WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) - At least one state Attorney General is considering withdrawing membership from what once was an independent association of state attorneys general, according to the American Tort Reform Association (ATRA).
“Most recently the Montana attorney general [Austin Knudsen] came out and spoke about how he no longer feels that the National Association of Attorneys General is a bipartisan organization,” said Lauren Sheets Jarrell, director and counsel on civil justice policy at ATRA. “So, their own members are noticing this and are concerned with the direction that the organization is moving. The plaintiff's bar has been able to infiltrate the organization and push it to the left."
The National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) previously managed multistate investigations and lawsuits in an unbiased manner, according to a release from ATRA. It has taken $140 million from the massive tobacco settlement, which gave private lawyers billions of dollars and requires tobacco companies to make yearly payments to states in order to do business. In 2021, NAAG was involved in an opioid settlement with McKinsey & Co. in which it received $15 million.
“It seems they are promoting entrepreneurial litigation and targeting industries and that their goals are coming more in line with the plaintiffs’ bar by suing businesses for profit,” Jarrell told Legal Newsline. “Their goal now appears to be just pure accumulation.”
A March 30 ATRA report entitled, A Nonprofit that Acts Like a Plaintiffs Law Firm, found that NAAG provides grants to states to help litigation get off the ground and to fund research and other expenses needed to determine participation in multistate lawsuits. States are subsequently required to repay the grant if there is a settlement among litigants.
“This NAAG's movement is part of a broader trend we're seeing where outside activist groups embed their supporters and then seek to influence policy in those positions often through litigation,” Jarrell said. “Another example of this is the Bloomberg-funded State Energy and Environmental Impact Center (SEEIC), which is out of the NYU Law School and is embedding fellows within state AG offices with the sole goal of bringing litigation against the energy industry. Their salaries are paid entirely by this Bloomberg group.”
As previously reported in Legal Newsline, Bloomberg and his Family Foundation have donated $5.6 million to develop the SEEIC, which pays the salaries of climate activists operating under the titles of special assistant attorneys general (SAAG) in order to sue BP, Citgo, Chevron, and more than 20 other fossil fuel companies.
“Using this outside funding source allows the AGs to avoid using state-appropriated funds or from having to go to the legislature for approval or for funding to bring this litigation and so it weakens the checks and balances system, and it basically cuts out the other branches of government and allows these AGs to pursue litigation without going through the necessary process," Jarrell added.