Criminal justice reform appears to be one of the rare items that Republicans and Democrats agree on.

At the federal level, the First Step Act was a huge step forward in regards to righting historical wrongs. Anyone who has cared about criminal justice reform, on both sides of the aisle, saw the Act as a meaningful piece of legislation.

At the state level, chipping away at the war on drugs, via cannabis legalization, has begun to take hold in states. In Illinois, cannabis legalization is due by the first of next year, and that will be a net positive for residents.

But more can be done to make the justice system more fair and just. Earlier this month, a ranking of state legal systems was released by the Institute For Legal Reform. Atop the list is Delaware, which scored first place by curbing meritless class actions, having high-quality judges, and by having a stable and predictable legal climate. At the bottom of the list, at 50th, is the state of Illinois.

Illinois, weighed down by the poor scores of Madison and Cook County, failed to rank above 48th in any of the 10 categories evaluated in the report. Despite the fact that the national trend in criminal justice is moving towards fairness, Illinois is lagging behind. That’s a problem worth addressing.

How did Illinois rank so poorly? Much of the state’s poor performance comes from the fact that the state’s legal system is ripe for frivolous, and sometimes abusive, litigation. For example, recent class actions on the use of asbestos filed in Illinois have actually been on behalf of plaintiffs who don’t live in the state. Some 92% of Illinois’ asbestos plaintiffs aren’t actually from Illinois. If that has you scratching your head, you aren’t the only one.

Illinois has set itself up as the bogus lawsuit capital of the United States, mostly on the back of the Illinois Supreme Court ruling on biometric scanners. In that case, plaintiffs rightfully wanted to have their privacy protected. Unfortunately, the state Supreme Court ruled in that case that plaintiffs didn’t actually have to prove that they were harmed in order to sue. This precedent has cleared the way for Illinois courts to be filled with frivolous class actions, most of whom aren’t actually from the state at all.

This technical point in the legal system matters in the context of criminal justice reform because it makes a state court system that is increasingly unpredictable, and increasingly unfair. Tort law exists in the United States for the purpose of punishing harmful behavior and civil wrongs, but that is being distorted. Unfortunately, the thousands of tort law firms that exist in the United States now see Illinois as the perfect jurisdiction to bring forth their often outrageous and frivolous class actions. The situation has become so dire that bogus lawsuits cost Chicago area taxpayers upwards of $3.8 billion in 2018.

There is a tort crisis in the United States, which is soaking taxpayers, driving up costs for consumers, and ultimately distorting the purpose of tort law altogether. Unfortunately, Illinois has allowed itself to become ground zero for this growing problem, which is a huge disservice to all residents.

As part of Illinois’ push for criminal justice reform, legislators should seriously look at how the state court system is being abused, and ensure change is made to make Illinois’ courts fairer, and ultimately, more just.

Originally published here.

The Consumer Choice Center is the consumer advocacy group supporting lifestyle freedom, innovation, privacy, science, and consumer choice. The main policy areas we focus on are digital, mobility, lifestyle & consumer goods, and health & science.

The CCC represents consumers in over 100 countries across the globe. We closely monitor regulatory trends in Ottawa, Washington, Brussels, Geneva and other hotspots of regulation and inform and activate consumers to fight for #ConsumerChoice. Learn more at consumerchoicecenter.org.

From bogus lawsuits to unscrupulous trial lawyers, Yaël Ossowski of the Consumer Choice Center breaks down why we need more attention on reforming our legal system to better serve individuals and consumers who have been wronged.

Interviewed by radio host Joe Catenacci on Big Talker 106.7 FM in Wilmington, N.C.

https://consumerchoicecenter.org

Another day, another bogus lawsuit.

That seems to be the trend in today’s frantic fever to adjudicate every aspect of our lives. It’s gone much beyond the famous $3 million McDonald’s “hot coffee” lawsuit of the 1990s.

We see this with the landmark $572 million opioid lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson in Oklahoma, boiling down all the complexities of a multi-faceted crisis to the workings of one big bad company in a single court case.

This, even though the company’s pharmaceutical subsidiary only sold two opioid drugs for a period of a decade and it represented just 1 percent of the entire U.S. opioid market. The lawyers hired by the attorney general of Oklahoma will net a handsome $90 million as a result of this suit. The rest of the money will be allocated to the state of Oklahoma for education, addiction centers and the general budget, without much oversight. Something is rotten in the state of Oklahoma.

Though the Food & Drug Administration shares in the blame for the opioid crisis, owing to its 1995 endorsement of opioids for “chronic pain” when the science only supported short-term use, the issue is simply too complex to relegate to a single trial.

In California, a recent jury trial on glyphosate, the herbicide in Round-up, gives us a similar example.

