Ad
#7: Trial Lawyers
by Pete Coors for U.S. Senate
The Denver Post
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
Sponsor: Pete Coors for Senate
Producer: McAuliffe Message Media
Type: Attack/issue
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Pete Coors launched a television advertisement that links campaign donations by trial lawyers to rising health-care costs.The ad presents Coors in the same folksy style as his previous advertisements.Speaking into the camera, Coors blames trial lawyers for increasing the costs of health care. The ad claims the campaign of his Democratic opponent, state Attorney General Ken Salazar, has reaped more than $500,000 from trial lawyers.
Claim: "While health care costs skyrocket, lawyer Ken Salazar opposes caps on malpractice lawsuit damages."
Facts: Salazar has said he opposes a federal law that would limit lawsuit awards. He says such matters should be left to the states.Salazar said he would support measures to discourage lawyers from filing frivolous lawsuits.
Claim: "Salazar has taken more than half a million dollars from the trial lawyer lobby."
Facts: The Coors campaign concedes this is an estimate. The American Trial Lawyers Association has contributed $5,000 to Salazar's campaign. Donors listing "attorney" as their occupation contributed $85,050 in filings with the Federal Election Commission. More than 100 other donors, contributing $129,000, list prominent law firms as their employer. Other lawyers may have contributed.Not all lawyers are members of the trial lawyers association, and not all trial lawyers are involved in suing health care providers.The Coors campaign said it is including estimated donations from lawyers who have contributed since July, the last time campaigns filed donation reports.
Claim: "The lawsuit abuse in America is out of control. It's killing jobs and hurting families, causing health care costs to skyrocket, putting doctors out of business."
Facts: A January 2004 study by the Congressional Budget Office reached a different conclusion: that costs related to malpractice insurance - the primary defense against lawsuits - contribute a negligible amount to rising health care costs.Malpractice insurance costs amount to less than 2 percent of the nation's health care costs.The number of cases seeking economic damages declined 4 percent between 1993 and 2002, according to the nonpartisan National Center for State Courts. That survey covered 35 states, including Colorado, representing 77 percent of the U.S. population.Health care costs and the number of people without health insurance have continued to rise in Colorado, despite caps on awards from lawsuits.
Claim: "While we lose, the trial lawyers cash in."
Fact: The number of medical malpractice cases has declined, while awards are up. The U.S. Justice Department this year reported that the number of cases that went to jury trial in the nation's 75 largest counties fell to 1,112 in 2001 from 1,356 in 1992. In that period, the median award in medical malpractice lawsuits rose to $431,000 from $253,000.
