From Legal News Line:

First came the class-action lawsuit, followed by state attorneys general using the power of their office in connection with private plaintiff lawyers to pursue such lawsuits. Millions of dollars from ensuring settlements poured into state coffers.

Now, many say it’s time for reform.

But trial lawyers, bar associations and many of the attorneys general say there is nothing to reform, that those multi-million — or in some cases multi-billion — dollar lawsuits are an act of reform itself.

When an attorney general sues a drug maker or mortgage company or even a software giant, they say they do so to reform those businesses that have made their billions in unethical or fraudulent ways.

Paying millions to settle huge lawsuits has a way of getting a major corporation’s attention.

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