Trial Attorneys Received $40B from Lawsuits, Including Those for Medical Malpractice, in 2002, Study Says

Trial attorneys in 2002 received $40 billion from lawsuits filed over issues such as asbestos and medical malpractice, according to a report released on Tuesday by the Manhattan Institute, the Washington Times reports. The report, which excluded tobacco settlement payments, found that awards totaled $205.4 billion last year and that plaintiffs' attorneys on average received about 19% of settlements. In addition, the report found that the total cost of asbestos-related awards could reach $275 billion; trial attorneys to date have filed about 600,000 asbestos-related lawsuits, which have led 67 companies to file for bankruptcy and have led to $54 billion in settlements. The report also found that damage awards in malpractice lawsuits have increased by an average of $1 million in the past two years; malpractice insurance premium rates have increased 30% to 75% nationwide over the same period. The report, supported by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), also found that trial attorneys are targeting the pharmaceutical, health care, food and paint industries with lawsuits. Sessions said of trial attorneys, "When we talk about a $40 billion operation that is bigger than Coca-Cola or Microsoft, we're talking about a big business that deserves the same scrutiny and regulation like any other big business."

Legislative Response
Lawmakers have introduced a number of bills to address the issue (Higgins, Washington Times, 9/24). For example, lawmakers have introduced legislation that would cap damage awards in malpractice lawsuits, as well as bills that would require federal courts to hear all class-action lawsuits and establish a trust fund to compensate individuals with asbestos-related illnesses (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 9/22). In addition, lawmakers have introduced a bill that would ban obesity-related lawsuits against the food industry. However, Carlton Carl, a spokesperson for the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, said that such legislation would cause "further harm to victims of fraudulent" HMOs and toxic substances, the Times reports. Carl also criticized the Manhattan Institute report as "another recycled study financed by the insurance industry and put out by organizations supported by the insurance, tobacco, chemical and other industries" (Washington Times, 9/24). The report is available online.