It’s about time. 

AGs across the country have been abusing their power and using their offices as mass tort firms.

They go after companies and many of them settle simply to make it go away.  After all, who wants their name drug through the mud, the entire power of the state government of West Virginia against them, and often, the simply settle and move on.

Scott Sabatini of Legalnewsline.com details the growing call for AG reform in many states.

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Call for AG reform growing

BY SCOTT SABATINI

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (Legal Newsline) — 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.

But the house is clearly divided when it comes to attorneys general.

Some of the most aggressive attorneys general past and present — prominent names such as Florida’s Bill McCollum, New York’s Eliot Spitzer, California’s Bill Lockyer and West Virginia’s Darrell McGraw — are the ones facing the most criticism for their twitchy litigious trigger-fingers and the class-action lawsuits they file.

“The fundamental concern for taxpayers,” tort reform lawyer Amber Taylor said, “if the contracts are not subject to an open, public bidding process, is that the state is potentially getting a poor price for legal services. In cases in which the attorneys are paid on a non-competitive contingent-fee basis, less money ends up in the state treasury.”

The pendulum appears to be swinging. State legislators are increasingly adopting restrictions upon their attorney general hiring outside counsel for large class-action lawsuits.

The legal system is now involved as well with challenges in West Virginia, California and Rhode Island reaching the state’s highest court. Attorneys general also are beginning to change their methods, particularly as upstart new candidates seek to win voters with vows of reform, legal observers say.

Former Virginia Attorney General Jerry Kilgore said these concerns have brought increased scrutiny.

“The practice of appointing outside counsel has been given increased scrutiny both inside and outside an attorney general’s office,” he said.

While the debate may continue for years, the push for reform has gained traction and is changing the way attorneys general throughout the country do business.

“It appears AGs around the country,” Kilgore said, “are less and less likely to hire firms … without some policies and procedures.”

While that may be true in many places, it rings hollow in the Mountain State.

Legislative reform has mostly failed over the years and Attorney General Darrell McGraw continues to appoint special assistant attorneys general and hire outside counsel — most of whom are consistent contributors to his campaigns — with little public oversight.

What’s the problem?  Click HERE to read more.