Report: Trial lawyers donate millions to Democrats with taxpayer funds
The report highlights major trial lawyer firms diverting taxpayer funds to left-wing causes through public contracts with state attorneys general offices. These firms donated predominantly to Democrats, with 99% of their federal political contributions going to left-leaning entities in 2023. Concerns about the influence of such contracts on political agendas have prompted actions by some Republican attorneys general.
EXCLUSIVE — Major trial lawyer firms divert taxpayer money to left-wing causes using public contracts they negotiate with state attorneys general offices, according to a new report.
The report from the consumer advocacy group Alliance for Consumers, which has been tracking the political bent of trial lawyer firms for several years, notes eight major plaintiff-side law firms gave 99% of their federal political donations to left-wing causes in 2023. Those firms are able to divert taxpayer money toward these causes through contracts they enter with states in major litigation, such as opioid cases, the report found.
“For too long, the Left treated consumer protection as a way to push their ideological agenda, line their pockets, and punish their enemies, all at great cost to the actual everyday consumers who are most deserving,” O.H. Skinner, executive director of Alliance for Consumers, told the Washington Examiner. “Without much notice, consumers fell by the wayside as the Left turned consumer protection into a political and ideological engine for their goals.”
“There was too little focus on how trial lawyers funneled 99% of their federal political giving to Democrats and their allies, and how this was fueled by deeply flawed public contracts that were signed in the name of consumers,” Skinner added. “There was too little attention on how the trial lawyers used their lawsuits to obtain left-wing goals. And there was too little attention on the systematic use of flawed and deeply conflicted public contracts with left wing trial lawyers that powered the massive political giving at the expense of consumers and their pocketbooks.”
Skinner is sending the report to every Republican attorney general in the country this week, warning them about how trial firms they employ could be using their public contract money to subvert their work, and even put money behind the campaigns of political opponents.
State attorney general offices often contract with trial lawyer firms on large-scale litigation efforts, such as securing opioid or toxic chemical exposure settlements, due to the size and scope of the injured parties that state offices alone may not have the capacity to handle.
The eight firms cited in the report, which the report calls the “shady eight,” are Morgan & Morgan, Lieff Cabraser, Motley Rice, Baron & Budd, Grant & Eisenhofer, Berger Montague, Cohen Milstein, and Simmons Hanly.
Collectively, they gave $20 million in political donations from 2017 to 2023, $1.5 million of which was in 2023 alone, according to the report. Ninety-nine percent of that money went to either Democrats or allied political committees, and the top five recipients of the money in 2023 were President Joe Biden and Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Jon Tester (D-MT), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), and Bob Casey (D-PA).
Of the eight firms, only two gave less than 99% of their political contributions to the Left: Morgan & Morgan at 97%, and Simmons Hanly at 89%. But three firms clocked in at 100% donation to Democrats: Lieff Cabraser, Cohen Milstein, and Baron & Budd. Those three firms made over $750,000 in federal political donations, none of which went to Republicans or allied committees.
Some Republican attorneys general, such as Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, and Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, have started to move away from contracting with some of these firms.
“Consumers and taxpayers lose out from the Shady Trial Lawyer Pipeline in many ways, but one particularly dire aspect is how the public contracts that are the gateway to the Shady Trial Lawyer Pipeline are so often missing basic protections such that deeply conflicted trial lawyers can put their own interests first and turn these engagements into a left-wing political money game,” Skinner wrote in a letter to the attorneys general.
The report pointed to several “weaknesses” in the contracts that allow the law firms to take advantage of public money, including that the contracts often have no expiration date or explicit language tying the contract to a specific case and that the contracts typically include minimal conflict of interest protections. The contracts also frequently allow the same firm to represent multiple state governments that could be arguing different sides of the same case and offer no assurance that lawyer fees will not be taken out of the victim fund.
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The cushy contracts could allow the law firms to bill money to taxpayers and turn around to pump it into left-wing political causes.
Pointing to decisions by Iowa and Kansas to terminate contracts with Morgan & Morgan last year, Skinner said, “The tide is turning,” adding, “we are seeing more and more States take action to change course and end the Shady Trial Lawyer Pipeline.”
Read the full report here:
AFC Shady Eight April 2024pdf by web-producers
Read the letter to attorneys general here:
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