Whatever your opinion of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's evergreen battle with the plaintiffs bar, it's hard not to admire the metaphorical flourish of its latest advertising campaign.
A new Chamber site, TrialLawyerEarmarks.com, depicts a thicket of vines sprouting and strangling the U.S. Capitol. Each one represents a legislative front where the "trial lawyer agenda" is on the march.
Less metaphorically, the site acts as a clearinghouse for all the Chamber’s lawsuit-related legislative gripes. Anti-mandatory-arbitration legislation targeting the credit card industry, Consumer Product Safety Act reauthorization, and carve-outs on federal pre-emption — it's all there, along with a dozen other bills.
"The out of control U.S. lawsuit system already costs the average American family of four $3,200 a year," the Chamber claims, extrapolating from a Towers Perrin study that counts the losses from tort litigation (though not the gains).
One thing that caught Influence's eye about the new media campaign is the Chamber's use of the word "earmarks" to describe non-monetary legislative provisions rather than congressionally directed funding for specific projects. Most of the objectionable items of legislation aren’t earmarks at all — just measures that are allegedly of benefit to an interest group. Evidently, the Chamber hopes the term's stigma can rub off.
Typical US Chamber commentary w/o any factual support. The TowerPerrin study was dismissed as dishonest and factually unsupported some time ago.
The US Chamber has marched through individual rights and States' rights by sneaking "claims" of preemption in the preambles of regulations. No hearings. No debates. They delieberate chose to get unelected bureaucrats in federal government to "claim" preemption.
US Chamber's time is up on this deceptive pattern of immunizing corporations for their misconduct (workplace injuries, defective products, etc.). You cannot harm and maim families and expect a free pass -- it violates every tenet of our modern justice system that finds its roots in the Bible.
What's funny is that the "tort reformers" sue each other left and right whenever they fell as though they've been wronged, whether business vs. business (which makes up the highest number of civil lawsuits) or for personal injuries (W.Va. Chamber prez sued for his kids' injuries; Bork sued for a slip-and-fall, etc.). The US Chamber just wants to close doors to the courthouse for everyone else. Hypocrites.
Companies represented by the Chamber should spend their time and money focusing on how to develop and deliver their products and services in a a safe manner.
US Chamber: Good luck off-shore, where you can harm prople without fear of being held accountable.
Posted by: DB | July 29, 2008 at 08:15 AM
Did you see that the President of the ILR slipped up and said that these "earmarks" are actually legal reform?
http://www.tortdeform.com/archives/2008/07/president_of_institute_for_leg.html
Posted by: Justinian Lane | July 28, 2008 at 01:47 PM