President’s
Message by Bruce K. Jenner
Robert K. Jenner serves as President of MTLA. He is also a board member of MTLA PAC and is MTLA’s State Delegate to the Association of Trial Lawyers of America. His practice concentrates in pharmaceutical and mass tort liability, medical negligence, and serious personal injury litigation. He is a partner in the Baltimore firm of Janet, Willoughby, Gershon, Getz & Jenner, LLC and may be reached at 410-653-3200 or by e-mail at:
rjenner@medlawlegalteam.com.
Before November’s elections, times
were tough for trial lawyers. With the national elections changing the political landscape, however, times are sure to get tougher. Much tougher. Let’s face it, the change in power was only days old before the forces of evil slipped through, in the dark of night, an amendment to the Homeland Security Bill to protect phar- maceutical companies from liability suits. We can surely expect more of the same. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce – the national corporate lobbying organization funded by insurance and big tobacco money – recently ran ads in states with tight political races saying that our courts are “clogged” with lawsuits brought against corporations. But personal injury lawsuits actually are a tiny fraction of all cases.
Lobbyists who represent misbehaving corporations say we’ve caused everything from a “litigious society” (actually, the De- partment of Justice says the number of lawsuits hasn’t risen – in fact, it is declin- ing slightly) to “jackpot” litigation awards (when the median national damage ver- dict for plaintiffs who win tort cases – including punitives – is $30,500). That’s no jackpot. The truth is, as we MTLA members
know, trial lawyers fight for the little guy – the individual consumer, the small busi- ness person, and the innocent victim. On the national level, we’re fighting to get a meaningful Patients’ Bill of Rights passed. We’re trying to give small business own- ers equal bargaining power with big corporations, by eliminating mandatory arbitration clauses from contracts. We want to take the secrecy out of litigation, so that the public can learn about faulty products that kill people – before others are hurt by them. But Americans have elected a disap- pointingly anti-consumer Congress. Trial lawyers will have to work together during the next two years to fend off threats to the civil justice system. One of the first to be considered by the new Congress is expected to be another version of H.R.
Winter 2003
4600, the most draconian medical mal- practice and medical products liability tort “reform” bill ever proposed. The bill would severely restrict statutes of limitation, cap non-economic damages at $250,000 (in the aggregate, regardless of the number of parties against whom the action is brought), completely elimi- nate joint liability, cap contingent fees, immunize manufacturers of FDA-ap- proved drugs and devices from punitive damages, and more. And we expect to see other tort “re-
form” measures – the kinds we haven’t seen since the “Contract With America” Congress – get introduced. We’ll be fac- ing everything from attempts to cut off compensation to asbestos victims, elimi- nate class actions at the state level, to attempts to immunize manufacturers from products liability. We have challenges on the state level
as well, though they are certainly less crys- tallized at this point. We will be developing relationships with a new gov- ernor, with new legislators and with new constituencies. MTLA legislative leader- ship is spearheaded by MTLA Legislative Chair Wayne Willoughby, a host of dedi- cated committee members, and three outstanding, committed lobbyists. As our legislative agenda gets discussed, planned, tweaked and re-tweaked, we look to all of our members to give us your suggestions.
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info@gblawyers.com 3 What can you do to help with the fight
to protect consumer rights, your clients, your cases and your practice? • Make your views known to legisla- tors
• Give money to MTLA PAC • Encourage other MD trial lawyers who are not yet members to join
• Give your time by becoming in- volved in MTLA
• Inform people around you – your family, your friends, your clients – about these consumer issues that affect them
• Support ATLA at the national level • Let us know if you have a relation- ship with a state or federal legislator Trial lawyers are once again in crisis
mode. It is no longer acceptable for our members to look to others to protect their practices. It is incumbent upon every one of us to do his or her part. Call me. E- mail. Send smoke signals. Whatever. As MTLA’s President, I want to hear you and your suggestions. Our hope to survive the next two years (or longer?) depends on all of us. Ask yourself, “What am I doing to help”? There’s plenty to do, and plenty of ways you can help. Just ask.
Sincerely, Robert K. Jenner, President Maryland Trial Lawyers Association December 2002
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