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

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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---