Trial Lawyers Take Skills From Court To Campaigns
By Geoff Earle, CQ Staff Writer
RALEIGH, N.C. (CQ, May 9) -- As the best known and most successful trial lawyer in North Carolina, Democrat John Edwards is skilled at making a good impression and at charming an audience, abilities that are as invaluable inside a courtroom as they are in a hard-fought U.S. Senate race.
Speaking before a history and government class of about 30 students at Leesville Middle School, Edwards deftly answers questions on the environment, tobacco, O.J. Simpson and the nature of law.
Few of the students have heard of one of their senators, Republican Lauch Faircloth, and had it not been for the special visit, most probably would not have heard of Edwards, Faircloth's challenger who won the May 5 Democratic primary.
But when the trial lawyer asks if they know about his most high-profile case -- a suit against a pool manufacturer whose equipment maimed a young girl from the nearby suburb of Cary -- about half the students raise their hands.
The suit resulted in a damage award of $25 million and an additional $25 million settlement, vaulting Edwards to the top of his field. During a question-and-answer period, the students want to know what it is like to practice law.
"In my mind," he said, "what a lawyer's supposed to be is sort of a white knight who helps people when they need help."
To the victim of a deadly product, a lawyer may be a white knight. But to some in politics, lawyers -- and trial lawyers in particular -- are devils incarnate for making millions from others' misfortunes.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has launched a new lobbying organization, the Chamber Institute for Legal Reform, to push changes in the tort liability system, and it may run issue ads on the topic closer to the November election. Republican legislation to cap punitive damage awards and restrict class action lawsuits against the securities industry helped inspire the chamber's campaign.
Last October, House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., singled out the multibillion-dollar contingency fees contained in the proposed tobacco settlement for "enriching a small group of trial lawyers" rather than aiding children's health. The fees could be a key issue in the North Carolina Senate race.
Republican pollster Frank Luntz, in strategic advice to Republicans, urged the GOP to "demonize" trial lawyers, saying, "They truly are one group in American society that you can attack with near impunity."
Edwards' primary and general election opponents have made a campaign issue of his profession, as have candidates opposing trial lawyers in other races throughout the country.
In 1996, several trial lawyers had success running for office. The election brought such courtroom-seasoned members to the House as Tom Allen, D-Maine; Max Sandlin, D-Texas; John F. Tierney, D-Mass.; and Diana DeGette, D-Colo.
In 1998, at least a dozen are running for Congress and statehouses.
Candidates who are trial lawyers boast a number of advantages: skills in oratory and persuasion honed inside the courtroom; personal wealth, which can add instant legitimacy to their candidacies and a ready source of political contributions from other trial lawyers.
For Democrats, who have experienced their share of woes in candidate recruitment, and who count trial lawyers as a core group of support, these attributes cannot be overlooked. But for the Democratic Party, there is a risk.
By associating themselves so closely with one powerful interest group, Democrats leave themselves open to GOP charges that they are in the pocket of a single interest group.
Proud of Their Profession
Candidates who are trial lawyers do not always hide from their professional background.
"Despite what people say about lawyers, and the popularity of lawyer jokes," said Dick Taylor, chief executive officer of the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers, "what legislators do is make law."
Bill Mauk, the Democrat expected to face Republican Rep. Michael D. Crapo in the Idaho Senate race, has tried several high-profile civil and criminal cases, including one involving Claude Dallas Jr., who was accused of killing two Idaho Fish and Game wardens in the 1980s.
"I don't go out and say, 'I'm Bill Mauk, I'm a trial lawyer,' " he said. But neither does he shy from his profession. "I talk about the fact that I've spent more than 20 years of my life as an advocate. What Idaho needs in the Senate is an advocate, a fighter, and someone who not only knows how to, but has the willingness, to negotiate compromise."
Mauk has received $5,000 from the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA) but so has Crapo, largely because of his opposition to legislation that would promote "no fault" auto insurance that would hold back damage awards.
When put on the defensive about their profession, trial lawyers typically point out that they tend to be allied with the disenfranchised in the legal system, challenging such powerful and unpopular opponents as large corporations and insurance companies.
