Emails to Student Bar Associations

From: RDShatt@aol.com
To: __________
Sent: 4/_/2011 ______.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: Attorney general offices should expand and hire more lawyers

 

To: Student Bar Association

 

I am writing your Student Bar Association because I advocate that state attorney general offices should be expanded and more lawyers should be hired by those offices.  This advocacy should be of interest to law students.  I hope your Student Bar Association will make use of my advocacy.

 

For a statement of my advocacy, please see this link Attorney general offices should expand in my blog How To Combat Plaintiffs' Lawyers.

 

Thank you.

 

Rob Shattuck

3812 Spring Valley Circle

Birmingham, AL 35223

Attorney general offices should expand

A lot of class action and other "private" civil litigation should be viewed as more "public" than "private."
 

On a spectrum, I conceive of "private" litigation at one end of the spectrum being one human being having injured another human being and the latter suing the former for damages, and only those human beings are affected by the outcome of the litigation.

Where there are corporations and other organizations comprised of conglomerations of human beings in various roles and functions, there are many human beings who are affected by the outcome of litigation.  They may be shareholders, officers, or employees of a corporation, and they are differentially affected by the outcome of litigation.  Some of these human beings (officers and employees) have culpability for making decisions and carrying out corporate activities that cause the injury, whereas others (shareholders, other employees) are largely innocent bystanders concerning the corporate wrongdoing
.

Further, costs of litigation against a corporation can get spread in a more public and notable way to customers in the form of higher prices, than happens as consequence of litigation way on the "private" end of the spectrum.

Also, there is more visibility and particularity in outcomes of bigger scale litigation that cause other persons and corporations who are not party to the litigation to modify their behavior.  This is especially true when the law imposes big liabilities without there being intentional wrongdoing or negligence, or with very slight negligence.

In evaluating this "public" litigation, there are meaningful questions about whether the work of plaintiffs lawyers well serves or ill serves the societal interests that are involved, and whether state attorneys general and other publicly accountable officials such as government regulators and district attorneys would better serve the societal interests. 

Due mainly to the compensation arrangements for plaintiffs' lawyers, I contend that it would be better if state attorneys generals and other public officials were responsible for bringing and prosecuting of this "public" litigation.  For discussion and arguments in  support of this contention, please see these two blog entries, among other entries:  Does the Civil Liability System Undermine Business Ethics? and http://robertshattuck.blogspot.com/2007/11/alabama-supreme-court-elections-1994.html:

As a result, I am an advocate of an expansion of the domain of the state attorneys general in the bringing and prosecuting of this "public" civil litigation, a hiring of more lawyers by those offices, and a reduction of the role of plaintiffs' lawyers.

Contacting Alabama AG office

From: RDShatt@aol.com
To: _________@ago.state.al.us
Sent: 4/3/2011 10:26:35 A.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: Fwd: here is what I wish

Dear _______,

Please consider this in the nature of a personal follow up.

I don't know whether my subject matter provokes your professional interest in any way. 

I think it should provoke the interest of any lawyer who has made a decision to go to work for an attorney general. 

I assume a main motivation of such a decision is a desire to work to protect the public, to obtain compensation if the public has been hurt by wrongdoing, and to deter wrongdoing.

I think I raise significant policy questions relative to the mission of any attorney general and what the attorney general can do and what others can do to help the attorney general in his or her mission.

I have previously contacted attorneys general in other states and wish to continue those contacts.

Accordingly, I ask whether you have any personal or professional acquaintances in the offices of attorneys general in other states that you would be willing to provide me contact information for.

Thanks.

Rob Shattuck

---

From: RDShatt@aol.com
To:________@ago.state.al.us
Sent: 3/26/2011 7:49:43 A.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: here is what I wish 

Dear ________,

Thank you for taking the time to speak to me yesterday.

As a citizen "tort reform" activist (or busybody, if you wish), I believe a lot of class action and other "private" litigation should be viewed as more "public" than "private."  This is due to factors that include the scale and make up of a plaintiff class (in class action litigation) and the consequences and ramifications for the general public and other persons who are not parties that result from litigation outcomes, be they judgments or settlements, such as how behavior, particularly in the commercial world, is widely affected.  In considering this "public" litigation, the compensation objective of the plaintiffs to the litigation cannot be lost sight of.

