IX.

The current motto of West Virginia is “Open for Business;” a misnomer that is regarded as ironic, starry-eyed, or desperate, but rarely taken at face value. This morning I was sent this link:

http://www.wvclosedforbusiness.com/

The site is impressive, with data linked from several sources, cataloging the state’s economic hardships and calling for action. But when they identified the root cause as a “bad legal environment” and “lawsuit abuse,” I didn’t see the logical connection. It turns out that the more interesting story is not what is written on the website, but who wrote it.

The site was created by West Virginia Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse (WVCALA) who describe themselves as “a non-profit citizen watchdog group committed to equal justice for all West Virginians.” But a quick Google search yielded this article:

http://www.centerjd.org/lib/cala.htm

According to the above article, the citizen watchdog group in question is comprised of very few citizens. They go on to write that Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse is actually a front group supported by the American Tort Reform Association (ATRA). ATRA is a lobbying organization that works on behalf of companies that usually get hit with big lawsuits (e.g. tobacco companies, chemical companies, etc.).

Front groups operate on the assumption that people judge the merit of a message on not only what is said, but also who is saying it. People wouldn’t likely believe that, let's say, chocolate was vital to a healthy diet if the message came from Hershey, but they might pay more attention if the same assertion were posited by a scientist from the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH). What they won’t mention is that Hershey funds ACSH.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that lawsuits get extremely expensive for certain businesses, or that those businesses work to reduce those costs in a number of ways. I don’t even mean to suggest that tort laws are not in need of reform – I know nothing about them. But when a message is presented in a deliberately clandestine manner, it comes off as disingenuous and invites skepticism.