WASHINGTON, D.C.—Statement of Lisa A. Rickard, president of the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform, on the efforts of plaintiffs’ lawyers to get the Department of Treasury to allow for a $1.6 billion tax break for costs associated with contingency fee lawsuits:
 
“Plaintiffs’ lawyers have been pushing Congress for the last two years to give them a $1.6 billion tax break for their contingency fee lawsuits. This amounts to a subsidy for more lawsuits at the expense of the American taxpayer. Now they’re trying to circumvent Congress and go right to the Treasury Department to allow them to have this tax break.

“This is simply a taxpayer-funded loan to plaintiffs’ lawyers that will be a further drag on job creation and economic growth, all while increasing the federal deficit.  America needs more jobs, not more lawsuits.”

ILR seeks to promote civil justice reform through legislative, political, judicial, and educational activities at the national, state, and local levels.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world’s largest business federation representing the interests of more than 3 million businesses of all sizes, sectors, and regions, as well as state and local chambers and industry associations.

---