Tom DeLay (Hearts) "Frivolous Lawsuits"

Another one for the Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) files: according to a new report from the Environmental Working Group, Tom DeLay and his family filed a $15 million defective product lawsuit in 1990 -- the very type of lawsuit he is now seeking to restrict on Capitol Hill. As EWG reports,

The family sued under a theory that a coupler manufactured and distributed by Midcap Bearing Corporation and Lovejoy, Inc. was defective and caused the trolley to lose control. This is exactly the legal theory that DeLay has sought to prohibit communities from using to clean up drinking water contaminated with the gasoline additive MTBE, manufactured by major oil and chemical companies in his district.

Last month, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America noted DeLay's hypocrisy, as well as that of his Senate compatriot Rick Santorum (R-PA), who supported his wife's medical malpractice suit seeking damages in excess of what Santorum's medical malpractice bill would allow:

"We don't resent Rep. DeLay or Sen. Santorum for seeking justice in the courts. Any fellow human being has compassion for a family that loses a father too young, or a woman facing a life of pain and disability. DeLay and Santorum were both represented by trial lawyers.

For them to now demagogue against victims and the trial lawyers who helped their families in order to further the radical agenda of their corporate contributors is insulting to the pain and suffering of victims, including their own family members."