"Our members are people that are representing the little guy," said Linda Lipsen, senior director of public affairs at ATLA. "They've dealt with parents that have lost a child because of medical malpractice. They're very close to people and what their concerns are in the worst possible situations."
Ask a trial lawyer candidate about his life's work and he will produce stories of championing the downtrodden.
Tom Hall, a trial lawyer challenging GOP Rep. Kay Granger of Texas, sued a Texas hospital that employed a convicted felon who infected several patients with hepatitis C, but failed to notify the patients. "We exposed a cover-up," said Hall.
Edwards' case in North Carolina brought the largest damage award in the state's history. The details are particularly horrific, and Edwards, who himself lost a child in a car accident, grows somber when telling them.
Five-year-old Valerie Lakey was playing in a children's pool when she sat on the drain at the bottom of the shallow pool. The drain cover had come off and she was unable to pull herself away because of the power of the suction. When someone finally was able to turn off the pump, the pull from the drain was so strong that most of her large and small intestines had been sucked out.
Lakey survived, but she is unable to digest food without the use of a feeding tube. During the course of the two-month trial, it came to light that similar incidents had occurred in other pools with the same equipment. In addition to winning the damages, Edwards was able to force the manufacturer to redesign its pool system to prevent similar incidents.
"It got a lot of publicity," he said. "People felt strongly about what happened to that little girl. I have spent my adult life being an advocate for people, mostly children, and mostly families, and I'm proud of that."
The case helped put Edwards on the map. "He's the most successful trial lawyer in the state," said Taylor, of the Academy of Trial Lawyers.
Through hefty commissions on this and other personal injury cases, Edwards made millions. His personal wealth is what has allowed him to go from relative obscurity to front-runner status against a primary opponent with a lifetime in the political circuit: former University of North Carolina lobbyist and two-time congressional candidate D.G. Martin.
"Mr. Edwards seems to have come out of nowhere," said Thad Beyle, a political science professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Edwards loaned $3.2 million to his campaign from personal funds; Martin lent $300,000 to his effort. The money advantage allowed Edwards to get his television ads on the air first. He also secured the endorsements of North Carolina's three most important Democratic-leaning political groups: trial lawyers, teachers and labor, in part because they consider him the candidate with the resources and ability to beat Faircloth.
The Nov. 3 election will determine whether the groups were correct.
If Edwards has an Achilles heel, it is his close association with his trial lawyer colleagues.
Martin, who had been criticized for being too nice for hardball politics, finally lashed out when Edwards ran a TV ad touting his freedom from the influence of special interests.
"Amazingly," said Martin, "the very ads claiming independence of special interests are actually bought and paid for by one big special interest. There should be an asterisk at the bottom of the TV ads with the statement: 'Paid for by personal-injury trial lawyers.' "
In the final week before the primary, Faircloth, who is running for his second term, ran an ad that asked, "Who's paying for Edwards' political ads?" It answers with the contention that Edwards made his money by suing hospitals and family doctors, thereby driving up health care costs. The ad ends with the slogan, "Personal-injury lawyer John Edwards: He makes millions suing people."
One reason trial lawyers are not particularly popular is that the public sometimes senses that large jury awards have gotten out of hand.
Alabama, for example, is home to one of the nation's most famous jury awards, an initial $4 million award against BMW for repainting a car and selling it as new.
The Alabama Legislature has been grappling with tort reform for years, but has been deadlocked in part because Democratic Lt. Gov. Don Siegelman strongly opposes the legislation. Siegelman, a trial lawyer who is running for governor, has been credited with stalling an overhaul with the help of the state's powerful trial lawyer lobby.
The lack of progress has hurt the popularity of Republican Gov. Fob James Jr., who was vilified when he recently tried to appoint a trial lawyer to the University of Alabama Board of Trustees.
Actions such as this have soured James' relationship with the Alabama business community. He finds himself in a spirited primary challenge from wealthy businessman Winton Blount, who has criticized James on this issue.
Mixed Political Success
While four trial lawyers reached the House in 1996, the record of success for such well-financed lawyers has been mixed.
