ATRA works to counter the influence of the powerful mass tort bar and aggressive personal injury attorneys by fighting for commonsense reforms in the states, Congress and the court of public opinion.
What We Stand For
ATRA fights in Congress, in state legislatures, and in the courts to create a fairer civil justice system for all. In the media, we serve as the national voice of the civil justice reform movement.
In the media, we serve as the national voice of the civil justice reform movement. Today, America’s $615 billion tort system is the most expensive in the industrialized world. Aggressive personal injury lawyers target certain professions, industries and individual companies as profit centers. They systematically recruit clients who may never have suffered a real illness or injury and use scare tactics, combined with the promise of awards, to bring these people into mass-tort class-action lawsuits. They effectively use the media to rally sentiment for multi-million-dollar punitive damage awards.
This leads many companies to settle questionable lawsuits just to stay out of court. These lawsuits aren’t only bad for business –they’re bad for our society. They compromise access to affordable health care, punish consumers by raising the cost of goods and services, chill innovation, and undermine the notion of personal responsibility. The personal injury lawyers who benefit from the status quo use their gains to perpetuate the cycle of lawsuit abuse. They have reinvested millions of dollars into the political process and in more litigation to act as a drag on our economy. Some have compared the political and judicial influence of the personal injury bar to a fourth branch of government.
ATRA works to counter that influence by challenging this status quo and continually leading the fight for commonsense reforms in the states, Congress and the court of public opinion.
Fair Laws, Fair Judges, Fair Courts
ATRA’s Focus
ATRA supports an aggressive civil justice reform agenda that includes:
According to a 2025 survey, 68% of respondents believe that lawsuit abuse is hurting their state’s economy, while 70% think that reform would make it easier for their state to attract businesses. ATRA successfully translates that frustration into action and reform.
Since ATRA was founded in 1986, nearly every state has enacted portions of ATRA’s legislative agenda. On Capitol Hill, ATRA has a strong track record of reforming laws that improve the civil justice system, including liability protection for teachers and principals enacted into law in 2002 and immunity reform for pandemic-related care in 1997. We continue to fight in Congress for class action reform and health care liability reform.
ATRA’s goal is not just to pass laws. We work to change the way people think about personal responsibility and civil litigation. ATRA’s programs shine a media spotlight on lawsuit abuse while lessening political influence on the civil justice system. The real-life impacts of lawsuit abuse include reduced access to health care providers and the availability of life-saving medicines, as well as increased costs for consumers through the “lawsuit tax” — $1,666 per person annually as of November 2024. Our innovative “Judicial Hellholes®” program has further helped curb lawsuit abuse in the most egregious trial courts.
The American Tort Reform Association is the nation’s first organization dedicated exclusively to reforming the civil justice system through education and legislative enactment.
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