Dan Walters: “Tort Wars” Heating Up Again in California
CJAC Liability Reform Insider (April 22, 2021) – The “tort
wars” over personal injury lawsuits and the rules governing them
in California are flaring up, according to a
column from CalMatters. Dan Walters points to a pending
ballot initiative attacking MICRA and CJAC’s new
Triple Threat Bills list as indications.
Walters notes the tension between plaintiffs’ lawyers and
business groups goes back decades, and with a larger Democratic
majority in the Legislature now, there is a renewed effort on the
part of consumer attorneys to expand litigation.
The Triple Threats list exemplifies the opposing view, that bills
with private rights of action perpetuate lawsuits that earn “fat
fees” for plaintiffs’ lawyers.