Papantonio: Chamber of Commerce Steps Up Their Assault on Civil Justice - The Ring Of Fire

Big business, led by the US Chamber of Commerce, has done everything you could imagine to convince the American public that tort reform is necessary. They launched a public relations campaign starting in the mid-80's that continues to this day to convince the public that we have out of control juries, too many frivolous lawsuits and a civil justice system that needs reforming. They have used anecdotes, half-truths and flat out lies in their efforts, for one purpose -- to put limits on people's access to the court system, the one and only place where an average citizen can go toe to toe with those with money and power and still have a shot at justice. And the case they've used to bring people to their cause is the McDonald's hot coffee case, which has been skewed to epic proportions in their attempt to discredit the legal system. But as the new documentary Hot Coffee points out, this case was not the multi-million dollar payday that we're led to believe.