13 Netscape still distributes 160 million copies of its browsing technology per year. What Goes Around, Comes Around Compounding the questions about the legitimacy of these and other suits are concerns about the motivation of AGs in bringing the suits in the first place. While this is certainly good rhetoric for mustering support for a weak case, it does not hold up when the economic data is considered. There are two indisputable facts that raise serious concerns about the relationship of trial lawyers and AGs. Trial lawyers have earned billions of dollars from lawsuits brought by state AGs.
Trial lawyers give millions of dollars to AGs election campaigns.
21 California is one of the nineteen states involved in the lawsuit against Microsoft. Mississippi Attorney General Mike Moore named Richard Scruggs, his top campaign contributor, as lead counsel for the state's case against Big Tobacco. Former Texas Attorney General Dan Morales is being investigated for helping a friend, attorney Marc Murr, who did almost no work in the tobacco case cash in on the settlement. The states have used government lawsuits against large companies to supplement high state spending. In fact, nine of the twelve highest-tax locations in the country are part of the Microsoft lawsuit.