October 25, 2004

As Ted reported on Overlawyered on Friday, Operating Engineers Local 318 has sued to stop Illinois Lawsuit Abuse Watch from broadcasting an ad which criticizes trial lawyers' donations in the Illinois Supreme Court race but does not mention candidates' names. After the November Group announced plans to run ads criticizing Sen. John Edwards and promoting tort reform as an issue in next month's election, it got hit with a legal complaint before the Federal Election Commission from a group headed by a former aide to congressional Democrats. And in Georgia, after tort reform proponents aired an "infomercial" deploring the effects of excessive litigation on medicine, they got hit with a lawsuit claiming invasion of privacy by the son of a patient visible in emergency room footage in the infomercial. It so happens that one of the attorneys representing complainant Bob Blissitt in the suit is state lawmaker Nicholas C. Moraitakis, who has been a key opponent of tort reform in the state legislature, has represented the city of Atlanta in its suit against gunmakers, and formally represents the state trial lawyers' association on a state bar board. Update Dec. 22: more on case.