SCOTUS AMICI MEDIA QUOTES
What Others Are Saying…
“The stakes are high. If the Supreme Court does not provide a course correction, manufacturers will face even more lawsuits seeking massive and unprincipled liability. Already, this misuse of tort law has inspired several other public nuisance cases, putting manufacturing jobs at risk in order to line the pockets of trial lawyers.–Executive Director Lindsey de la Torre, National Association of Manufacturers (Quoted in Manufacturers Accountability Project Blog, August 20, 2018)
“You can’t demand companies to have clairvoyance, . . . It’s the precedent we’re concerned about. We believe that what they’re doing in regard to Sherwin-Williams certainly would apply to many other categories.”
“We’re constantly learning things about products we didn’t think were of any concern,”-Dan Jaffe, Group EVP, Government Relations, Association of National Advertisers, (Quoted in Wall Street Journal, September 2, 2018)
“Just in the last twelve months, in federal courts alone, at least 80 new public nuisance cases of this sort have been filed by states and other government entities against American businesses, all seeking to impose sweeping liability based on similarly novel theories,”. . . “The recent avalanche of public nuisance claims under the new California doctrine will bury American business in even greater litigation costs and burdens.”
– U.S. Chamber attorney Jeffrey Bucholtz , (Quoted in Law.com, August 16, 2018)
“The California court has retroactively imposed multi-millions of dollars of damages on Sherwin Williams by applying today’s scientific standards to ads that were published decades ago.”
–Dan Jaffe, Group EVP, Government Relations, Association of National Advertisers, (Quoted in Adweek, August 21, 2018)
“If SCOTUS takes this case, I hope that they will find against it. We think it is a very serious threat to advertisers and honest advertisers.”
–Dan Jaffe, Group EVP, Government Relations, Association of National Advertisers, (Quoted in Adweek, August 21, 2018)
“The Court should hear the case and help shut the door on this baseless litigation. These types of lawsuits undermine the fairness of our nation’s legal system, our manufacturing base and our economy.”
–Executive Director Lindsey de la Torre, National Association of Manufacturers (Quoted in Manufacturers Accountability Project Blog, August 20, 2018)
“Imagine that late one evening, around closing time, after dinner with a friend, the waiter hands you a bill for $5,000. You object, . . .The host arrives and explains that the other patrons left without paying. The restaurant cannot track them down. You, however, are here. You, therefore, shall pay—for everyone.”
– Corbin Barthold, litigation counsel at the Washington Legal Foundation, (Quoted in Law.com, August 16, 2018)
“There is a deep and growing split between the conservative judges who are being appointed to the federal bench and the progressive judges who dominate state courts in places like California. The tension between these rival judicial philosophies is highlighted by the 2017 decision of People of California v. ConAgra and Sherwin-Williams . . .”
–Richard Epstein, Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law and director of the Classical Liberal Institute at New York University, (Quoted in Ricochet.com, July 30, 2018)
“The federal courts must rein in the runaway state court in California. How could there not be a violation of speech and property rights if this lawless effort to fund California’s misguided public health campaign by unsupportable tort judgments is sustained?”
–Richard Epstein, Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law and director of the Classical Liberal Institute at New York University, (Quoted in Ricochet.com, July 30, 2018)
“It is commonly stated that ‘A public nuisance is a criminal wrong.’ Nothing of this sort remotely arises from the truthful and lawful advertisements and circulars done years before the lead paint was applied by someone else.”
–Richard Epstein, Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law and director of the Classical Liberal Institute at New York University, (Quoted in Ricochet.com, July 30, 2018)
###