ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, March 24, 1997 TAG: 9703240118
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID K. MARTIN
A HANDFUL of trial lawyers armed with a fistful of dollars are laying siege to the American system of equal justice.
Some critics have dubbed them ``ATLA the Hun.'' The acronym stands for American Trial Lawyers Association, the political juggernaut that's been in the spotlight recently for its lopsided contributions to President Clinton's re-election campaign.
Millions of dollars in campaign contributions by ATLA and individual trial lawyers in the past six years have produced a quid pro quo. In this case, presidential veto of a balanced, bipartisan bill to reform a product-liability system that enriches lawyers, but raises the cost of living for Joe and Jane Sixpack.
The trial lawyers' well-financed effort to prevent tort reform is being waged on multiple fronts: in courtrooms, in the halls of Congress, in state legislatures and in the court of public opinion.
One group of trial lawyers is spending $50,000 a month for the spinning talents of Fenton Communications, the leftist Washington, D.C., public-relations firm that promoted the phony ALAR apple scare in the late 1980s.
Last year, Federal Election Commission records show that law firms and individual lawyers collectively gave $8 million in so-called soft money to Democratic political committees and, hedging their bets, an additional $1.5 million to the Republicans. ATLA's political-action committee chipped in another $803,000 to the party committees, most of it to Democrats.
That's barely the tip of the iceberg, however. Contributions Watch, a Washington, D.C., public-interest group that tracks both federal and state contributions, did some exhaustive spade work to tabulate the trial lawyers' total spending, matching thousands of contributions from individual lawyers with ATLA's membership directory.
The results: In 11 states alone, individual trial lawyers who belong to ATLA ponied up more than $61.3 million to state and municipal politicians over the past six years seeking to head off numerous tort-reform efforts under way at the local level. Nationally, trial lawyers gave another $39 million. That's $100 million that poured into political-campaign coffers. Most of that swag went to Democrats - since Republicans by and large support tort reform.
What's really striking about this unprecedented outpouring of cash is that the tort-reform bill currently before Congress is one that most legal experts say bends over backward to be fair to the plaintiffs' bar. True, the proposed legislation would put reasonable caps on punitive damages - those intended to punish negligent behavior. But it also would allow judges to step in - when warranted - and increase punitive damage awards in particularly egregious cases.
The bill also limits the liabilities of companies not directly involved in the manufacture of an allegedly faulty product. In addition, it places reasonable time limits in which plaintiffs could file suit.
And the bill also curbs ``ambulance-chasing,'' the ghoulish practice of some especially sleazy trial lawyers who swoop down like vultures on the still-grieving and often stunned relatives of victims of such major disasters as airplane crashes or earthquakes.
Such modest product-liability reforms are not likely to restrict the luxurious lifestyles of the nation's leading trial lawyers. They would, however, pare a small portion of the excess profits that accrue to a small coterie of trial lawyers in such notoriously litigious states as Texas and California.
The same product-liability bill that passed both houses last year has been introduced this year - again with the strong backing of most Republicans and a large contingent of centrist Democrats led by Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia.
Washington insiders say the reformers stand ready to offer compromises they hope will overcome some of President Clinton's stated objections to last year's bill. Even with concessions, there's no guarantee that Clinton will sign the bill.
This time around, one Democratic House member said, there may be enough switchovers in his party to withstand a presidential veto.
There's been a lot of comment in the press lately about contributions stinking up the political process today, but none more odorous than the way trial lawyers have bought their way into the system. ATLA no longer is a worthy ally, but an albatross around the neck of the Democratic Party.
DAVID K. MARTINis a former reporter with the Rocky Mountain News and the Associated Press, who frequently writes about campaign-finance issues as a Washington, D.C.-based journalist.
- KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Alexander Hunter/Washington Timesby CNB