Sending a Message to California Trial Lawyers

Sending a Message to California Trial Lawyers

Tom Scott, Executive Director of California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse wries about “Voting No on 45 and 46”

Election Day is quickly approaching and the end is near, both for the election cycle and for those annoying campaign ads that have been everywhere in the last few days.

This Election Day, you have an opportunity to send a clear message to the trial lawyers in California that you will not tolerate more abuse of our legal system. By voting No on Propositions 45 and 46, you will tell the trial lawyers in this state that enough is enough, and we don’t need any more badly written initiatives that only line the trial lawyers’ pockets. This is not a new concept for them; just look at Proposition 65 in 1986 and Proposition 37 in 2012.

The incentive for trial lawyers to write and support Prop. 45 are the millions of dollars they are poised to make through abusive lawsuits. Through the intervenor process, the trial lawyers can intervene in insurance rate cases to challenge filings or proposed rules. As part of this process, they can collect fees of up to $675 an hour. They did this back in 1988 with Prop. 103 and have already made $14 million in lawsuits. Trial lawyers are looking to create another gravy train, as Prop. 45 is essentially a carbon copy of Prop. 103.

As for Prop. 46, the trial lawyers’ number one agenda item in California is increasing their payout from medical malpractice lawsuits. Do not be fooled when you hear that that this initiative is about drug testing of doctors or a database. Prop. 46 is written by trial lawyers, funded by trial lawyers and designed to enrich trial lawyers. 97% of the contributions to Prop. 46 are from the trial lawyers. Only one high-profile politician is supporting it, Senator Barbara Boxer. Why is that? Her husband is a medical malpractice attorney. Just check out Boxer and Gerson in Oakland.

How can you help stop these propositions from becoming law? You can vote! If you have not already voted by absentee ballot, you can vote on Election Day. If you are not sure of where your polling station is, click on this link to find out.

Send a clear message to the trial lawyers, Vote No on 45 and 46. California needs to be creating jobs, not more lawsuits.

Scroll to Top