Trial lawyers are among the most hardworking, compassionate, and committed professionals I have ever encountered. So why do they have such a bad reputation? Before becoming the Executive Director of Maryland Association for Justice, I had no real idea of the profound impact a trial lawyer, or jury, can have on someone’s life. Since then, I’ve learned that trial lawyers support and advocate for real people, many of whom have endured some truly horrifying experiences. Yet I can relate to the sentiment shared below by our organization’s director almost 30 years ago – it is not often that friends or family understand what ‘tort reform’ is, and why trial lawyers are the good guys. The public has been fed false messaging about ‘greedy trial lawyers’ since the 80’s – and it becomes our responsibility to combat these false allegations when we can. I invite you to share the messaging of MAJ’s newly formed Maryland Accountability Alliance next time you are at a gathering when someone mutters, “we need tort reform…”
Trust Maryland Juries, Not Corporate Lobbyists
Maryland citizens should define justice, not corporate lobbyists. Trust Maryland citizen juries with the outcomes of court cases including death or life-altering injury, not politically imposed caps on justice.
Define Your Worth
Don’t let big corporations and other special interests define your worth by forcing caps on civil court cases involving death or life-altering injury. Tell your legislator to end the politically imposed caps on citizen juries. Protect your worth.
See below for some updated statistics for those that want to dig deeper and please encourage people you meet to follow marylandaccountabilityalliance.org to take action to right the wrongs of corporate lobbyists here in Maryland. Together we can continue to change the narrative, one fact at a time.
I am sure this has happened to you. You’re at a friend’s home at a party and someone starts talking about the unbelievable jury verdict for the McDonald’s coffee case or our litigious society. What do you do? Say nothing and let them babble without the facts or educate them about the civil justice system. They’ve certainly heard the side of corporate America and the insurance industry. Our opponents spent millions of dollars on paid media messages and high-priced public relations personnel to convince the public and Congress to change tort law in the United States. The problem is that their message doesn’t include the facts. We want to give you information you can use at that next party when you are found defending the U.S. Constitution’s Seventh Amendment and the rights of consumers.
Only five percent of civil cases (one million of 19.7 million filed in state courts) are tort cases. Most are contract and family law disputes. Contrary to claims of a litigation explosion, tort case filings remained flat during the period 1985- 1992 and are showing a downward trend. (State Court Statistics Report, National Center for State Courts, 1992)
Contract disputes-not injured people suing for damages accounted for 50 percent of all civil cases filed in federal courts between 1985 and 1991. The fastest growing sector of these filings are businesses suing other businesses. (Wall Street Journal, December 3, 1993, p. Bl)
2024 Update: According to the most recent NCSC data, in 2014, tort cases still represent only 3 to 5 percent of the total civil caseload.1 Tort claims have been dropping since the pandemic. The data consistently shows that despite claims of the opposite from the insurance industry and corporations, tort litigation has only declined over time.2
Fewer than seven percent of the tort cases filed are for medical negligence.
About 80,000 deaths and several hundred thousand serious injuries are related to medical negligence. Only ten percent of those persons injured in these incidents file medical negligence claims. (Patricia Danzon, Harvard University Press, 1985)
2024 Update: Medical negligence still account for fewer than seven percent of tort cases and represent less than one percent of civil caseloads.3
The U. S. Office of Technology and Assessment (OTA) reported that "physicians are more aggressive in diagnosis not because of fear of malpractice liability, but because they have come to believe that [ these defensive] practices are medically necessary." A physician's "belief' was cited as the most important determinant of physicians' clinical choices. (U.S. Congress, Office of Technology and Assessment, Defensive Medicine and Medical Practice, (1994))
2024 Update: A 2019 analysis by the Center for American Progress emphasized that while defensive medicine is still practiced, the motives behind it are increasingly tied to a desire to adhere to evolving medical standards and evidence-based practices rather than solely fear of litigation. This shift underscores a growing belief in the medical necessity of such practices, paralleling the OTA's original findings from 1994.
Products liability cases amount to only about four percent of all tort cases filed in state court. Over 21,000 deaths and 28 million injuries are reported annually arising from consumer products. (Consumer Product Safety Commission, November 18, 1994)
2024 Update: According to recent data, defective products cause an estimated 38.8 million injuries and 82,000 deaths annually in the United States.4 Despite this dramatic increase since 1994, product liability cases still only currently account for about 2-5% of all tort cases filed in state courts.5
During the past 25 years, there have been only 350 punitive damage verdicts in all product liability cases in federal court. Yet the risk of punitive damages is a major force in inducing investment in safety and deterring unsafe manufacturing and product design. (Rustad, Demystifying Punitive Damages in Products Cases, Roscoe Pound Foundation, 1992)
2024 Update: Punitive damages in products liability litigation remain an effective way to punish and to deter the marketing of defective products in flagrant disregard of the public safety.6
The cost of preventable death and injury in the United States is more than $399 billion annually. That figure does not take into account anguish and suffering. (National Safety Council, Accident Facts 2, 1993)
The proponents of tort revision are found in large corporations, the insurance industry and the medical industry. No consumer organizations support these revisions to the tort system.
Americans live in the safest society in the world. They can protect their homes, their workplaces and their environment through a civil justice system which allows people to change unacceptable conduct for the better.
Trial lawyers are the unsung heroes of our civil justice system, standing up for the injured, the voiceless, and the wronged. Your work not only seeks justice for your clients, but also enforces accountability, compelling corporations to prioritize safety and fairness. Even decades after this article was first published, we continue to face efforts to erode these protections through tort reform. Despite well-funded campaigns by corporate lobbyists, trial lawyers remain resolute, advocating for fairness, accountability, and the preservation of the civil justice system.
As we look ahead, let this enduring fight remind us of the power of persistence. Each conversation, each fact shared, and each case tried helps shift the narrative, ensuring that justice is not dictated by corporate interests. Join us in our ongoing mission by learning more about Maryland Accountability Alliance and helping us continue to protect the rights of Marylanders.
Alison Dodge is the Executive Director of Maryland Association for Justice, where she supports more than 1,100 trial lawyer members in their efforts to advocate for victims of injury and uphold the civil justice system. On a national level, she serves on the Executive Committee as Treasurer of the National Association of Trial Lawyer Executives and on the American Association for Justice State Relations Taskforce. Alison is a Certified Association Executive (CAE) and has an extensive background in development, marketing, and nonprofit and association management. She has held positions at Maryland Nonprofits, a state-wide association of over 1,000 nonprofit organizations, as well as national nonprofit BoardSource. Alison is an active volunteer with Girl Scouts of Central Maryland and Hammond Theatre and resides in Columbia, Maryland with her husband Phillip and two daughters.
https://centerjd.org/content/fact-sheet-civil-tort-and-medical-malpractice-caseloads
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol74/iss7/2/
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