The Civil Justice Association of California, the organization trying to get Nicole Parra's class action destruction bill passed by the electorate as a ballot measure, tries to make itself sound like a grass roots organization - a "twenty-five year old non-profit organization whose membership is made up of hundreds of businesses, professional associations and local governments" with the goal of educating the public about ways to improve the state’s civil liability laws in terms of fairness, efficiency, economy and certainty. In fact, CJAC is an organization of very large business interests, seeking to influence the courts and the legislature into passing business-friendly laws, and eschewing consumer and individual-friendly laws. Here is the list of CJAC board member organizations for 2007, which is largely the same group of names on CJAC's letterhead last year:
. 21st Century Insurance Group
. Allstate Insurance Company
. Altria Corporate Services, Inc.
. American Insurance Association
. American International Group, Inc.
. Amgen, Inc.
. AT&T Inc.
. Bayer HealthCare
. Blue Cross of California
. BP
. California Apartment Association
. California Association of Physician Groups
. California Association of Realtors
. California Building Industry Association
. CalChamber
. California Dental Association
. California Hospital Association
. California State Association of Counties
. Caterpillar Inc.
. Chevron Corporation
. Cisco Systems, Inc.
. CNA Insurance Companies
. Consulting Engineers & Land Surveyors of California
. Cooperative of American Physicians, Mutual Protection Trust
. Countrywide Financial Corporation
. Crown Cork & Seal Company
. ExxonMobil Corporation
. Farmers Insurance Group
. Fireman's Fund Insurance Company
. Ford Motor Company
. General Electric Company
. General Motors Corporation
. Georgia-Pacific Corporation
. GlaxoSmithKline
. Goodrich Corporation
. Greenberg Traurig
. Hewlett-Packard Company
. HSBC - North America
. Intel Corporation
. Johnson & Johnson
. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan
. League of California Cities
. Liberty Mutual Insurance Group
. Motion Picture Association of America
. Nielsen, Merksamer, Parrinello, Mueller & Naylor
. Oracle Corporation
. Pacific Gas & Electric Company
. Pacific Life Insurance Company
. PepsiCo
. Pfizer Inc.
. Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America
. Sempra Energy
. Shell Oil Company
. Southern California Edison
. State Farm Insurance Companies
. The Accountants Coalition
. The Doctors' Company
. The Dow Chemical Company
. The Flanigan Law Firm
. The Hartford Life Insurance Company
. The Irvine Company
. The Travelers Indemnity Company
. Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.
. United Services Auto Association
. Valero Energy Corporation
Essentially, a collection of huge corporations, their trade groups, and three or four law/lobbying firms whose sole goal in the courtroom is to reduce or eliminate tort and wage liability, while simultaneously preserving their right to continue to clog the court dockets with contract cases.
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