Corporations should be held accountable when they cause people legitimate harm, period. But corporations should not be targeted for baseless lawsuits brought by profit-motivated, entrepreneurial plaintiff attorneys acting on behalf of municipalities. When this happens, all of us — victims, employers, consumers, and our economy — suffer the consequences.

Too often, local governments are cash-strapped. Attracted by the prospect of fattening their bottom line, too many local government units are being recruited by litigators to become partners in lawsuits designed to gain high-dollar restitution for alleged corporate misconduct. Working on a contingency fee basis, the plaintiff attorneys bring suit for a wide variety of societal ills, from opioid abuse to climate change.