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The Manufacturers’ Accountability Project (MAP) Releases Reform Principles to End Baseless Litigation Against Manufacturers

The Manufacturers’ Accountability Project (MAP) Releases Reform Principles to End Baseless Litigation Against Manufacturers
Reform Principles Include Transparency, Pre-emptive Legislation, Withdrawal of Lawsuits

 Washington, D.C. –  On the one-year anniversary of the first climate lawsuit filed against manufacturers in California and as part of the ongoing effort to combat baseless litigation against manufacturers, the National Association of Manufacturers’ (NAM) Manufacturers’ Accountability Project (MAP) released principles for reform that would protect the strength of the manufacturing industry and the integrity of the nation’s legal system against the growing trend of public nuisance lawsuits against manufacturers. Such lawsuits have been filed in California, New York, Colorado, Washington state and Rhode Island.

“Manufacturing workers, taxpayers and our legal system are all harmed by the ongoing baseless litigation against manufacturers,” said NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons. “Manufacturers want to be part of the solution in ending these frivolous lawsuits and political stunts. These common-sense reform principles—transparency in contingency-fee agreements, pre-emptive legislation and immediate withdrawal of the lawsuits offer a path forward.  We cannot continue to allow trial attorneys and headline-seeking politicians to abuse the nation’s legal system for their own personal gain.

“The courts have already ruled against this strain of frivolous litigation, most recently when a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit brought by San Francisco and Oakland. Judge William Alsup’s decision in that case should be required reading for other jurisdictions contemplating similar lawsuits. This form of jackpot justice isn’t the answer, and it diverts time and resources that could be better spent working towards real solutions, as manufacturers do every day.”

The MAP’s reform principles call for:

  • Public officials to be fully transparent regarding the terms of their arrangements with contingency-fee plaintiffs’ lawyers to whom they have outsourced government legal authority and police power;
  • Pre-emption legislation that would protect manufacturers and consumers from frivolous lawsuits, which unfairly seek to charge them with liability for global climate change;
  • An immediate withdrawal of all climate change-related lawsuits against manufacturers in America.

 

-MAP-

The Manufacturers’ Accountability Project (MAP) will set the record straight and highlight the concerted, coordinated campaign being waged by plaintiffs’ lawyers, public officials, deep-pocketed foundations and other activists who have sought to undermine and weaken manufacturers in the United States. This campaign will pull back the curtain to expose these efforts and to hold key actors accountable in order to protect our members and American manufacturing workers. The MAP is a project of the NAM’s Manufacturers’ Center for Legal Action (MCLA), which serves as the leading voice of manufacturers in the nation’s courts. Visit us at mfgaccountabilityproject.org.