Dangerous Liasons In America’s Judicial Hellholes
December 17, 2008
Carter Wood over at NAM’s ShopFloor blog culls some more interesting material from the American Tort Reform Association’s (ATRA) 2008 survey of America’s Judicial Hellholes – this time on the unholy alliance between “ambitious state attorneys general and private attorneys they hire on a contingency basis to sue business on behalf of the state.” According to ATRA:
It’s a system of legal kickbacks known as “pay to play,” wherein lawyers who contribute to the campaigns of the state’s highest ranking attorney [the Attorney General] can then get a contract for a piece of the action and, in some cases, develop the action themselves and get the go-ahead to pursue it in the state’s name.
ATRA cites Mississippi, Ohio, West Virginia and Rhode Island as “examples of this undemocratic, abusive process,” says Mr. Wood. I guess Illinois was left off the list because in that state “pay to play” only gets you a U.S. Senate seat, not millions in legal fees.