Legislation aimed at making attorney advertising in Louisiana more transparent and less susceptible to misleading claims took effect this month, but tort reform advocates are now waiting for the state Supreme Court to embrace the new rules.
Some trial attorneys who pay for billboard ads to get more clients are also waiting for the high court to chime in before they change the way they do business, despite the bill’s warnings that the current legal ad environment can mislead consumers.
Senate Bill 115, authored by State Sen. Patrick Connick (R-Marrero) and signed by Gov. John Bel Edwards last year, took effect Jan. 1. The measure, which applies to legal advertisements in all formats, calls on ads that mention a monetary settlement agreement or a jury damages verdict to account for all attorney fees that benefit those behind the ads.
The new statute states that in print ads, such financial disclosures should be in a type font no smaller than half the size of the largest type font in the ad. And for broadcast ads, verbal descriptions of the attorney fees paid from jury verdicts and settlements need to be “audible, intelligible and presented with equal prominence and in the same manner as other parts of the advertisement,” according to a legislative analysis of SB 115.
The bill also singles out the Supreme Court by name. “The Louisiana Supreme Court may adopt rules as necessary to implement and enforce the (bill’s) provisions,” the new statute states.
Lana Venable, executive director of Louisiana Lawsuit Abuse Watch, urged the state’s high court to follow through on the legislature’s push for attorney advertising reform.
“The passage of SB 115 is a positive step in addressing these often misleading ads promising ‘jackpot justice’ and impacting everything from our auto insurance rates – the second-highest in the U.S. – to the cost of basic goods and services,” Venable said in an email to the Louisiana Record.
“We hope the state’s high court will support efforts to curb these misleading ads on the basis of ensuring consumer protection and preventing deceptive trade practices,” she said.
Venable also pointed to an American Tort Reform Association report covering the second half of 2018, when it was estimated that legal services advertisements aired once every 60 seconds in New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Shreveport – at a cost of about $16 million.
“You can’t turn on a television set in any part of the state without being inundated with the promise of quick cash from injuries that can be difficult to prove,” she said.
The state Supreme Court has said that the justices are analyzing the issue of adopting additional rules on legal advertising, but they offered no deadline for when the study might be completed.