I’m pleasantly surprised by the new honesty of supporters of so-called tort reform. First, William E. Dart, of the Business Policy Group (Voice, Feb. 9), admits to trying to buy the legislature, and now Edward D. Murnane of the self-styled Civil Justice League admits that most of his support comes from business and medical (Voice, March 19).
If only his math were as good. Murnane claims that lawyers give more to legislators than do his supporters. He compares contributions from lawyers’ PACs, law firms and individual lawyers to contributions from just four PACs on his side. He should count all of the businesses and CEOs that belong to his group and not self-servingly understate his influence.
In our review “Three Years Later: The Demise of Tort Reform,” we found that members of the Illinois Civil Justice League anted up more than $7.5 million to candidates for state office–significantly more than he claims lawyer PACs, law firms and individual lawyers gave.
We also found that, during the three years the Wrongdoer Protection Act was in effect, insurance company profits more than tripled, growing by more than $400 million a year and the businesses that fought to block injury victims from filing lawsuits filed twice as many of their own lawsuits.
The real issue here isn’t who gave money to whom, but how the Wrongdoer Protection Act further harmed injury victims. Curtailing the constitutional rights of people who have been injured may benefit members of the league, but no on else got much out of it.
Not surprisingly, our Annual Voter Survey found that 9 out of 10 Illinoisans oppose Murnane’s agenda.
