House Republicans Demand Answers from State Attorneys General About ‘Shady Trial Lawyer Pipeline’

House Republicans are demanding answers from state attorneys general about the reported “Shady Trial Lawyer Pipeline,” according to a letter exclusively obtained by Breitbart News.

“We write to request information that your State may have regarding the use of public outside counsel contracts,” the letter said.

The letter, led by House Energy and Commerce Republican Leader Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Republican Leader Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA), was sent to state attorneys general in Arizona, Missouri, Montana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, and Washington.

The letter continued:

As leaders on the Energy and Commerce Committee at the U.S. House of Representatives, which is responsible for developing consumer protection laws, we seek to ensure that egregious contracting practices do not deprive victims of appropriate restitution. Your office shares responsibility for protecting consumers, through enforcement of state and federal laws. We believe it is important for Congress to ensure that enforcement agencies, such as yours, have the tools you need to protect consumers in your State.

The letter comes after recent reports revealed eight law firms donated $15 million to Democrat organizations after they received funds from government contracts.

As Breitbart News reported:

Lieff Cabraser, Motley Rice, Baron & Budd, Grant & Eisenhofer, Berger Montague, Cohen Milstein, and Simmons Hanly make up the “shady eight” law firms who donated millions to Democrats. These firms represent local governments in litigation or have statewide contracts “in places like Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Mexico, and New Jersey.”

These “Shady Eight” firms generated at least $15 million in combined political donations from 2017-2020 to committees and candidates in the Federal Election Commission (FEC) tracking system. That is the total given by the firms directly, their 1,300 or so combined lawyers, and other employees and staff.

“While we understand the need for certain State offices under certain circumstances to use outside counsel, we have significant concerns that such practice is being abused for political purposes,” the letter said. “Thus, we are conducting oversight to gather information to review certain State practices as we continue our work to ensure consumers are prioritized.”

The letter asks for dozens of copies of documents from the attorneys general to understand their “perspective on the use of such contracts, the proper protections that must be in place to benefit consumers and taxpayers, and how consumer restitution is best prioritized in public consumer protection efforts.”

Some of the requested documents include contracts between their office and outside contingency-fee legal counsel, the total amount of restitution paid by their offices, and all ethics or conflict waivers given to the law firms.