Orange County CALA Launches
“Take Out the Trash” Campaign
– Group calls for the purging of junk science from courts –
ORANGE COUNTY, CA – Just in time for spring cleaning, Orange County Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse (CALA) is launching the “Take Out the Trash” campaign encouraging judges, legislators and the public to dump the junk science and dubious “experts” from our courtrooms to protect our legal system and public health.
The goal of the program is to shine a spotlight on the use of junk science and how it trashes our civil justice system. Junk lawsuits based on junk science undermine the integrity of our courts, drive up the price of medicine and doctors’ fees for healthcare consumers, and divert funds and attention away from researching and developing medical cures.
“Junk science can be found in the so-called ‘expert witnesses’ who will say anything for the right price, greedy personal injury lawyers bringing questionable claims, or plaintiffs filing lawsuits without experiencing any injury,” said Maryann Maloney executive director of Orange County CALA. “Whatever form junk science takes, the problem has reached national proportions and something needs to be done about it.”
Orange County CALA is launching this program as more and more personal injury lawyers are using “expert witness” doctors who have never even met the plaintiffs they diagnose. Asbestos and silicosis litigation are just the latest examples of how questionable facts are being used to exploit our legal system.
“Personal injury lawyers should not be able to alter the facts and in doing so tamper with our courts,” Maloney said. “Bogus lawsuits based on junk science clog our courtrooms and take money away from legitimate victims.”
To kick-off the “Take Out the Trash” program, Orange County CALA is providing local judges, legislators and the media with trash bags filled with some of the most egregious examples of junk science in the court.
Examples include:
- In recent fen-phen litigation, an independent review of 120 echocardiograms diagnosed with heart damage by two cardiologists hired by plaintiffs’ attorneys found that only 6 percent actually showed heart problems. One of the doctors received an extra $1,500 for every positive reading. The other doctor’s sonographer was trained by an employee of the plaintiff’s attorney.
- U.S. District Court Judge Jack of the Southern District of Texas tossed out many silicosis claims as manufactured diagnoses. Of the 10,000 alleged silicosis victims in the multi-district litigation, 99 percent had been diagnosed by the same nine doctors. One doctor had his secretary fill out patient diagnoses on blank forms, while another analyzed 1,239 patients in 72 hours. Many of the alleged victims in the lawsuit had a one time been diagnosed with and filed claims for asbestosis.
- In California, Dr. Gary Ordog, dubbed “Dr. Mold” by Forbes, has appeared as an expert witness in hundreds of California mold lawsuits claiming that mold can cause a terrifying array of diseases, from lung cancer to cirrhosis of the liver. This is despite the American College of Occupational & Environmental Medicine, the Federal Institute of Medicine and even the vice president of Ordog’s own professional association, the American College of Medical Toxicology, saying there’s no evidence for such claims.
“We want to be sure this information gets in front of judges,” said Maloney. “Just as judges in Texas and Florida have begun throwing out testimony from questionable ‘experts,’ judges everywhere must take an active role in throwing the junk science out of the legal system.”
Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse is a nonprofit, grassroots public education organization dedicated to serving as a watchdog over the legal system and those who would seek to abuse it for undeserved gain. Orange County CALA currently has 4,200 supporters. For more information, visit www.occala.org.
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Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse is a nonprofit, grassroots public education organization with more than 4,000 supporters throughout the Orange County region. More information is available at www.occala.org.
