Washington, D.C. — The US Chamber Institute for Legal Reform has begun an aggressive advertising campaign highlighting the electorate’s strongly held view that Congress should fix America’s broken lawsuit system.
“Congress would enjoy overwhelming support from voters if Democrats and Republicans work together to curb frivolous lawsuits and to address abusive practices of the plaintiffs’ bar like fraudulent medical screenings and excessive discovery,” said ILR president Lisa A. Rickard.
“As Congress begins to shape its agenda for the year, we want them to know efforts to end lawsuit abuse would enjoy broad bipartisan support from people back home,” she said.
The new ads focus on the opinions of “swing voters” – people who call themselves political independents and those who have only a weak affiliation to a political party – because they are the ones who most helped shape control of the Congress, Rickard said.
For example, the ad headlined “The Jury’s In” notes that 86 percent of swing voters want Congress to fix America’s lawsuit system. An ad called “Motion Denied” says 82 percent of swing voters think clogged courts deny justice to the truly injured. A third ad titled “Objection Sustained” declares 78 percent of swing voters believe there are too many lawsuits.
“The elections brought a number of new faces to Capitol Hill. Our aim is to elevate the issues and to make sure these Members and their staffs know where the voters stand – regardless of party or ideology,” she said.
The campaign, which coincides with the start of the new Congress and is limited initially to “inside the Beltway” media, includes Metro, print, online and radio ads, and is expected to run through the Easter/Passover recess.
The ads are based on an election night survey conducted by Public Opinion Strategies of 800 people who voted last November 7. The margin of error for the survey is +/- 3.5 percent.
# # #
The mission of the Institute for Legal Reform is to make America’s legal system simpler, fairer, and faster for everyone. It seeks to promote civil justice reform through legislative, political, judicial, and educational activities at the national, state, and local levels.
