[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 133 (Tuesday, September 24, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S11200]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             COMMEMORATION OF LAWSUIT ABUSE AWARENESS WEEK

 Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Mr. President, today I want to acknowledge a 
group of citizens in West Virginia who are speaking out on the issue of 
lawsuit abuse in an effort to serve the public.
  In many areas of West Virginia, local citizens have volunteered their 
time to start Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse groups and to initiate 
public awareness campaigns in their areas about what they see as the 
problems of lawsuit abuse.
  The CALA groups focus on education. These citizens are speaking out 
about an issue that has statewide and national implications. The costs 
of lawsuits can include higher costs for consumer products, higher 
medical expenses, higher taxes, and fewer jobs due to lost business 
expansion and forgone product development.
  Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse has a straightforward goal. They want 
to help the public prevent unnecessary lawsuits that do more harm than 
good.
  West Virginians are not the type of people to walk away from a 
problem. When we see something that's clearly wrong, we work to make 
people aware of it, and we try to make it right. CALA members believe 
that they have the opportunity to reform our laws so that the legal 
system is more fair, more effective, and more sensible to serve 
everyone's interests.
  These nonprofit groups have raised local funds to run educational 
media announcements and are speaking to local organizations and citizen 
groups across the State to raise public awareness on the lawsuit abuse 
issue.
  While the local groups have thousands of supporters, there are also a 
few individuals who should be recognized for their leadership and for 
dedicating countless volunteer hours. These individuals are: Tom 
Harriman of Kingwood, founding chairman of CALA of northern West 
Virginia; Jim Thomas of Charleston and Jack Klim of Huntington, 
cofounders and spokespersons of CALA of southern West Virginia; and Ken 
Lowe of Shepherdstown, founding chairman of CALA of eastern West 
Virginia.
  Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse groups have declared September 22 
through September 28, 1996, to be Lawsuit Abuse Awareness Week in West 
Virginia. I want to commend all of the individuals who are involved in 
Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse for their dedication and commitment to 
this important citizen education project.
  As someone who has been a leader in the battle of product liability 
reform, I continue to hope for the kind of education, dialog, and 
consensus-building clearly needed to address problems in our legal 
process that hurt consumers, victims, and the private sector. I 
encourage CALA to continue raising these issues and promoting solutions 
that ensure justice and improve the legal system. West Virginia and the 
country as a whole need informed, educated, and dedicated citizens to 
help elected officials address serious issues and achieve reforms when 
necessary.

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