FED UP WITH LAWYERS

By CHRISTOPHER JOHN FARLEY

IN CALIFORNIA THE MOTTO ON AUTOMObile license plates isn't LAND OF LITIGATION, but perhaps it should be. After all, California is the state where 1.6 million lawsuits were filed in 1993. California is where, for every 100 car accidents in which there is a damage claim, there are 66 claims of bodily injury (almost twice the national rate); in Los Angeles, for every such 100 auto accidents there are 99 claims of injury.

The thought of all those lawyers making all that cash from all those lawsuits is probably the only thing that could have brought together the unusual political coalition of consumer advocates, Silicon Valley executives and conservative political operatives that calls itself the Alliance to Revitalize California. The group, formed last January, includes Michael Johnson, a onetime Nader's Raider; Bill Zimmerman, a former campaign director for liberal state senator Tom Hayden; Tom Proulx, the co-founder of the software company Intuit Inc.; and Ken Khachigian, a prominent adviser to Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. As Khachigian says, "If you told me I'd be working with Zimmerman someday, I'd have said, 'No way!' We are polar opposites in ideology."

Yet they have discovered common ground in tort reform, and are working hard for three initiatives that have already qualified for California's March primary ballot. Proposition 200 would establish a "no-fault" auto-insurance system in which insurers pay benefits regardless of who causes an accident. Proposition 201 would discourage shareholder lawsuits by requiring unsuccessful litigants to pay the corporation's legal fees. And Proposition 202 would sharply limit lawyers' contingency fees in personal-injury cases that are settled within 60 days. The initiatives will be voted on separately, but their backers, in order to create a wider base of support, are encouraging voters to think of them as a package aimed at reducing the costs and the quantity of civil litigation. Says Zimmerman: "The public is frustrated with lawyers in this state."

However, many members of the public in California are lawyers--160,000, to be exact--and the trial lawyers' lobby is leading the fight against the initiatives. In the next few months, pro- and anti-initiative forces are expected to spend $20 million waging ad wars over the TV airwaves.

The No forces have put together a diverse alliance of their own, including senior citizens (many of whom are stockholders) and civil rights advocates who fear that lower contingency fees will shut out poor clients. "These so-called tort reforms are bought and paid for by the Silicon Valley guys," says William Carrick, a consultant to the No forces. "They know that if they only put the shareholders' initiative forward, they'll get voted down. So they camouflage it with the no-fault and fee caps.''

The Yes forces freely admit that theirs is a coalition of convenience. "Our primary goal is no-fault auto insurance," says Johnson, but he defends the other propositions as well--never mind that the stockholders' initiative is sometimes called "the swindlers' protection act,'' or that Ralph Nader himself is on the No side.

The lawyer backlash may transcend all that. "I am a lifelong Democrat," says Jill Banks-Barad, a Los Angeles consultant, "but I feel myself leaning in favor of the initiatives because litigation has got out of control in this state."

--By Christopher John Farley. Reported by Jordan Bonfante and Jeanne McDowell/Los Angeles

With reporting by JORDAN BONFANTE AND JEANNE MCDOWELL/LOS ANGELES