Shakedown: How Corporations, Government, and Trial Lawyers Abuse the
Judicial Process

by Robert A. Levy

About the Book

"Baseless lawsuits encourage the notion that individuals can engage
in risky behavior, then force someone else to pay for their
mistakes. That's the premise underlying litigation against
manufacturers of cigarettes, guns, lead paint, fatty foods, and
alcoholic beverages.

Meanwhile, our antitrust laws have been co-opted by frustrated
competitors who curry favor with bureaucrats to attack market
leaders such as Microsoft. In effect, antitrust is now a subsidy
used to promote the parochial interests of politically favored
companies.

In Shakedown, Robert A. Levy uncovers the worst abuses of a judicial
system run amok, then offers concrete proposals to fix the problems.
Here are some of the author's hard-hitting criticisms:

-Tobacco. Today, the cigarette companies; tomorrow, anyone could be
victimized. The rule of law has yielded to ambitious state attorneys
general, social engineers, and contingency-fee trial lawyers
stalking an outcast industry.


-Guns. To circumvent the legislature, anti-gun advocates have taken
their battle to the courtroom. The courts must not entertain
lawsuits based on bizarre legal theories that seek to have
every "victim" compensated by corporate America.


-Tort Reform. Many companies believe that no matter how responsibly
they behave, they'll be held liable for the negligence of others.
That problem is real, but tort law is up to the states, not
Congress.


-Antitrust. The concept of antitrust is flawed to the core. Markets
move faster than antitrust ever could. Consumers can unseat any
product and any company no matter how powerful. Antitrust, if it
ever was needed, is now obsolete.


Shakedown is a sweeping indictment of abusive lawsuits in the United
States and a blueprint for overhauling our antitrust and tort laws.


About the Author

Robert A. Levy is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. He is also
an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, a
director of the Institute for Justice, and a member of the Board of
Visitors of the Federalist Society.

Levy holds a Ph.D. from American University and a J.D. from the
George Mason University Law School. His writing has been published
in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Washington
Post, National Review, Weekly Standard, Legal Times, and Journal of
the American Medical Association. He also has appeared on many
national radio and TV programs,
including "Crossfire," "Nightline," "Geraldo," "Hardball," and
the "Today Show."

What Others Have Said

"Increasingly, our laws and courts are used to further the political
agenda of a powerful few. Robert Levy presents a compelling argument
that such legal manipulation must be reined in to preserve the rule
of law and our democratic system of justice."

--Catherine Crier, Host, "Court TV," and bestselling author of The
Case against Lawyers


"If you're not alarmed at what state attorneys general are up to
these days, you're probably not paying attention. Robert Levy shines
a spotlight on some of the most destructive litigation of our era."

--Walter Olson, author, The Rule of Lawyers, Senior Fellow,
Manhattan Institute


"The Founders gave us a government of laws and not men. In
Shakedown, Robert Levy shows what happens when that principle is
reversed: well-connected special interests and career-minded
politicians conspire to use government as a means of extortion. But
the answer, as Levy shows, is not yet another legislative quick fix,
but a newfound respect for individual rights and the rule of law.
Levy's penetrating analysis and compelling insights deserve
widespread readership."

--Chip Mellor, President & General Counsel, Institute for Justice


"This important book will both anger and encourage readers. Angered
by the flagrant abuses and encouraged by the author's articulated
reforms, most will find this a fast and fascinating read."

--Former U.S. Senator Malcolm Wallop


"If you want to know why and how the costs of your insurance
premiums, prescription drugs, doctor visits, real estate taxes, and
sales taxes have secretly gone up, read this book. Bob Levy has
masterfully chronicled how the trial lawyers are robbing you while
making themselves look like do-gooders."

--Hon. Andrew P. Napolitano, Senior Judicial Analyst, Fox News
Channel