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Louisiana’s voters and Louisiana’s legislature should follow the truth and not the spin. Lies have no role in this debate.

The State of Louisiana boasts an impressive record of economic development and a favorable business environment.  In 2011 Site Selection magazine ranked Louisiana No. 7 in the United States for best state business climates.  Area Development magazine ranked Louisiana No. 6 in the nation in its 2011 ranking of top states for doing business, and according to Business Facilities magazine ranked Louisiana No. 2 in the nation for economic growth potential and No. 7 for best business environment.  Yet certain organizations within Louisiana who are simply looking to save themselves from answering for their own bad acts would have you believe that asbestos lawsuits have wrecked the state and strangled Louisiana’s business environment.

The Coalition For Common Sense is supporting—dare I say sponsoring—“reform” legislation designed to “ensure a fair legal climate . . . for small and large businesses in the state” because without it, they argue, the state cannot operate or attract successful businesses.  However, a quick read of that group’s website shows that their arguments in favor of these reforms are based on innuendo and half-truths in the hope that Louisianans will actually ignore common sense.

The reform that these businesses want passed is focused on the victims of asbestos disease.  A close read of the supporting members of the organization reveals that it is in fact comprised of primarily companies who are held to task by juries throughout the state (and at least one law firm who represents those companies), as well as an organization whose sole purpose is to restrict the abilities of individuals who have been harmed by corporate negligence to access the civil justice system.  They are not interested in reform or a level playing field, rather they are interested in being saved from their own past misdeeds.  To build their case, these companies have simply continued with their long history of deceit.

In several instances the group talks about fraud and abuse within the state’s legal system when they discuss the need for “reform.”  It is their claim that when asbestos victims are forced to seek justice in both the bankruptcy system and at the courthouse, the victims are actually perpetrating a fraud because of a lack of transparency between the two systems.  However, their spin on the issue ignores a recent report from the United States Government Accountability Office, who examined the asbestos trusts that were set up pursuant to the Bankruptcy Code.  In contrast to the spin put out by the reformers, the independent, non-partisan GAO found that each asbestos trust has internal mechanisms for detecting fraud and none have discovered any such systemic fraud.

The coalition goes on to spin that the companies who are sued are forced into an unfair fight because they are unable to acquire basic information about a victim and her/his history at the outset of any lawsuit.  The truth is that this spin ignores the fact that Louisiana has long-standing procedural rules already in place to handle any such perceived deficiencies that they argue exists, and in fact in 2009 the Louisiana State Bar Association (a group comprised of both the State’s plaintiff and defense lawyers) stated that measures such as those proposed by the coalition are unnecessary because the provisions to deal with such alleged situations already exist—they just need to be used if the deficiencies truly exist.

One final example of the brash manner in which the coalition is willing to stretch the truth is its reference to the American Tort Reform Association’s “Judicial Hellhole” list for 2011/2012.  The coalition takes the position that recent changes to the law in states that neighbor Louisiana has led to out-of-state plaintiffs filing asbestos lawsuits in The Pelican State and that such activity has led to Louisiana being placed on the hellhole watch list.  For the time being let’s ignore the fact that they can’t point to any specific examples of lawsuits that have been allowed to proceed in Louisiana courts that didn’t belong there, but have they even bothered to read the gibberish published by their brethren in reform?  Nowhere in that “publication” are asbestos lawsuits and alleged venue shopping mentioned as reasons that Louisiana made the list.  We also can’t ignore that the list is put-out by a group (the American Tort Reform Foundation) that at least has the audacity to call itself what it is—a group that is funded by companies who want to a pass from their own negligence and who are willing to pay for a PR campaign to get the lopsided laws that save them from themselves.

Louisianans should not leave their common sense at home.  Common sense dictates that we follow the facts, not the dizzying spin put out by tort reform groups.  The “spin” is at best hyperbole, but in reality a misrepresentation of the truth.  The facts are that the dangers of asbestos have been well-known for decades, and both the historical and future dangers of these fibers remain clear.  As was recently stated by international researchers, the only debate that remains is at the political level.  That debate should at least be based on the truth.  The coalition would have you believe that 83% of all of the state’s registered voters say lawsuit reform is needed.  However, when you peel back the curtain, you see that they base this representation on a survey of only 600 people, about whom we know nothing regarding their political and/or corporate connections.  Put more bluntly, it is simply wrong and deceitful to represent that 498 people represent “a large majority” of Louisiana’s voters.

Louisiana’s voters and Louisiana’s legislature should follow the truth and not the spin.  Lies have no role in this debate.  Only facts and truth should dictate in the halls of the Louisiana State Capitol.