Corporations Biggest Filers of Frivolous Suits

by Jim Hightower



Look for a big push by Bush this year to restrict your right to sue corporations that harm or cheat you.



George
claims that you unruly citizens are treating big corporations unfairly,
constantly filing “frivolous lawsuits” against them. So, to protect the
poor corporations, Bush says he must limit your access to America's
courts.



But
here's a dirty little secret that Bush doesn't mention: By far the
biggest filers of frivolous lawsuits are not We the People – but
corporations! The consumer group, Public Citizen, has done a survey of
cases in Arkansas, Mississippi, Chicago and Philadelphia – four places
alleged to be hotbeds of what Bush and his corporate backers like to
call “lawsuit abuse” by us little folks.



The
cases reveal that, contrary to the propaganda, American businesses file
about four times as many lawsuits as do individuals – even though there
are 40 times more individuals in America than businesses. Also, the
survey finds that corporations and their legal beagles file frivolous
lawsuits 69 percent more often than individuals do.



Big
companies keep a bevy of attorneys on staff or on retainer, and they
routinely unleash them on their customers, competitors, suppliers,
workers, and anyone else standing between them and another dollar bill.
 



Regular
folks, however, count on a system of trial lawyers to help us when
we've been wronged. These lawyers pay for all of the up front costs of
us going to trial, and they only get paid if we win. This democratic,
entrepreneurial system gives poor and middle-class families access to
the judicial system – not just the rich.



It's
this access that Bush & Company want to take away. Yet, the
corporations pushing Bush's hokey “reform” – the very corporations that
are so quick to run to the courthouse with frivolous suits – are
demanding that they be exempted from the law to shut off access to the
system.



To get Public Citizen's report  [Frequent Filers:

Corporate Hypocrisy in Accessing the Courts] and fight for your rights, call 202-454-5104.





Jim
Hightower is the best-selling author of Thieves In High Places:
They've Stolen Our Country And It's Time To Take It Back, on sale now
from Viking Press.  He can also be found at MinutemanMedia.org.