for the shortage of the flu vaccine!

If You Sneeze, Blame a Trial Lawyer

Flu vaccine shortage blamed on trial lawyers:

"Vaccine manufacturers are worried about getting sued, and therefore they have backed off from providing this kind of [flu] vaccine." —President Bush, Presidential Debate, 10/13/04

"This failure (flu vaccine shortage) has been coming for some 25 years. Ten years ago, we had 10 companies that were producing flu vaccine. This year, we only have two. Reason for it is because liability questions, number one." —HHS Sec. Tommy Thompson, Wolf Blitzer Reports, CNN, 10/19/04

"There's another example where John Kerry, as he's done on so many issues, has taken the sides of wealthy trial lawyers, personal injury trial lawyers, as opposed to taking the sides of doctors and patients and public health." —Ken Mehlman, Bush-Cheney re-election spokesman, Meet the Press, 10/17/04

And Not Just Vaccines:
America's Entire Medical Establishment is Dictated by the Trial Bar

Problems in the American medical system blamed on trial lawyers:

"Instead of bureaucrats and trial lawyers and HMOs, we must put doctors and nurses and patients back in charge of American medicine." —President Bush, White House Press Releases and Documents, 1/28/03

Move Over Osama, It's the Trial Lawyers Who Are Terrorists

Damage to America akin to terrorists blamed on trial lawyers:

"[Oliver] North said many lawsuits are a result of plaintiffs not taking responsibility for their own actions and that lawsuits against major corporations and doctors are causing problems as damaging to America as the enemies troops are facing in Iraq and Afghanistan." —Conservative pundit Oliver North, speaking to medical malpractice reform advocates, Corpus Christi Caller Times, 8/27/04

"'What you are about in this organization is important to this country,' North said. 'What you do here has as far-lasting an effect as what they're doing in Iraq and Afghanistan. What you're doing is changing the mindset of Americans so that the first person they call if something wrong happens is not a lawyer.'" —Conservative pundit Oliver North, speaking to advocates of so-called "lawsuit reform," Corpus Christi Caller Times, 8/27/04

"It's almost like fighting the war on terrorists…I call the plaintiff's bar terrorists." —American International Group Chairman Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, remarks to business executives, Reuters, 2/24/04

Terrorist acts and weapons of mass destruction blamed on trial lawyers:

"'John Edwards and John Kerry... have caused this health-care crisis,' said Schmidt. He compared trial lawyers to Saddam Hussein and terrorists, calling malpractice suits 'weapons of mass destruction.'" —Richard G. Schmidt, president of the Pennsylvania Orthopedic Society, Philadelphia Inquirer, 9/3/04

Trial Lawyers Cause Unemployment

Lack of new jobs and Enron-like corruption blamed on trial lawyers:

"Lawsuit abuse is the ultimate disincentive for hiring new people…The cost of doing business is substantially increased by a litigious environment…The lack of personal ethics and responsibility, the excesses of greed, is similar to what we saw when corporate scandals erupted two years ago." —Treasury Secretary John Snow, in remarks to the American Tort Reform Association, Reuters, 3/16/04

Move Over Alan Greenspan, Trial Lawyers Dictate the Economy

Federal budget deficit and low job creation blamed on trial lawyers:

"There's too many junk lawsuits that are making it hard for business owners to create jobs… It's a national issue because junk lawsuits and the defensive practice of medicine as a result of junk lawsuits run up our budgets." —President Bush, White House Press Releases & Documents, 8/28/04

"We're close, but the trial bar is tough in Washington, D.C. They're able to hold up a lot of stuff in the United States Senate, which is discouraging, because good tort reform will make it easier for people to find a job here at home; will make sure the environment for the entrepreneurs is good and strong." —President Bush, White House Press Releases & Documents, 3/30/04

"…we better reign in the junk and frivolous lawsuits that threaten capital formation." —President Bush, 3/30/04 White House Press Releases & Documents

Even outsourcing of jobs is blamed on trial lawyers:

"And it's a runaway legal system in this country. You know it in your own business. It's helping drive jobs out of this country." —Tom Donahue, President and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, CNN's Lou Dobbs, 9/1/04

The blame game is one of Washington's most popular pastimes, but let's get real. Trial lawyers didn't cause these problems and taking away your right to hold wrongdoers accountable won't solve them either.

October 26, 2004