"At the very same time lawmakers lie about who is actually filing lawsuits and claim they want to stop 'lawsuit abuse,' they are actually granting corporations special privileges to file even more lawsuits. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) quietly established special courts where foreign companies can sue U.S. federal and state governments for compensation when their laws protecting health, labor or environmental standards cut into corporate profits. One company, for instance, sought nearly $1 billion from California (more than 1 percent of the state's entire budget) as compensation for a state law that prohibited the use of an environmentally hazardous gasoline additive. In all, Big Business has used these special tribunals to force American taxpayers to hand over $1.8 billion."
AlterNet: Blogs: PEEK: SF CHRON: When the Class War Goes Local:
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