American Tort Reform Association

“The association has dues paying members. Atra's membership is diverse and includes nonprofits, small and large companies, as well as, state and national trade, business and professional associations. There are three classes of members: class a, class b, and associate. Class a members are any organization which is not an insurer, law firm or association of insurers or lawyers. Class b members consist of all other organizations and associate members are any individual. Associate members may be considered honorary members if the individual has contributed to the association's mission through their decision making, leadership or scholarship. Class a members have voting rights.”

“The members of the board of directors are elected by a majority of class a members voting in person or by proxy.”

“A draft of the 990 is provided to management for review. A complete copy is circulated to the board of directors prior to filing with the irs.”

“All board members and employees are given a copy of the conflict of interest policy and are required to return it to the association.”

“The president of the association's compensation is reviewed annually by the executive committee who uses compensation surveys and asae data. All other key employee's compensation is determined by the president who reviews compensation surveys and asae data to make the decision on appropriate compensation levels.”

“The association would consider making governing documents, conflict of interest policy and financial statements available to the public if requested to do so. However, these documents are typically not made available to the public.”

“An executive committee of the board of directors, consisting of the chair, the chair elect, the immediate past chair, the president, the general counsel, the secretary and the treasurer shall, between meetings of the board of directors, have and may exercise, so far as may be permitted by law, full authority of the board of directors in the management of the association except that the executive committee may not change, supplement or repeal the association's articles of incorporation or the bylaws, may not fill vacancies on the board of directors, may not elect officers, may not suspend or cancel membership in the association. The executive committee shall keep a record of its acts and shall promptly report such acts to the board of directors.”

“The american tort reform association (atra) is the nation's first organization exclusively dedicated to repairing our civil justice system. Atra fights in congress, in state legislatures, and in the courts to create a fairer civil justice system for all. We identify and champion elected officials and judges who want to fix the system. Our mission is to see real justice in our courts. In the media, we servie as the national voice of the civil justice reform movement. Today, ameica's $429 billion tort system is the most expensive in the industrialized world. Aggressive personal injury lawyers target certain professions, industries and individual companies as profit centers. They systematically recruit clients who may never have suffered a real illnes or injury and use scare tactics, combined with the promise of awards, to bring these people into massive class-action lawsuits. They effectively tap the media to rally sentiment for multi-million dollar punitive damage awards. This leads many companies to settle questionable lawsuits just to stay out of court. These lawsuits are bad for business; they are also bad for society. They compromise access to affordable health care, punish consumers by raising the cost of goods and services, chill innovation, and undermine the notion of personal responsibility. The personal injury lawyers who bnefit from the status quo use their fees to perpetuate the cycle of lawsuit abuse. They have invested millions of dollars into the political proceess and in more lititgation that acts as a drag on our economy. Some have compared the political and judicial influence of the personal injury bar to a fourth branch of government. Atra works to counter that influence by challenging this status quo and continually leading the fight for commonsense reforms in the states, congress and the court of public opinion.”

“To enhance the fairness, efficiency, and predictability of the tort system through public education and legislative enactments. Atra accomplishes its legislative afenda by working with state tort reform coalitions. It is a clearing-house for information from approximately 40 state tort reform coalitions. Each fall, atra hosts a planning conference at which coalition leaders meet to discuss past successes and future strategies. Atra also prepares educational materials which carry its mesage directly to the pubic. Atra has developed a communications "tool kit" for use by local grassroots coalitions interested in fighting lawsuit abuse. Each june and december, atra publishes "the tort reform record" to record the accomplishments of the latest legislative year. It includes a two-page, state-by-state summary of the atra-supported reforms enacted by the states since 1986.”

“Atra program consultants / contract services 98,105. Grassroots program consultants / contract services 223,671. Administrative consultants / contract services 217,179.”

“The organization's executive committee is responsible for oversight of the audit, including selection of the independent accountant. The process has not changed from previous years.”