CJAC: Fighting Wasteful Lawsuits. . .
Bringing Balance to the Civil Justice System

The Civil Justice Association of California is a non-profit, membership supported coalition of citizens, taxpayers, businesses, local governments, professionals, manufacturers, financial institutions, insurers, and medical organizations.

Founded in 1979, CJAC is the only statewide association dedicated solely to improving California's civil liability system. It is active in both the Legislature and the courts, working to reduce the excessive and unwarranted litigation that increases business and government expenses, discourages innovation, and drives up the costs of goods and services for all consumers.

Our program operates on four major fronts:

• Legislative Lobbying
• Amicus Briefs
• Research
• Public and Opinion Leader Education

Our staff lobbyist-lawyers aggressively bring to the Legislature sound legal reform arguments and lead coalitions to defeat personal injury lawyer-backed bills. Our proposals strive for increased fairness and efficiency in the civil justice system, seeking to reduce the kind of litigation that produces money for the legal industry, but nothing of corresponding value for clients or the public. On defense we protect our members from attempts by plaintiffs' attorneys to get new laws that make it easier for them to file more lawsuits and leverage bigger settlements. We show the Governor and the Legislature that the trial lawyer agenda is not in the interest of people who depend upon a healthy state economy.

We have stopped trial lawyer efforts to pass bounty-hunter statutes that let them sue and collect attorney fees - even when they haven't a legitimate client. We have stopped trial lawyer bills to eliminate the privacy protection of material collected in a lawsuit and never used at trial. We are countering their attempt to destroy arbitration agreements, undermine medical malpractice law reforms, expand litigation against health care, and open companies to increased litigation in areas of employment, securities, and anti-trust law.

We work in Sacramento to win passage of bills to restrain excessive punitive damages, reduce expensive employment litigation, and head off the kind of asbestos litigation that has been little more than an attorney fee machine in other states. We are also working to further reduce wasteful construction lawsuits, and promote swifter resolution of lawsuits and the early elimination of suits with no merit.

Our Association's Legislative Program laid the basis for the drafting and campaign culminating in landmark business liability reform in 2004 - the passage of Proposition 64.

On November 2, 2004, California voters overwhelmingly approved (59% to 41%) an initiative, Proposition 64, which stopped "shakedown" lawsuits being filed by private lawyers against businesses of every kind and size. "Credit for this bit of sanity goes to the Civil Justice Association of California, a nonprofit group that's been urging change for nearly a decade," the Wall Street Journal editorialized after the win. The association guided the initiative's development, early funding, and coalition building. Our president served as a co-chair of the "Yes on 64" campaign. In March 2000 our president was a major spokesman in the successful campaign for propositions 30 and 31 that overturned a trial lawyer attempt to restore costly lawsuits against insurers.

The Association played a significant role in the crushing defeat of trial lawyer-sponsored propositions 211 and 207 on the November 1996 ballot. Our president was co-chair of the campaign against the securities lawyers' Proposition 211 and also chaired the campaign against Proposition 207.

The Association’s staff is headed by President John H. Sullivan, who first led the organization in 1991-92, and returned in late 1994 after serving as chief deputy director of the Department of Fish and Game. Sullivan was Undersecretary of the State Business, Transportation and Housing Agency from 1986-1990. An attorney, he is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law.

Kimberly Stone is CJAC's Vice President - Legislation. She joined the organization in mid-2005 as Legislative Director and has been especially effective in coalition building and countering legislation detrimental to CJAC members and the civil justice system. She supervises CJAC's Local Action Program directed by Andy Kotner.

Prior to joining CJAC she worked for the Adelante Foundation, a non-profit organization in Honduras. She has also worked as a Deputy District Attorney for San Mateo County and a Special Assistant to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California. Ms. Stone is a graduate of Stanford University and Stanford University School of Law.

Rick Rivas joined the Civil Justice Association of California in June 2007 as Director of Public Affairs. Rivas directs CJAC's political operations through its political action and independent expenditure committees. He oversees CJAC's campaign contribution tracking project, participates in media and community relations, and assists in communications and membership development.

Prior to joining the CJAC team, Rivas was Legislative Aide/Communications Director for Assemblywoman Anna Caballero, who took office late last year. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan's Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and Santa Clara University.

Cynthia Neff j joined CJAC’s staff as Director of Communications and Research in January 2008. Never has there been more news – nationally and in California – illustrating the need for balanced civil justice reform. Ms. Neff plays a key role for CJAC in getting that message out to the media and the public.

Prior to joining the CJAC team, Neff covered crime as a reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. She has also covered city and county governments and education while reporting for The (San Luis Obispo) Tribune and the Merced Sun-Star. She also served as assistant city editor while at The Tribune.

CJAC's General Counsel, Fred Hiestand, retained to run the Association's Appellate Program, has 25 years of experience in California liability law and has argued numerous times before the California Supreme Court. He received a bachelor's degree from Whittier College and a law degree from the University of California at Berkeley.

Debbie Edgar is CJAC's Finance and Operations Manager. She joined the CJAC team in 1995 as the Assistant to the President. Debbie is responsible for managing the support staff, overseeing membership development, financial tracking, budget preparation, the annual audit, retirement and benefit programs, and compliance with workplace regulations.

Our research documents the harm lawsuit abuse causes taxpayers, businesses, consumers, and professionals. We deliver these facts to key policymakers and opinion leaders. We research and publicize the massive campaign contributions made by contingency fee lawyers. At election time our website attracts thousands of visits by reporters and others interested in this accurate contribution data.

We also fund important independent research, such as the McGeorge School of Law Capital Center for Law & Government study that revealed at least $6.4 billion in jury verdicts awarded during the 1990s.

Business, legal, political reporters, and editorial writers frequently contact us for information and comments on breaking stories in the courts and the Legislature. Our data and quotes have been used in Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, Readers Digest, Business Week, and other national publications. Recorded interviews with CJAC's president have run on CNN, National Public Radio, and numerous radio and television programs in California. We regularly distribute news releases, and statements on legal issues.

Through our Appellate Program we file briefs and participate in oral arguments in significant liability cases. We have been ranked by California Lawyer magazine as one of the top three groups in numbers of briefs filed with the California Supreme Court. (The plaintiffs' lawyers' association is also in the top three.)

We have made important contributions to decisions affecting product liability law, premises liability, unfair competition law, evidence and junk science, arbitration, and other key areas affecting the defendant community.

We are the only legal reform organization reviewing every case filed in the state's six courts of appeal and the California Supreme Court.

We also operate a separate Political Action Committee, Californians for Civil Justice Reform, and special Independent Expenditure Committees ("IE Committees") which raise funds and participate in campaigns - especially in situations where the voters should be informed about the trial lawyers' big dollar "investment" in candidates.

In the 2004 election cycle, CJAC's IE Committees raised and spent nearly $1 million to defeat personal injury lawyer-supported candidates and elect pro-liability reform candidates to the Legislature. The CJAC PACs played a crucial role in defeating two plaitiffs' lawyers who were attempting to win Assembly seats. Our PAC helped elect one liability reform candidate to the Senate and re-elect a liability reform candidate to the Assembly. Even greater participation is planned for the 2006 election cycle.

Managed and funded separately from the Association, the CJAC PACs provide an additional, vital way for pro-legal reform companies to play a direct part in electing candidates who have a positive approach to the business economy and understand the harm that an out-of-control legal system can do to jobs and business income. The CJAC PAC structure assures top quality campaign consulting and continual review of campaign law compliance.

We represent local governments and schools as well as businesses and professionals. We work closely with other associations and representatives of individual companies in Sacramento, providing data and building coalitions to further our joint goals.