It's a curious thing really.
Bullies wreak havoc on the civil justice system. Someone takes a stand against them - and they attack again. That's the fear. The fear of exposure. The particular bullies I am referring to are the
United States Chamber of Commerce and the
American Tort Reform Association (ATRA). These organizations spend a lot of money stripping you of your rights while tricking you into believing they are doing something good for you. They accomplished very much by way of poisoning the jury pool (that's us - the people, the voters) to believe that somehow innocent people who are intimidated, maimed, injured, or killed are spectacles to be mocked. That a person who suffers is lying and that people do not have the right to have their grievances heard. But the people do. The Constitution, by way of the
Seventh Amendment confers on United States citizens, the right to a trial by jury in civil matters. But that right has been chipped at and whittled down, so much so that the
Courthouse doors have been closed to many regular people, like you and I. And once upon a time they were much more protected than they are today. That was before
"tort reform" became a right-wing political maneuver, or more aptly called, weapon of mass destruction.
BACKGROUND:
The case that the insurance companies and the corporations pounced on like mice to cheese, was the now infamous "McDonald's Coffee Case." What you have heard about it is not likely the truth. The simple, but significant truth is that McDonald's brewed its coffee at a temperature hotter than industry standards and it caused the Plaintiff, Stella Liebeck to be burned and permanently scarred over 16% of her body. She asked McDonalds to pay for only her medical bills, a mere $20,000 (and thereby settle the claim at that point). McDonald's said no and forced litigation (after offering to settle for a laughable $800). The jury returned a reasonable verdict of $200,000 (minus 20% for Liebecks contributory negligence) and also gave $2.7 million dollars in punitive damages for McDonald's "willful, reckless, wanton or malicious conduct for selling a dangerous product." This $2.7 million dollar figure was hardly a punishment for Mcdonald's as it equalled only two days of coffee sales). But the corporate powers that be seized upon this case and told us that this was a frivolous lawsuit and that the jury (us) award was excessive - another way of calling us stupid.
The seemingly irreparable damage that has been caused to our civil justice system as a result of the propaganda sprung forth from that case has been devastating. It has caused virtually every Plaintiff's trial lawyer to have to ask each prospective juror about the McDonald's coffee case in effort to discover and diffuse any bias that may exist against someone who rightfully utilizes the American justice system. The damage seemed irreparable, until now.
FIGHTING BACK:
Enter the HBO documentary movie,
"Hot Coffee" by Oregon trial lawyer,
Susan Saladoff. I had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Saladoff after hearing her speak at the Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association Annual Convention on June 4, 2012. Her passion is real, firey and contagious. One cannot embark on such a time-consuming and all-too important undertaking like making a feature film documentary unless one is passionate and dedicated. Ms. Saladoff took time away from her practice to make the Hot Coffee movie. It was time someone told the truth to the people. That's you and me, folks. We are the voters, the jurors and the one's with the power to preserve our rights. It may be a cliche, but knowledge is power and if we want to ensure that we continue to have a civil justice system that is fair and works for us, we need to know who is working against us. We need to know who to vote for. It should come as no secret that the trial lawyers fight for the people. We fight for your right to go to court. We ensure through litigation and even legislation that products are made safely and that products that can harm and/or kill you are removed from the marketplace. This is what trial lawyers do.
THE ATTACK:
The United States Chamber of Commerce and the American Tort Reform Association, of which
Victor Schwartz is General Counsel, have decided that they do not like the trial lawyers telling the truth to the people. They do not like being exposed. Although they should be very proud of themselves for turning injury victims and their lawsuits, for the most part, into a joke. And they have been winning their bogus tort reform arguments for the last several decades by spending millions of corporate dollars to do so. So what did The Chamber and ATRA do when faced with the truth in the form of the documentary, Hot Coffee? They bought the domain name:
HotCoffeeTruth.com and created and paid for an Advertisement which has been on Facebook which links to said website and now have also taken to Twitter using the handle
@HotCoffeeTruth. The Hot Coffee "Truth" website features a staged seminar with Victor Schwartz hosting and moderating. The Panel includes these people: Jon Gray, a retired judge and practicing defense attorney; Sheila Scheverman, a Torts Professor at Charleston School of Law; and Paul Figley, Professor of Washington College of Law, American University. Schwartz and his panel proceed to attack Hot Coffee. Their feeble and probably expensive attempt to pull the wool over your eyes is nothing more than continued engagement in tort reform propaganda. Don't they ever get tired? Not as long as the money doesn't run out.
WHO IS THE CHAMBER & ATRA TARGETING?
While I do not have scientific data as to the answer to this question, I do have common sense and pretty good powers of observation. First, a Facebook Ad would tend to give one the impression that they are perhaps targeting the younger generation (you know, the up and coming voters). It also became crystal clear (to me anyway) that they were targeting younger people when lo and behold, Mr. Schwartz himself asks the following question in his Ad: "What should
law students expect from the movie?"
[Emphasis Added].
WHY IT IS IMPORTANT FOR THE TRIAL LAWYERS TO ANSWER THIS ATTACK
We live in age of
social media. Information is disseminated at lightning speed - and not all of it is true. In my opinion, social media is still in its infancy and those who use it best (and first) will find the most success. I use Twitter. In fact, I love Twitter. There are other lawyers on Twitter and, in fact, there are some great lawyers on Twitter. But there aren't enough. I take it very seriously that if The Chamber of Commerce and The American Tort Reform Association are going to actively engage the public through Twitter and Facebook and various other social media outlets that the trial lawyers need to be prepared to fight the battle on that front. Not only the trial lawyers, but all people who believe in fairness in the civil justice system should make their voices heard. Finally, I suggest to anyone who has not yet seen the movie, Hot Coffee to please do so. It will provide you with the truth.
