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Wednesday, June 7, 2000

Judging by a newspaper ad designed by the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, Ohio's businesses are about to close down because of "lawsuit abuse." The unusual half-page newspaper ad cajoles Ohio businesses to "move to Michigan" because the Ohio Supreme Court "has rejected legal reform."

So what's going on here, really?

Chambers of commerce rarely aim to raid a neighboring state's businesses so directly. Generally, business-promotion campaigns are done by states and target regions. For example, the Michigan Economic Development Corp., a state-funded agency, is running a $2.7 million ad campaign urging workers to move to Michigan from three states, including Ohio.

More likely, the Michigan chamber's ad is aimed at helping the Ohio Chamber of Commerce in its mega-bucks campaign to oust Supreme Court Justice Alice Robie Resnick. Justice Resnick, a Democrat up for re-election, was in the bipartisan coalition of four justices that overturned Ohio's 1996 tort-reform law last year.

Directors from both chambers deny that the ad is about the election. Yet consider the ad's beginning: "We understand the Ohio Supreme Court has rejected reasonable legal reform." The ad also refers to the Michigan Supreme Court's "judicial restraint." That restraint contrasts with Ohio's "judicial activism," says James Barrett, head of the Michigan chamber.

What does the Michigan chamber hope to get out of this? Publicity, probably. The chamber is in an intensive election race to keep three conservative justices on the Michigan Supreme Court.

Voters, meanwhile, should consider what's missing in this ad campaign. No evidence exists, for example, that Ohio businesses are suffering or considering moving because the tort-reform law was overturned. Further, statistics indicate that states without business-backed limits on lawsuits are as likely or more likely to have economic growth than states with it.

At least one academic study of Ohio suggests that there are fewer legal disputes between consumers and businesses than between businesses themselves, and liability cases are more often settled in favor of defendants than plaintiffs.