News

New tort group targeting legislative elections

by Jeremy Alford, LaPolitics

With a budget that could reach $2 million, the newly-created Louisiana Lawsuit Fairness Committee may emerge in the coming weeks as one of the biggest players involved in this year’s state House and Senate races.

While its focus will be on tort reform, LLFC is also expected to dip its special interest toes into tax reform and other issues.

Created by businessman Boysie Bollinger, LLFC is being billed to donors as the non-partisan rebirth of the Louisiana Committee For A Republican Majority, which U.S. Sen. David Vitter headed up in 2007 to help elect the Legislature’s conservative majority.

In addition to Bollinger, Kelly Hart & Pitre partner Loulan Pitre, a former state representative from Lafourche Parish, and Todd Danos, co-founder of Gulf Offshore Logistics, are serving on LLFC’s board.

Questionnaires have been sent out to legislative candidates already and it’s expected that some incumbents will be targeted, although how many is unknown. Endorsements should be rolled out soon and independent expenditures will be part of the operation.

LLFC will operate as a 501(c)(4) but it will also have a state political action committee, or PAC, and a super PAC, which will be able to raise unlimited amounts of money.

The group is following the model used by Texans for Legal Reform to dramatically improve the civil justice system for businesses in Texas. Leaders of the effort here say they are committed to “an all-out fight to elect legislators who agree that Louisiana’s lawsuit climate is unfair to Louisiana businesses and will support the organization’s package of significant lawsuit reform legislation in 2016.”

Additionally, LLFC will “stand in direct opposition to the trial lawyers efforts to gain a footprint in the Louisiana Legislature.”