Dozens of international environmental agencies, hundreds of studies and millions more farmers have attested that glyphosate is both safe and not carcinogenic, including our own Environmental Protection Agency.

But in July, the jury returned a verdict against Bayer subsidiary Monsanto, ordering the company to pay $86.7 million to a couple who claimed the herbicide contributed to their case of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. That’s drastically reduced from the $2 billion the trial attorneys sought, but will still net them a good payday and spawn hundreds of similar lawsuits.

Again, this is relegating science to the courts of justice. And consumers will be the ones to pay. No doubt, the power of the courts is a mighty one, and intended to provide justice to those who have been wronged.

But have we been led astray?

Known as tort law, this part of our legal system was originally designed to punish bad behavior and “civil wrongs.” Today, thousands of law firms exist solely to pursue large torts against corporations that would rather pay out moderate sums than face the burden of unpredictable trials. These costs end up raising the costs for both consumers and taxpayers, as more resources must be used in litigating the concerns and helping pay for the exorbitant levels of purported damage.

In the Chicago area, one group estimated that tort abuse brought by bogus lawsuits resulted in a cost of $3.8 billion to the city and county last year alone.

It’s no wonder tort lawyers are some of the biggest advertisers in the nation.

Across the United States, television commercials and highway billboards taken out by tort law firms implore consumers to “call now “ to “cash in” on the major settlement that is set to pay out huge winnings.

The conditions for joining the lawsuit are general if not spurious. Have you been in a bad car wreck involving a Toyota Camry? Did you use baby powder in the years between 1980 and 1995?

Many lawsuits arise because of “pricing discrepancies” (prices rounded to 99 cents rather than the dollar) as witnessed by the dozens of Amazon or Banana Republic settlements you may have seen in your inbox. These lawsuits are filed with the intention of getting big paydays for the attorneys who conjure them up, not civil justice.

It’s no wonder that firms, once they achieve a certain size, are forced to raise prices to push back against these many frivolous suits.

These lawsuits end up costing consumers dearly. And it shouldn’t be that way.

That’s why we need legal reform in our country. By capping the payments from these exorbitant lawsuits, actually defining who can be a defendant, and bringing legitimate science into the courtroom, this can be achieved.

Yes, bad actors must be punished. But we cannot continue to allow bogus lawsuits launched by dubious lawyers looking more for a payday than actual justice. We, as both consumers and citizens, deserve better.

Read more here

Another day, another bogus lawsuit.

That seems to be the trend in today’s frantic fever to adjudicate every aspect of our lives. It’s gone much beyond the famous $3 million McDonald’s “hot coffee” lawsuit of the 1990s.

We see this with the landmark $572 million opioid lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson in Oklahoma, boiling down all the complexities of a multi-faceted crisis to the workings of one big bad company in a single court case.

This, even though the company’s pharmaceutical subsidiary only sold two opioid drugs for a period of a decade and it represented just 1 percent of the entire U.S. opioid market. The lawyers hired by the attorney general of Oklahoma will net a handsome $90 million as a result of this suit. The rest of the money will be allocated to the state of Oklahoma for education, addiction centers and the general budget, without much oversight. Something is rotten in the state of Oklahoma.

Though the Food & Drug Administration shares in the blame for the opioid crisis, owing to its 1995 endorsement of opioids for “chronic pain” when the science only supported short-term use, the issue is simply too complex to relegate to a single trial.

In California, a recent jury trial on glyphosate, the herbicide in Round-up, gives us a similar example.

Dozens of international environmental agencies, hundreds of studies and millions more farmers have attested that glyphosate is both safe and not carcinogenic, including our own Environmental Protection Agency.

But in July, the jury returned a verdict against Bayer subsidiary Monsanto, ordering the company to pay $86.7 million to a couple who claimed the herbicide contributed to their case of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. That’s drastically reduced from the $2 billion the trial attorneys sought, but will still net them a good payday and spawn hundreds of similar lawsuits.

Again, this is relegating science to the courts of justice. And consumers will be the ones to pay. No doubt, the power of the courts is a mighty one, and intended to provide justice to those who have been wronged.

But have we been led astray?

Known as tort law, this part of our legal system was originally designed to punish bad behavior and “civil wrongs.” Today, thousands of law firms exist solely to pursue large torts against corporations that would rather pay out moderate sums than face the burden of unpredictable trials. These costs end up raising the costs for both consumers and taxpayers, as more resources must be used in litigating the concerns and helping pay for the exorbitant levels of purported damage.

In the Chicago area, one group estimated that tort abuse brought by bogus lawsuits resulted in a cost of $3.8 billion to the city and county last year alone.

