Taxes are going up in January for millions of Americans, but that means it’s even more important to have friends in Washington. And nobody has friends in higher places than the plaintiffs bar.
The American Association of Justice, or the trial bar lobby, is meeting in Canada this week to raise money for Senate Democrats and plot new openings for its legal raids on business. According to Legal Newsline, AAJ director of federal relations John Bowman told attendees the awesome, fabulous, wonderful news that he expects the Treasury Department to soon issue an order giving a tax break for contingency fee lawsuits.
The contingency tax break has long been a plaintiffs bar priority. Senator Arlen Specter (D., Penn.) and Representative Artur Davis (D., Ala.) introduced legislation last year that would allow trial lawyers to deduct the upfront expenses they incur filing contingency suits. The legislation would subsidize as much as 40% of the initial cost of litigation, reducing the financial risk of taking on dubious suits and almost certainly encouraging more legal marauding.
Those bills went nowhere, as even Democrats were too embarrassed to embrace such a blatant handout to the zillionaire likes of felons Dickie Scruggs, Mel Weiss and Bill Lerach. AAJ lobbyist Linda Lipsen acknowledged this at the time, saying Congress was reluctant to “have a stand alone bill to help lawyers,” and that Plan B was to “tuck it into” other legislation.
WSJ
7/14/10
Magnolia Tribune
