Questionable Asbestos Doctors, Screeners Banned

"One of the oldest and largest trusts set up to compensate victims of asbestos exposure has barred payments to claimants who rely on reports by nine doctors and three X-ray screening companies &. The move by the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust is a response to growing concern that some of the claims it receives are not valid and may even be fraudulent." New York Times, September 15, 2005
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Runaway Jury Awards Hurt R&D

"Unfortunately for Merck, scientific facts didn't play much of a role in the first Vioxx trial &. In the long term, using the courts to 'send a message' to Merck isn't going to help consumers. If the result is an even more cautious FDA approval system and a more cautious pharmaceutical industry, that will keep innovative drugs off the market for much longer. More people will die waiting for new treatments. The cost of producing new drugs will rise dramatically. Already, there are whole areas of medicine -- women's health during pregnancy, for example - that are made so risky by liability issues that companies may stop doing research in them." The Washington Post, September 16, 2005
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Fen-Phen Fraud Prompts Investigation

"Spurred by allegations of massive fraud in the $5 billion class-action settlement over Fen-Phen diet drugs, federal investigators are conducting a nationwide criminal probe into tens of thousands of claims asserting heart damage from the pills. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Philadelphia and the FBI are examining whether lawyers, doctors and medical technicians conspired to submit bogus claims, according to sources in the criminal justice system. Investigators also are trying to root out former Fen-Phen users who participated in scams to file phony or exaggerated claims." The Philadelphia Inquirer, September 18, 2005
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Sick of Lawsuits ran a four-week ad campaign in the Capitol Hill publication Roll Call featuring a new survey that shows Americans are concerned about the effects of frivolous lawsuits and personal injury lawyer greed on their healthcare. The Washington Times highlighted the campaign and its poll results in a September article. Read the full text of the article.

California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse groups are highlighting their opposition to Proposition 79, an initiative on the state's November ballot that will encourage personal injury lawyers to file frivolous shakedown lawsuits. An op-ed authored by California CALA Chair John Merchant that ran in the Napa News highlighted how Prop 79, "is an underhanded attempt to re-create the same kind of lawsuits the voters stopped when they passed Proposition 64, only this time they're going after our medications." Learn more by visiting Sick of Lawsuits and California CALA's Prop 79 page.