It’s no wonder tort lawyers are some of the biggest advertisers in the nation.

Across the United States, television commercials and highway billboards taken out by tort law firms implore consumers to “call now “ to “cash in” on the major settlement that is set to pay out huge winnings.

The conditions for joining the lawsuit are general if not spurious. Have you been in a bad car wreck involving a Toyota Camry? Did you use baby powder in the years between 1980 and 1995?

Many lawsuits arise because of “pricing discrepancies” (prices rounded to 99 cents rather than the dollar) as witnessed by the dozens of Amazon or Banana Republic settlements you may have seen in your inbox. These lawsuits are filed with the intention of getting big paydays for the attorneys who conjure them up, not civil justice.

It’s no wonder that firms, once they achieve a certain size, are forced to raise prices to push back against these many frivolous suits.

These lawsuits end up costing consumers dearly. And it shouldn’t be that way.

That’s why we need legal reform in our country. By capping the payments from these exorbitant lawsuits, actually defining who can be a defendant, and bringing legitimate science into the courtroom, this can be achieved.

Yes, bad actors must be punished. But we cannot continue to allow bogus lawsuits launched by dubious lawyers looking more for a payday than actual justice. We, as both consumers and citizens, deserve better.

Originally published here

Another day, another bogus lawsuit.

That seems to be the trend in today’s frantic fever to adjudicate every aspect of our lives. It’s gone much beyond the famous $3 million McDonald’s “hot coffee” lawsuit of the 1990s.

We see this with the landmark $572 million opioid lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson in Oklahoma, boiling down all the complexities of a multi-faceted crisis to the workings of one big bad company in a single court case.

This, even though the company’s pharmaceutical subsidiary only sold two opioid drugs for a period of a decade and it represented just 1 percent of the entire U.S. opioid market. The lawyers hired by the attorney general of Oklahoma will net a handsome $90 million as a result of this suit. The rest of the money will be allocated to the state of Oklahoma for education, addiction centers and the general budget, without much oversight. Something is rotten in the state of Oklahoma.

Though the Food & Drug Administration shares in the blame for the opioid crisis, owing to its 1995 endorsement of opioids for “chronic pain” when the science only supported short-term use, the issue is simply too complex to relegate to a single trial.

In California, a recent jury trial on glyphosate, the herbicide in Round-up, gives us a similar example.

Dozens of international environmental agencies, hundreds of studies and millions more farmers have attested that glyphosate is both safe and not carcinogenic, including our own Environmental Protection Agency.

But in July, the jury returned a verdict against Bayer subsidiary Monsanto, ordering the company to pay $86.7 million to a couple who claimed the herbicide contributed to their case of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. That’s drastically reduced from the $2 billion the trial attorneys sought, but will still net them a good payday and spawn hundreds of similar lawsuits.

Again, this is relegating science to the courts of justice. And consumers will be the ones to pay. No doubt, the power of the courts is a mighty one, and intended to provide justice to those who have been wronged.

But have we been led astray?

Known as tort law, this part of our legal system was originally designed to punish bad behavior and “civil wrongs.” Today, thousands of law firms exist solely to pursue large torts against corporations that would rather pay out moderate sums than face the burden of unpredictable trials. These costs end up raising the costs for both consumers and taxpayers, as more resources must be used in litigating the concerns and helping pay for the exorbitant levels of purported damage.

In the Chicago area, one group estimated that tort abuse brought by bogus lawsuits resulted in a cost of $3.8 billion to the city and county last year alone.

It’s no wonder tort lawyers are some of the biggest advertisers in the nation.

Across the United States, television commercials and highway billboards taken out by tort law firms implore consumers to “call now “ to “cash in” on the major settlement that is set to pay out huge winnings.

The conditions for joining the lawsuit are general if not spurious. Have you been in a bad car wreck involving a Toyota Camry? Did you use baby powder in the years between 1980 and 1995?

Many lawsuits arise because of “pricing discrepancies” (prices rounded to 99 cents rather than the dollar) as witnessed by the dozens of Amazon or Banana Republic settlements you may have seen in your inbox. These lawsuits are filed with the intention of getting big paydays for the attorneys who conjure them up, not civil justice.

It’s no wonder that firms, once they achieve a certain size, are forced to raise prices to push back against these many frivolous suits.

These lawsuits end up costing consumers dearly. And it shouldn’t be that way.

That’s why we need legal reform in our country. By capping the payments from these exorbitant lawsuits, actually defining who can be a defendant, and bringing legitimate science into the courtroom, this can be achieved.

Yes, bad actors must be punished. But we cannot continue to allow bogus lawsuits launched by dubious lawyers looking more for a payday than actual justice. We, as both consumers and citizens, deserve better.

Originally published here