America’s litigation industry–the aggressive class action and mass tort lawyers who we at the Manhattan Institute have dubbed Trial Lawyers, Inc.–are always seeking new products to expand their bottom line. Today’s plaintiff bar is taking an old class of tort claims, those involving environmental injury, and abusing the legal process in an effort to impose environmental regulations through judicial fiat.

Lawyers have long profited from “toxic tort” lawsuits. Some such litigation–such as that spurred by exposure to low magnetic fields and chemicals like the herbicide atrazine–is founded on junk science, without solid evidence that supports even a general finding of causation. Other lawsuits target defendants linked to genuine toxins, like asbestos, but wrap multiple bogus suits together with each legitimate one.

The nation’s most recent large environmental disaster–the Gulf oil spill flowing from BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig–promises a plethora of such vexatious litigation, in addition to genuine claims. Moreover, beyond pursuing traditional toxic tort claims, lawyers are seeking to profit from BP’s mishap through attorney-driven class action suits with even higher expected payoffs–including suits filed on behalf of shareholders and pensioners, such as that recently announced by Texas asbestos and Vioxx lawyer Mark Lanier.

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/Litigating-over-the-environment-makes-big-bucks-for-trial-lawyers-670290-101922263.html#ixzz0yGt63W7x