Funding pours in on ballot proposal
Well over $1.5 million is already in the bank accounts of groups on opposing sides of a looming debate over a ballot proposal on lawsuit damages, legal fees and court rules, with nearly a year to go before voters decide the issue.
One question on the November ballot will be a proposed amendment to the Arkansas Constitution that would sharply curtail the kinds of damages juries can award for “pain and suffering” in lawsuits, as well as cap the fees paid to attorneys who represent clients in those suits. The proposal is commonly called tort reform by proponents. It also would allow the Legislature to have a say in court rules.
Arkansas’ Republican-majority Legislature, with the backing of business groups, voted last year to put the amendment before voters, after years of unsuccessful attempts. Attorneys’ groups,
including the state Bar Association, have vowed to fight it.
Until the amendment gets an official title describing its position on the ballot, it is known by its legislative name, Senate Joint Resolution 8, or SJR8.
End-of-year fundraising reports filed with the state Ethics Commission on Tuesday show that opposing committees assembled by attorneys and business associations have begun forming their infrastructures and hiring consultants. Organizers said Tuesday that public campaigning on SJR8 could begin as early as spring.
The state Chamber of Commerce-aligned ballot committee, Arkansans for Jobs and Justice, supports SJR8. It had the most money to spend at the end of the year: $790,973. That’s after raising $116,700 in December, most of it coming from health care groups such as the Arkansas Hospital Association. The committee also has received support from the trucking, finance, insurance and construction industries.
Second in fundraising was Protect AR Families, a committee that opposes SJR8. It had $656,076 cash on hand to end the year. The committee raised $114,700 in December, all from attorneys and a law firm.
Two other lawyer groups
— the Bar Association-aligned committee, Defending Your Day in Court, and the Liberty Defense Network, supported by the Brad Hendricks Law Firm — are raising money to oppose SJR8.
Brad Hendricks, a Little Rock personal injury and malpractice attorney, reported giving his committee $309,000 since it was formed in June, including $50,000 last month. The Liberty Defense Network committee had $104,262 available at the end of the year, according to its report.
A report for the committee Defending Your Day in Court was not available on the Ethics Commission website by the end of business Tuesday, though that does not necessarily mean the group failed to file a report. No one answered the phone at the commission offices Tuesday, when many state offices were closed due to snow.
Carl Vogelpohl, a consultant for Arkansans for Jobs and Justice, said he expected the fundraising on both sides to grow into the millions.
“If I were on the other side, I’d probably spend my life savings,” Vogelpohl said. “This will change the business model that attorneys have relied on, one of Wild West civil justice. … It’s unlimited what they can get and what they can charge people.”
Attorneys and judges, including
Arkansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Dan Kemp, have argued that the proposed constitutional amendment would be an encroachment by the Legislature over the judicial branch of government. In addition to capping legal fees and damages, the amendment would give lawmakers final authority over court rules. The Bar Association, however, voted last year not to oppose SJR8 with its own, competing ballot question.
“We plan to show voters how this will affect their right to have a day in court, to be heard,” said Paul Keith, a Monticello attorney and director of the Defending Your Day in Court committee.
For voters — or any other residents who have a phone, get mail or watch TV — the public fight over SJR8 could begin as soon as the May 22 primaries end, both Keith and Vogelpohl said.
Campaigning will likely begin with cheaper ads, such as those that appear online or in social media, they said. Eventually, both said they expected their campaigns to branch out into phone calls, TV commercials and direct mail ads.
Vogelpohl said he did not expect TV ads to start until around September, but didn’t rule out the possibility for them to come sooner. He said he expected the campaign to be “historic.”
In addition to supporting a ballot committee, the Bar Association has a task force to develop talking points and speakers against SJR8. The task force is being led by former state Supreme Court Justice Paul Danielson, Bar Association President Tony Hilliard said in a text message Tuesday.
“Our focus is on the attempted power grab by the Legislature over court rule making,” Hilliard said in his message.
The bar-aligned committee, which reported having $9,097 in a November report, has hired a consultant, Keith said, though he declined to say whom. (Keith said he would ask the staff member in charge of filing reports to send a copy to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Tuesday, but one was not received.)
Both Hendricks’ committee and the Committee to Protect AR Families reported hiring the Arlington, Va.-based consulting firm Forward Solutions Strategy Group. Combined, the committees paid the firm $52,534 in December, according to their reports.
Hendricks did not respond to a message left at his law firm Tuesday.
The conservative and faithbased Family Council is also planning to publicly oppose SJR8, its director Jerry Cox said Tuesday, but it has not raised any money in that effort.