The Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles ( CAALA ), formerly the Los Angeles Trial Lawyers Association (LATLA), is one of the largest plaintiff lawyers associations in the United States. Although CAALA refers to itself as a local association, it has nearly 3,000 members and is larger than all but six state test associations. The CAVA Las Vegas convention is the largest meeting of plaintiff lawyers in the United States and its magazine, The Advocate, is the most widely publicized trial-bar publication in the country.
CAALA has been instrumental in promoting legislation to protect consumer rights. But the association has also been strongly criticized by reform organizations and medical associations.
Video Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles
Events and awards
Since its founding in 1949, CAALA has held annual installations and dinner awards in Beverly Hills. At the event, CAALA acknowledged "Trial of the Year Lawyers," "Appeals Lawyers of the Year," "Trial Judge of the Year," and "Appellate Justice of the Year." In recent years, award presentations have been attended by many members of the judiciary and state governments; for example, the 2010 event included 50 judges and judges. The first African American person to be honored as CAALA's "Trial Trial Trial" was Johnnie Cochran, who received the award in 1990. In 2008, Jeffrey Ehrlich became the first CAALA recipient of the "Appeal Appeal of the Year" award, having previously received the award year 2004.
Since 1982, CAALA convened an annual convention in Las Vegas, featuring lectures from prominent plaintiffs lawyers, as well as defense advisers and judges. Today, the convention attracts thousands of participants from across the United States. In 2008, when California Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg raised his eyebrows by spending more than a thousand dollars for a one-night stay at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, it was a fundraising expedition for the CAALA convention.
CAALA recently started a campaign to use billboards throughout Los Angeles to build public awareness about the good that organizations do by consumer lawyers for the community.
Maps Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles
Controversy
In 1985, when a phone hotline was opened to alert doctors about law-conscious patients, CAALA responded by creating a telephone line that patients could contact to see if their doctors had been prosecuted for malpractice for the previous 10 years. The Los Angeles County Medical Association calls the CAALA hotline "fraud and disgrace, miscarriage, and justice corruption." CAALA claims the hotline will improve the business for doctors with a good record by directing patients away from the small minority of doctors who are responsible for most malpractice claims.
In 1994, in a movement with a national reaction, the organization became the first trial association to change its name not to use the term "trial lawyer." They claimed that the transition from the Los Angeles Trial Lawyers Association to "Consumers Attorneys Association of Los Angeles" was conducted after the organization commissioned a survey showing 70% of the public linking the phrase "trial lawyers" to criminal defense lawyers. Chronic reform-supporters accusing CAALA of adopting its new name in an attempt to confuse voters and hide that members of the organization are mostly private lawyers hurting individuals who file lawsuits for large contingent fees. When the California state demonstration association followed in the footsteps of CAALA and adopted a moniker "consumer lawyer", the protest reform groups accused both organizations of "consumer fraud" and said the trial lawyers' attempts to hide in the pro-consumer movement were "clear and disgusting."
In 1995, lawsuit groups claimed that CAALA had given hundreds of thousands of dollars to a consumer activist to buy public opposition to war-reform initiatives. Proponents of the initiative affirm that CAALA has a "consumer grip" and that the organization relies on a neutral facsimile pro-consumer group to do "dirty work." CAALA supporters argue that the organization that made the allegations was funded by the insurance industry.
In 1996, CAALA publicly attacked John Stossel of ABC for representing himself as a consumer reporter despite receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars from corporate interest groups. They claim that the so-called "S & hedge" system recommended by Stossel as a way to reduce litigation will completely eliminate American access to the civil justice system, forcing them to risk financial ruin if they attempt to hold the responsible company in charge court..
External links
- The Los Angeles Consumer Lawyers' Association
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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