Thursday, May 17, 2007

U.S. Chamber of Commerce Running Misleading Ad on "Lawsuit Abuse"

If "lawsuit abuse" were a real problem, why would the Chamber of Commerce (lobbying arm of big business), need to run a misleading ad?

From Factcheck.org:

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is running a TV ad alleging that "lawsuit abuse" is costing "your family" $3,500 a year. That's false. The figure is from a study that estimates the cost of all lawsuits, not just abusive ones.

Even the author of the study cited by the chamber says its ad is "misleading." The fact is his study makes no attempt to specify which lawsuits are legitimate and which can be considered abusive. Furthermore, the study specifically warns against drawing any conclusions about the costs and benefits of the judicial system and even acknowledges that the benefits could outweigh the costs. The chamber ignores this warning. It also fails to note that the same study estimates the cost of all lawsuits at the lowest level in 10 years.

That's the summary. The analysis follows at the link above.

Labels: tort reform

posted by Eric Turkewitz  # Permanent Link

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