Biden Benefits From Trial-Lawyer Donations, Backs Them in Votes

Oct. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Joe Biden has been an ally of trial lawyers throughout his tenure in the U.S. Senate, opposing every effort to curb lawsuits against businesses and doctors. The lawyers are returning the favor.

Five of Biden's 10 biggest lifetime campaign donors are members of law firms that specialize in bringing personal-injury cases, according to the firms' Web sites and the Washington-based Center for Responsive Politics. That ratio held up during his recent, unsuccessful run for the presidency.

While trial lawyers traditionally back Democrats, Biden, 65, the party's nominee for vice president, has gotten more money from the leading firms than any of the 16 other Senate committee chairmen and more than any Senate Democratic leader.

``The plaintiffs' lawyers would have an ally and dear friend in the White House if the Obama-Biden ticket wins,'' said Steven Hantler, who heads the nonprofit arm of the American Justice Partnership, a business-funded advocacy group that seeks to limit lawsuits at the state level.

There are no trial-lawyer firms among the top 10 donors to Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential candidate, or Senator John McCain, the Republican nominee.

Biden -- a former trial lawyer himself and former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee -- voted against attempts by the Republicans who controlled Congress from 1995 to 2007 to rein in lawsuits.

Holding Steady

Even when other Democrats broke ranks during that period, Biden was steadfast. He declined to join Obama in backing a 2005 law that shifted most class-action lawsuits from state to federal courts, or Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, who cosponsored legislation to set up a trust fund in lieu of asbestos lawsuits.

David Wade, a spokesman for Biden, said the Delaware senator is sticking up for the average citizen.

``Joe Biden has always believed that when CEOs and big corporations put profits before people, raiding pensions, polluting air and water, or putting dangerous drugs on the market, working folks injured through no fault of their own should have the right to seek justice,'' he said.

Amaya Smith, a spokeswoman for the American Association for Justice, the trial lawyers' trade group, declined to comment. The association's political action committee has given 95 percent of its donations in the 2008 campaign to Democrats.

White House Opposition

Biden's presence on the national ticket has business groups expecting that their campaign to impose limits on lawsuits will run into opposition in an Obama White House.

McCain, an Arizona senator, calls for restricting lawsuits against doctors as part of his plan to overhaul health care.

To be sure, Biden, who's been in the Senate for 36 years, has split with his party and supported corporations on some key votes. He supported the North American Free Trade Agreement and was one of only 18 Democrats in 2005 who voted for a bankruptcy bill that was the top priority of credit-card companies including MBNA Corp.

MBNA, which was based in Biden's home state of Delaware before being bought by Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America Corp. in 2006, is Biden's biggest lifetime donor. The company's employees gave him $214,050.

Still, his advocacy for the lawyers has paid dividends.

Four of the five plaintiffs' law firms among his top donors have worked on behalf of victims of asbestos exposure -- SimmonsCooper LLC, whose employees and families contributed $196,050 from 1989-2008; Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos's firm, whose employees gave $156,250; Baron & Budd PC, whose employees donated $108,050; and Weitz & Luxenberg PC, whose employees gave $93,750.

Blocking Trust Fund

Biden voted in 2006 to block legislation setting up a $140 billion trust fund for victims of exposure to asbestos and curbing lawsuits that have bankrupted almost 80 companies. Leahy of Vermont cosponsored the measure, and 13 Democrats voted to bring it to the Senate floor. The supporters couldn't muster enough votes and the legislation died.

Biden ``thought it was dead wrong that if the trust fund ran out of money for the victims, they couldn't even get their rights back,'' said spokesman Wade.

He was on the losing side in February 2005 when the Senate approved legislation shifting most class-action suits to federal courts from state courts. Among the Democrats backing the measure were Charles Schumer of New York and Obama of Illinois. The bill passed, 72-26, and was signed into law.

Securities Suits

Ten years earlier, Biden voted no while 20 other Democrats, including Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, helped override President Bill Clinton's veto of legislation curbing class-action securities lawsuits.

Even with Biden's record, business groups favoring limits on lawsuits have mostly stayed out of the presidential race, in contrast to their effort four years ago against John Edwards, the Democratic vice presidential nominee.

``John Edwards actually was a plaintiffs' lawyer,'' Hantler said. ``There was some understandable heartburn.''