PRESS RELEASE

U.S. Chamber’s Phony “Rankings” Serve Extreme Corporate Agenda

Springfield, IL – U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform (ILR) today released its phony report that claims to rank the best and worst state legal systems in America. 

“This latest propaganda is further proof that U.S. Chamber serves at the behest of elite corporate insiders,” said Bruce M. Kohen, President of Illinois Trial Lawyers Association.  “U.S. Chamber’s goal is to make sure people can’t get justice in the courtroom, especially against the corporations that finance this front group.”  ILR’s 30-person board is composed of drug, chemical, and insurance corporations with combined 2007 revenues of $1.4 trillion.

Here are some examples of what’s wrong with this report:

• Only corporate defense lawyers from companies earning $100 million or more were surveyed.  No local attorneys, judges, or media were surveyed.
• The methodology has already been debunked.  U.S. Chamber’s own pollster admitted to Copley News Service in 2004 that there is no way to measure the fairness of a state’s legal system.
• In 2006, U.S. Chamber’s CEO and the same pollster confessed to the Charleston Gazette that only a fraction of corporate defense lawyers knew anything about West Virginia’s courts, even though they ranked poorly at 49th.
• There is no margin of error or evidence the “rankings” are statistically valid.  U.S. Chamber lists multiple tables pretending to detail the methodology without actually revealing the response rate or accuracy of its poll.

“U.S. Chamber contends that giant corporations should get a free pass for their negligence or misconduct,” said Kohen.  “The Illinois Trial Lawyers Association will fight to hold powerful corporations or front groups like U.S. Chamber accountable when they seek to evade responsibility.”

To learn more about errors and criticisms of previous U.S. Chamber rankings, visit: http://www.justice.org/PressRoom/PressReleases/truth_about_chamber.pdf.