Column: J&J wants Congress to halt litigation-funded mass torts ‘money play.’ Are lawmakers listening?
Sept 13 (Reuters) - A Johnson & Johnson attorney told the U.S. House Oversight and Accountability Committee on Wednesday that outside funding of mass torts personal injury claims has turned the civil justice system into “a money play: driven, funded and distorted by legal and financial entrepreneurs.”In written testimony, J&J assistant general counsel Aviva Wein urged Congress to enact laws (or endorse proposed changes to the federal rules for civil litigation) to require disclosure when outside financiers are backing plaintiffs. She also asked lawmakers to take on the job of regulating the litigation finance industry and to curb allegedly misleading advertisements designed to generate mass tort claims.A bevy of business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National...