Trial lawyer Fred Overby outspent his Republican opponent, Rep. Mac Collins of Georgia, in 1994 by more than 2-to-1. But Overby captured only a third of the vote.
In 1996, Alabama trial lawyer Bob Wilson Jr., a Democrat, outspent his Republican rival in the race to fill the seat Democratic Rep. Tom Bevill had held for 30 years. Wilson lost to Republican Rep. Robert B. Aderholt; he is back hoping for a rematch.
In this year's Arkansas Democratic primary to succeed retiring Sen. Dale Bumpers, trial lawyer Nate Coulter has the most money, a key endorsement from labor and support from trial lawyers; ATLA gave his campaign the maximum $5,000 contribution. But his campaign has not taken off against better known rivals, former Rep. Blanche Lincoln and Attorney General Winston Bryant, who has received support from trial lawyers in the past.
"There's a lot on the line for trial lawyers in Arkansas," said Coulter's campaign manager, John Baker. "They're about to go from two historic supporters in Dale Bumpers and [former Sen.] David Pryor to conceivably none."
In New Jersey's 12th District, attorney Carl J. Mayer is one of the nation's best financed challengers, even if he is not the darling of the party establishment. He hopes to challenge GOP Rep. Michael Pappas, but that looks less certain since his primary opponent, Princeton physicist Rush Holt, has lined up the endorsements of all five county parties.
Strength in Numbers
Trial lawyers are usually, but not always, associated with Democrats.
Republican trial lawyer and Omaha city Councilman Lee Terry is running in Nebraska's 2nd District for the seat vacated by GOP Rep. Jon Christensen. Terry is considered the front-runner.
In Illinois, Al Salvi, who lost a fierce battle to Democratic Sen. Richard J. Durbin in 1996, this year captured the Republican nomination for secretary of state aided by money from trial lawyers. His GOP opponent, state Rep. Bob Churchill, received contributions from groups favoring overhaul of the tort liability system. Salvi's brother, Patrick, was president of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association.
One of the strengths of trial lawyer candidates is their access to a large pool of like-minded lawyers, not to mention the special interest political action committees.
"I've sent out a fundraising letter nationwide signed by five former presidents of [the American Trial Lawyers Association]," said Mauk. "I've got another fundraising letter on my desk that's signed by the chairman of the National College of Advocacy. . . . What I'm describing to you is not an orchestrated effort on behalf of ATLA, as much as it is a network of friends and associates that I have developed through my professional life, not unlike someone who would be a doctor running for the Senate."
But even if such contributions only constitute a base of support, they can be a double-edged sword.
In Louisiana's 6th District, news reports have focused on the predominance of trial lawyers' contributions in Marjorie McKeithen's successful fundraising effort. She is trying to unseat Republican Rep. Richard H. Baker.
But McKeithen, a plaintiffs' attorney who has specialized in breast implant litigation, may be able to overcome the criticism because of her family's prominence in Louisiana politics. Her father, Fox McKeithen, is the Republican secretary of state and her grandfather, John J. McKeithen, is the former Democratic governor. If the criticism becomes too harsh, she can try to turn the tables on Baker.
"Baker has always stood firmly with the big banks," said Chris Cooper, McKeithen's campaign manager, "and he's going to have to answer for that."
In Texas, Granger has made an issue of the trial lawyer campaign contributions to Hall.
"My life in my opponent's eyes can basically be reduced to the fact that I'm a lawyer who tries lawsuits," said Hall, "and I am therefore undeserving of any further consideration."
Sometimes the attacks on trial lawyers are cast subtly. Rep. Helen Chenoweth, R-Idaho, is in a rematch this year against trial lawyer Dan Williams, whom she beat by only 2 percentage points in 1996. Chenoweth usually refers to her opponent as a "Boise trial lawyer" an expression which can be considered a double pejorative in Idaho since a lawyer from the state capital is presumed to be out of touch.
Mauk has not yet received any criticism by Crapo for being a trial lawyer, although he has a theory why.
"I suspect that maybe that's because he's a Harvard lawyer," a label some in Idaho might consider worse.
© 1998 Congressional Quarterly Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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