Trial Magazine

For-profit corporations, by design, are money-making entities. Unless it is a B Corporation, typically a company’s number one purpose is to sell its products or services. In fact, boards of publicly held companies owe a fiduciary duty to their shareholders to maximize profits.

This basic fact is often at the root of so many of the lawsuits we bring: To sell more products, someone may have cut a corner. To convince more consumers to use a company’s services, someone may have skirted the law or hoodwinked the regulators. Sometimes, sheer greed drives corporate behavior. And unchecked innovation can lead to unintended consequences.

As trial lawyers, we’ve seen many examples of these principles. In my practice, I’ve witnessed corporations experimenting on women’s bodies—bringing medical devices to market without sufficient testing and without disclosing thousands of complaints known to the manufacturer. In this instance, I’m thinking of one particular implantable medical device, purportedly designed to prevent pregnancies.

Sadly, though, over the last 20 years, I’ve worked on a series of similar cases. Other manufacturers designed patches, rings, and synthetic compounds for birth control. Each new product was marketed as the “next best thing.” Women were told these products were easy to use; no more dangerous than other available birth control products; and safer than getting pregnant, which itself brings great risk.

The thing is, we already know how to safely prevent pregnancy. Birth control pills have been on the market since the 1960s, and many methods of preventing pregnancy have been widely studied. But corporations often aren’t content to provide those tried and tested methods alone. They want to sell new methods and capture new consumers in their quest to make money off the backs of women.

This is where trial lawyers come in. Civil justice provides recourse for women who have been harmed by corporate greed. And when I say “harmed,” this sometimes means “grievously harmed.” Some of the products marketed to women can maim them irreparably. Transvaginal mesh is a particularly dramatic example, but there are so many others: facial injections, breast implants, intrauterine devices. I could go on.

In addition to producing defective products, companies can also be guilty of negligence. The rash of destroyed embryos in fertility centers recently is heartbreaking. In vitro fertilization is a profitable industry, inviting sloppy business practices and unreliable systems.

As consumers, the public counts on regulatory agencies to keep them safe, but that simply isn’t enough. Instead, trial lawyers must continue to tell injured plaintiffs’ stories to juries and expose corporate misconduct. Without access to the courts, justice cannot be achieved.

Holding corporations accountable goes beyond these examples as you will see in this month’s Trial, with articles on forced arbitration (p. 20); social media addiction (p. 28); employment discrimination (p. 36); and e-commerce delivery drivers (p. 50). Plus, check out a spotlight on the critical work of AAJ Legal Affairs (p. 56), and read a Q&A with AAJ Past President Russ Herman about holding corporations accountable to create change (p. 44).

I am so proud to have represented so many women who have stood up to corporate America and insisted that it do better for all of us. I could not have successfully represented these clients without the knowledge, network, and advocacy support that I have received during an entire career of membership in this association.

AAJ’s education programs have taught me how to fight corporate greed (justice.org/education). AAJ’s Litigation Groups have allowed me to connect with other lawyers fighting the same fight (justice.org/litigationgroups). AAJ’s Sections have brought me a deeper understanding of various practice areas (justice.org/sections). AAJ’s lobbying efforts and amicus curiae program—both at the state and federal levels—have protected my clients’ Seventh Amendment rights and access to justice (justice.org/advocacy/legal-affairs). And AAJ’s network of brilliant lawyers around the country has brought me the courage to continue holding corporations accountable.

I’m honored to be a part of this organization. I hope you too recognize all that AAJ does to help us seek justice against wrongdoers.

Lori E. Andrus is a partner at Andrus Anderson in San Francisco and can be reached at lori.andrus@justice.org.