In evaluating this "public" litigation, there are meaningful questions about whether the work of plaintiffs lawyers well serves or ill serves the societal interests that are involved, and whether state attorneys general and other publicly accountable officials such as government regulators and district attorneys would better serve the societal interests. 

Due mainly to the compensation arrangements for plaintiffs' lawyers, I contend that it would be better if state attorneys generals and other public officials were responsible for bringing and prosecuting of this "public" litigation.  You may get a sense of my arguments in  support of this contention from these two blog entries of mine, among other entries:  Does the Civil Liability System Undermine Business Ethics? and http://robertshattuck.blogspot.com/2007/11/alabama-supreme-court-elections-1994.html:

Accordingly, as I said in our phone conversation, I am an advocate of an expansion of the domain of the Alabama attorney general's office concerning this "public" litigation and a reduction of the role of plaintiffs' lawyers.

If Attorney General Strange agrees with me, and thinks it is helpful to have citizen advocates making advocacy on the subject, I would like to have his help in my finding outlets for making my advocacy.

Also, please tell Attorney General Strange that I have been endeavoring to make advocacy to attorneys general in other states and to the National Association of Attorneys General (see, e.g., http://robertshattuck.blogspot.com/2007/12/email-to-national-association-of.html).  If Attorney General Strange would like to take a lead in this on a national level, I would love to help him out.

Please let me know if you are not in a position, or wish not, to refer this email on within the Attorney General's office, so that I may, in such case, look for other contacts in the AG's office.

Thanks so much.

Sincerely,

Rob Shattuck

From: constituentaffairs@ago.state.al.us
To: rdshatt@aol.com
Sent: 3/17/2011 6:20:52 A.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: General Comments to AG--No Reply Contact from Website

    Here is a copy of the form you submitted from the Alabama Attorney General's website:
   
    Date:  3/17/2011 @ 6:21 AM Rob Shattuck 0 (Age)
    3812 Spring Valley Circle Birmingham, AL 35223 205-967-5586 (Home Phone)
    Work Phone Not Given rdshatt@aol.com (E-Mail Address)
   
    ---Division of Attorney General form is directed to---
    General Comments to AG--No Reply
   
    ---Details---
    Description:
    Dear Attorney General Strange, 
I have a blog How To Combat Plaintiffs' Lawyers (URL http://robertshattuck.blogspot.com/ ).  Last weekend I did a post about the tort reform bills that will be considered by the Alabama legislature in this session  (URL http://robertshattuck.blogspot.com/2011/03/clarion-call-concerning-al-legislative.html). 

In my post, I strongly urge Alabama legislators to inform themselves about plaintiffs' lawyers and tort reform and to reach decisions about what, on balance, is in the best interest of Alabama citizens.  My post says that your views on the issues would be valuable for legislators to consider.  I hope you will express your views to the legislators. 

Thank you. 

Rob Shattuck 

3812 Spring Valley Circle 

Birmingham, AL

   
    ---END OF FORM---

Letter to Governor Bentley

From: RDShatt@aol.com
To: info@governor.alabama.gov
Sent: 3/23/2011 4:51:40 A.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: WEBSITE CONTACT governor.alabama.gov- tort reform bills

Dear Governor Bentley,

I am a retired lawyer (from the _______ law firm).  I am a tort reform activist and have a blog How To Combat Plaintiffs' Lawyers. 

I want to do what I can to make advocacy concerning the tort reform bills being considered in this  legislative session of the Alabama legislature.  I have posted this on my blog: Clarion call concerning AL legislative session and tort reform . 

I have sent emails to Alabama Senators and Representatives that give links to the above blog entry.  I have also emailed Alabama newspaper editors and reporters and chambers of commerce.  I have further contacted the Deans of the Alabama and Cumberland law schools and solicited input from law professors on tort reform policy.

If I can be of any service to your Administration in making advocacy about tort reform, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thank you.

Rob Shattuck

3812 Spring Valley Circle

Birmingham, AL 35223

(205) 967-5586