In March of 2019, the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform published a paper titled "Mitigating Municipality Litigation: Scope and Solutions". Municipality litigation is becoming an extremely popular business model for the plaintiffs' bar. Entrepreneurial contingency fee attorneys are teaming up with cash-strapped municipalities, activists, and politically ambitious local officials to file lawsuits covering a broad swathe of important public policy issues. ILR's research explores this trend and its consequences, including how municipal lawsuits create obstacles for global settlement, undermine the authority of legislators and state AGs, and ultimately reduce funds available to compensate injured individuals. The paper also provides a comprehensive list of legislative and judicial solutions that states can pursue to reduce municipality litigation and the problems it poses.
Orrick lawyer, Robert McKenna, authored Part 1 of this publication: Municipality Litigation Landscape. His contributions include detailed insights on municipal affirmative legislation history and incentives, the nature of claims, and consequences of spiraling municipal litigation.
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