The American Tort Reform Association released a report on Jan. 27 documenting how a coordinated network of trial lawyers, researchers, and advocacy groups uses manufactured scientific claims to drive mass tort litigation against vaccine manufacturers and other industries.
The topic is significant as it addresses the influence of scientific research in legal actions that can impact major sectors such as pharmaceuticals and environmental policy. The report highlights concerns about the creation of new studies when existing evidence does not support certain causation theories.
The report found that when existing scientific evidence does not support a causation theory, litigation actors may generate new studies intended to fill the gap and revive failing lawsuits, according to the American Tort Reform Association (ATRA). The report identifies vaccine safety disputes as one of three active areas where such research is used, alongside acetaminophen litigation and climate attribution science, according to ATRA.
ATRA reported that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. disclosed $856,559 in income tied to contingency-fee cases, including litigation involving Roundup herbicide and the Gardasil vaccine. Kennedy served as of counsel to Morgan & Morgan from 2016 to 2022, earning a 10% contingency fee on referred cases at what ATRA describes as the nation’s largest personal injury law firm according to ATRA.
According to the Institute for Legal Reform, the U.S. tort system cost $529 billion in 2022, equal to 2.1% of gross domestic product and $4,207 per household, with costs growing at an annual rate of 7.1%. The report notes that the preemption issue before the Supreme Court applies broadly to federally regulated products, including vaccines covered under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986.
ATRA is a national coalition of businesses, municipalities and professional organizations founded in 1986 that advocates for civil justice reform. The organization publishes an annual "Judicial Hellholes" report ranking jurisdictions by litigation climate and says it has tracked regulation-by-litigation practices for nearly four decades according to ATRA.
