Free Republic

A cabal of Political Action Committees is funneling money overwhelmingly to left-wing political causes using funds secured by affiliated groups through "sweetheart contracts" with the public sector, a watchdog group has warned.A recent report from Alliance for Consumers describes a "shady trial lawyer pipeline" in which the PACs make nearly all of their donations in support of Democratic candidates using money channeled from the beneficiaries of open-ended, ambiguous contracts intended to provide "consumer protection.""While the Shady Trial Lawyer Pipeline helps politicians funnel public money toward left-wing politics, it leaves everyday consumers and taxpayers with a horrible deal," the report reads.File...

The nation's trial lawyer group, the American Association for Justice, revealed Tuesday that it expects the U.S. Department of Treasury to soon give its members a tax break on contingency fee lawsuits. The tax break could be similar to proposed legislation that didn't make it through Congress last year. That proposal, sponsored by U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., would have allowed attorneys to deduct fees and expenses up-front for filing contingency fee lawsuits. John Bowman, the Director of Federal Relations for the AAJ, said in response to a question from a state delegate regarding recruiting new members that an administrative...

got a kick out of this article in the Washington Times on Sept. 28. The point of the story is that the trial lawyers' lobby might be having financial difficulty. The part I find interesting is that AAJ says they lost $670,000, but they sought $120,000,000 in the lawsuit. The article offers no explanation for the 17,900% mark up. "...AAJ lost a lawsuit against Wachovia Bank over the collapse of a 2007 loan deal to finance the association's purchase of an office building as its new Washington headquarters. The association lost more than $670,000 when Wachovia backed out of the...

SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline)- Federal legislation that would afford trial lawyers a special tax break faces an uncertain future, says one of the chief lobbyists for the nation's trial lawyers. The proposal would allow attorneys to deduct fees and expenses up-front for filing contingency-fee lawsuits. The proposal amounts to about a $1.6 billion tax break for plaintiffs' attorneys, estimates indicate.

Federal legislation that would afford trial lawyers a special tax break faces an uncertain future, says one of the chief lobbyists for the nation's trial lawyers. The proposal would allow attorneys to deduct fees and expenses up-front for filing contingency-fee lawsuits. The proposal amounts to about a $1.6 billion tax break for plaintiffs' attorneys, estimates indicate. "Everyone wants to do it, but the problem is there is not a tax vehicle yet," said Linda Lipsen, American Association for Justice (AAJ) Senior Vice President of Public Affairs. Lipsen was speaking to the Birth Trauma Litigation Group at the annual meeting this...