John Edwards - Democrat - Ambulance Chaser

While surfing through National Review Online this evening (for the David Frum column and other stuff), I ran into this Guest Comment by Jim Copland about Presidential Candidate John Edwards and his interesting history as a medical-malpractice lawyer and one who was not afraid of Junk Science (Using it in Court that is)... bq. For Edwards's ability to connect with everyday people was honed by courtroom success; while Kerry amassed his fortune the old-fashioned way, by marrying �ber-wealthy heiress Teresa Heinz, Edwards won his estimated net worth of $12 to $60 million through a series of successful personal-injury lawsuits. bq. The untold story of Edwards's candidacy is that Edwards may have built his fortune in part by relying on the very sort of "junk science" medical-malpractice lawsuits that have created a health-care crisis in no fewer than 19 states. Some of Edwards's biggest wins � including a jury verdict of $6.5 million (reduced to $2.75 million on appeal) and a settlement of a reported $5 million � came from cases suing doctors, hospitals, and insurance companies over infant cerebral palsy allegedly due to botched deliveries. bq. Yet as my Manhattan Institute colleague Walter Olson has documented in the Wall Street Journal and on his website overlawyered.com, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, in a comprehensive study released last year, determined that delivery problems were not to blame for cerebral palsy in the "vast majority" of cases. Cerebral palsy is instead typically caused by factors beyond the doctor's control, such as maternal thyroid problems, genetic abnormalities, or prenatal infection. The ACOG report was peer reviewed and endorsed by, among others, the Centers for Disease Control and the United Cerebral Palsy Research and Education Foundation. And the reason for the other candidates not to cry foul is this: bq. Presumably, Edwards's rivals have been loath to attack his unsavory accumulation of wealth at least in part because of their fear of � and ultimate dependence on � cash contributions from the litigation industry. Plaintiffs' attorneys, whom we dubbed "Trial Lawyers, Inc." in a report on the industry last fall, have poured funds into the coffers of their political allies to gain unprecedented influence at the national and state levels. The Association of Trial Lawyers of America routinely ranks among the top five donors to federal campaigns; in the last full political cycle, ATLA was the largest PAC contributor to the Democratic party. bq. ATLA's PAC contributions are merely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Trial Lawyers, Inc.'s political influence. Through individual and soft-money contributions, as well as PAC donations, the lawsuit industry has surpassed all others in political giving in every electoral cycle since 1990. All told, the litigation industry has contributed a half billion to federal campaigns since 1990. Some of this money of course came from defense firms who split their contributions between the parties. But the largest givers have consistently been plaintiffs' firms; in the last political cycle, each of the seven firms giving over $1 million to federal campaigns was a plaintiffs' firm, and each gave at least 99 percent of their money to Democrats. Of course, the people who pay these settlements are ultimately the businesses that hire us - the higher insurance premiums are passed onto the workers as lower wages and lesser-featured insurance packages. Overlawered is a great resource (here) GrokLaw is another good one (here)