Southern California Regional Director Maryann Maloney's community commentary was published in the Daily Pilot today, in which she applauded Assemblyman Van Tran for addressing a problem caused by overexuberance of the class action plaintiff's bar through his bill AB 298:

"This bill will be fought vigorously by plaintiffs’ attorneys. All they have to do in California’s current climate is pick a business to sue, regardless of whether any wrongdoing has occurred, and wait for the millions of dollars in settlement fees. The abuse of the civil justice system is a continuing problem. California ranked 44th in a recent Harris Poll compiling perceptions of courts, judges, juries, processes and the treatment of tort and contract litigation and class action lawsuits within each state. Orange County was recently named a place to watch in the American Tort Reform Assn.’s annual Judicial Hellhole report, citing class action lawsuits against Botox in particular.

We must encourage our legislators to pass bills that will stimulate economic recovery, keep businesses open and prices low. AB 298 is a bill that will accomplish all these things."