Too often when a manufacturer agrees to pay an injured victim in settlement of his/her claim, they insist on a “confidential” settlement. Corporations frequently try to hide their negligence and defective products behind these secrecy agreements. Now a growing number of victims’ advocates are suggesting legislation be passed to prevent information about defective products to be withheld from an unsuspecting public.
Recently, an opinion piece was published in the National Law Journal by Les Weisbrod of the AAJ urging passage of the Sunshine in Litigation Act. He argues that continuing the current system allows corporate cover-ups, allows negligent companies to hide evidence discovered through the court system, and allows those companies to continue to profit from the products remaining on the market to unwary consumers. Examples of dangerous products kept secret from the public by prior confidential settlements include the defective Firestone tires on Ford Explorers and AstraZeneca’s defective drug Seroquel.
Secrecy rarely benefits anyone and in the case of secret settlements, only the guilty are benefiting.
Richard J. Arsenault, 2011
