Tort reform laws restrict the rights of sick and injured consumers to hold their offenders accountable in court.
Tort laws deter corporate wrongdoing.
And, as the tobacco litigation so aptly demonstrates, tort actions force disclosure of often extremely important internal information about products, drugs, toxins, unsafe practices and processes, airing the information to millions of people through the mass media. As a result, corporations and their insurers have launched a sustained attack on the civil justice system in recent years. CJD seeks to reinvigorate and broaden the movement to protect the civil justice system in America and redefine the political debate over tort reform, steering it away from lawyer-bashing and towards issues of corporate accountability and individual rights through production and distribution of research, reports and materials, focused efforts to educate the media, public education and training, and grassroots organizing. EOI's goal is to enhance our democracy by engaging citizens in discussions about these issues and work with them to develop and support policies that improve their lives. Burbank's Economic Opportunity Institute cut its teeth on the minimum wage battle of the last election cycle and is now poised to be an active participant in the issues that effect Washington voters including implementing a wage ladder for child care workers, expanding the Basic Health Plan, creating a state-based argument for strengthening Social Security, and launching a campaign for paid family leave.