The Institute for Legal Reform announced that it released a report documenting how plaintiff attorneys use municipality litigation to influence industry regulation through court settlements, potentially bypassing traditional legislative processes.
The report argues that these legal strategies can circumvent democratic lawmaking and have significant financial and regulatory impacts on industries and consumers.
According to the report, plaintiff attorneys have developed what it calls a “municipality litigation playbook” involving contingency fee arrangements, advertising campaigns, and broad public nuisance claims. It examines seven case studies, including opioid and chemical litigation, in which private attorneys pursued claims on behalf of municipalities on contingency fees as high as 35 percent, rather than working through state attorneys general.
The Manhattan Institute reported that asbestos litigation cost more than $70 billion and contributed to the bankruptcy of more than 80 companies, with an estimated $40 billion paid to lawyers. It further stated that asbestos litigation established a model of mass claimant recruitment, venue shopping, and contingency fee structures that has since been used in other mass tort cases involving pharmaceutical and consumer product manufacturers.
According to the Institute for Legal Reform, the U.S. tort system cost $529 billion in 2022, equivalent to $4,207 per household. The report also notes that before the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, litigation pressures reduced the number of vaccine manufacturers, leaving only one producer of the pertussis vaccine by 1985. It argues that removing existing liability protections, as proposed in the End the Vaccine Carveout Act, could expose vaccine manufacturers to similar litigation risks.
The U.S. tort system cost $529 billion in 2022, equivalent to $4,207 per household, according to the Institute for Legal Reform. Before the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, lawsuit-driven manufacturer exits left only one pertussis vaccine producer by 1985. The End the Vaccine Carveout Act would remove those protections and expose vaccine makers to the same litigation playbook.
The Institute for Legal Reform is an affiliate of the United States Chamber of Commerce focused on reducing excessive litigation and improving the civil justice system. ILR publishes research on tort system costs, litigation trends, and judicial accountability. The institute has advocated for federal preemption of state tort claims involving federally regulated products.
