The American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) is urging Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards to sign legislation that would prohibit misleading and deceptive advertisements for professional services, including lawyer-sponsored TV ads.
Sponsored by Sen. Heather Cloud (R-Turkey Creek), SB 395 was based on a Food and Drug Administration study that found 66 reports of patients who, after viewing a lawyer advertisement, discontinued use of their blood thinner medication (Pradaxa, Xarelto, Eliquis or Savaysa), according to ATRA. The median patient age was 70 and 98% stopped medication use without consulting with their doctor. Thirty-three patients experienced a stroke, 24 experienced another serious injury, and seven people died.
“I’m grateful to the Louisiana legislature and to Senator Cloud for her work in moving this legislation forward,” said ATRA president Tiger Joyce. “I urge Gov. John Bel Edwards to take a stand, sign this legislation, and protect the public from false and misleading advertisements.”
A doctor for one of the deceased, Dr. Ilana Kutinsky, testified before Congress that patients were dying "because they are afraid to take the medications prescribed for them due to the fear brought on by these negative and one-sided campaigns,” according to ATRA.
Another study conducted by ATRA found that in the second half of 2018, nearly one-quarter-million ads for legal services aired across in New Orleans, Shreveport and Baton Rouge – with a total media buy of $15.6 million. The report analyzed spending and frequency of legal services ads in three major Louisiana media markets.
“Lawsuit advertisements are not only misleading to patients, but they perpetuate the cycle of litigation, making Louisiana a less attractive place for businesses to move or grow,” Joyce said. “Economic developers see a very litigious area and have to factor in the risks associated with doing business in a state like Louisiana.”
Louisiana is a mainstay on the American Tort Reform Foundation’s annual “Judicial Hellholes” report, this year ranked as the No. 4 Judicial Hellhole in the nation.
Louisiana residents are 60 percent more likely to file lawsuits following auto accidents than claimants in the rest of the nation. Louisiana has the most expensive auto insurance rates in the nation, and claimants in the state report bodily injury from auto accidents at double the national rate.
The problem of lawyer advertising is pervasive – Louisiana’s top media market, New Orleans, saw more than 120,000 trial lawyer advertisements at a cost of nearly $7 million in the last half of 2018. On average, NOLA area TV viewers saw 19 legal services ads for every local medical or dental insurance ad.
During the six-month period that included an election season, Shreveport area viewers saw 19 legal services ads for every state or local campaign ad. The lawyers spent $2.5 million on nearly 50,000 advertisements between July and December of 2018. In Baton Rouge, which is half the size of the New Orleans market, trial lawyer advertisers spent nearly as much as they did in the largest market – approximately $6.1 million for more than 80,000 ads. That means trial lawyer ads ran eight times as often as fast foods ads in Baton Rouge.