The American dream has been under attack for years by what I call modern day piracy. This scourge robs us of our wealth and denies us justice. It drives up insurance costs and fuels inflation across our economy.
If you listen to the liberal media, you might guess tariffs and President Trump are to blame. But that couldn't be further from the truth. Instead, the villain is lawfare -- frivolous lawsuits brought against innocent parties that clog our courts and drive up the cost of goods and services.
President Trump correctly brought attention to this pervasive issue by fighting the many politically motivated charges and lawsuits brought against him during the Biden years. As many of you know, I have made eliminating lawfare one of the top priorities in my campaign to represent Northern Wisconsin in Congress.
This is good policy, but it is also personal to me because I have seen the way the legal system can be weaponized on the flimsiest of allegations that don't hold up under scrutiny. For more than 20 years, I have represented business owners, entrepreneurs, and companies as a corporate attorney, advising my clients on mergers, forming new businesses, and creating jobs and wealth. Unfortunately, I have also had to represent them in fending off lawsuits, many of which had little or no merit. At times, the cost of litigating claims was so high that the business owners had to shut their doors or relocate their plants to other countries to avoid the litigation risk and expense.
When I speak to hard-working Wisconsinites on the campaign trail, I often share these stories and regularly hear from small business owners their own experiences of fighting frivolous lawsuits. I also share the experiences that my former law firms and I faced with regard to frivolous lawsuits. Invariably, these cases are either dismissed or settled for a fraction of the amount demanded. Insurance companies understand the outrageously high cost of defending claims through trial (often 5 to 7 years), and so our current legal system not only tolerates these frivolous claims, it encourages them through quick settlements.
Just like what happened to President Trump, my political opponents and the media are trying to misrepresent a class action lawsuit brought against my former law firms years ago. I talk about it sometimes when I'm speaking to groups across the 7th District, but I thought it would be best for you to hear the truth from me directly, without media spin or misrepresentation.
You've heard the saying that you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. Well, the same goes for legal advice. In this case, a couple of insiders at a real estate investment fund we represented went rogue and made unlawful commission payments to unlicensed brokers, contrary to the legal advice we gave them. That's the extent of what happened.
Nonetheless, some lawyers working on a contingency fee (you know the type, they take 33% of whatever they can squeeze out of the defendants’ insurance company) filed a class action lawsuit, alleging, without any evidence or facts, the law firms and I knew or should have known about the client’s conduct. They then went to the media to spin the story and push for a quick insurance settlement. (Dear readers, please understand that in America, even the most outlandish allegations made without evidence are protected from claims for defamation under the litigation privilege doctrine, and the media can reproduce those statements without consequence.)
Like most cases against hospitals, doctors, law firms, and other professionals, the insurance carriers settled this case for a fraction of the claim in order to avoid years of defense costs. However, I was unwilling to sign off on the proposed settlement because, even though I had done nothing wrong, it contained only a standard “no admission of liability” clause. I fought back, and in the end, the people bringing the suit acknowledged that none of their claims were proven, that no court found in their favor on any allegation, and that we vigorously disputed the allegations made in the case, which were inaccurate and not supported by facts or evidence.
Underscoring the baselessness of the suit, a judge even issued a rare Federal bar order forever protecting me and my former law firms from any and all claims related to this case. In addition, two of the parties to the settlement agreement paid me for the damage to my professional reputation as an attorney and officer of the court.
These lawsuits happen over and over again in our nation. Frivolous suits are brought with the goal not of proving wrongdoing, but of scoring a financial settlement. It's a form of legal extortion. And when that happens, the cost of doing business goes up. When the cost of doing business goes up, the cost of living for everyday Americans goes up right along with it. Families suffer, and small businesses, which are the backbone of our economy, are forced to close or sell out to large conglomerates.
That needs to change, and it starts by combatting lawfare directly. The problem right now is that there is no downside for filing bogus lawsuits. My proposal is simple. If a plaintiff files a lawsuit and cannot prove their case, they have to reimburse the defendants for their costs and fees (or some variation on that theme). That is the approach in other English-speaking countries, and justice demands that type of legal reform. Once we achieve that simple reform, frivolous cases will decline, along with the cost of insurance and the price of the goods and services we buy in our daily lives. Let’s restore the American dream and make our nation great again!
**PAID FOR BY WASSGREN FOR CONGRESS**
Last Update: Feb 02, 2026 3:04 pm CST
