Advocates for Justice

Save Our Juries launched in July 2014, becoming ABOTA's first public awareness campaign. Its mission is to "uphold the jury system provided by the Seventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution by educating the American public about the current issues, the history and the value of the right to trial by jury." In 1958, my father, ABOTA's first National President, built ABOTA on this one mission - to preserve our civil justice system. It's vital that we always use his founding purpose as the anchor of this organization. 

In a complaint filed this week, California Attorney General Kamala Harris added detailed allegations to a whistleblower case filed by Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy against BP (formerly British Petroleum) that accuses the oil company of massive overcharging of California cities, counties, universities, and government agencies on purchases of natural gas over the course of the past decade.

Continuing Care Retirement Communities (“CCRCs”) are gaining in popularity as an option for senior retirement living. Many CCRCs offer gorgeous surroundings akin to a 5-star hotel. Often they tout ties to prestigious universities in the hopes of attracting alumni and faculty. However, for all the attractions of CCRC living, there are serious legal consequences to be considered before a senior should make the move to a CCRC.

Another area of healthcare that is rife with fraud is hospice care. Hospices aim to provide palliative care, as opposed to curative care, to patients in the last six months of their lives. Palliative care is aimed at relieving the pain, symptoms, and/or stress of terminal illness and includes a comprehensive set of medical, social, psychological, emotional, and spiritual services provided to a terminally ill individual. Medicare recipients of palliative care agree to forego curative treatment of their terminal illness.