Meet Elisa Barnes, Attorney for the NAACP

Biographical Information:

Ms. Barnes’ husband “…refers to her affectionately as Mrs. Trotsky… She grew up in suburban Los Angeles... She moved east to attend Barnard College.”

- Lynda Richardson, New York Times, 10/22/02

The Hamilton Case:

“Weinstein’s reputation in class-action cases got him noticed by Elisa Barnes, a Manhattan plaintiff’s lawyer who had spent years building the Hamilton v. Accu-Tek case. She needed a judge who would sit still for the wild-card thesis of her case… And so, rather than wait for…[a] judge to be chosen randomly, Barnes formally requested Weinstein…”

- Robert Kolker, New York Magazine, 1/05/99

“Barnes’ second break came when she maneuvered her case [Hamilton] into the courtroom of federal Judge Jack Weinstein. It probably helped Barnes’ case that Weinstein is generally known as an outspoken iconoclast on the federal bench… Even more important, he was widely regarded as an innovator in mass-injury cases.”

- Bruce Shapiro, Salon.com, 2/16/99

“Ms. Barnes successfully steered her case into the Brooklyn, N.Y. courtroom of Jack B. Weinstein, a well-respected senior-status judge known for expanding the bounds of toxic-tort law in three decades on the bench.

- Bob Van Voris, The National Law Journal, 1/11/99

The Outcome of the Hamilton Case:

The New York State Court of Appeals overturned Judge Weinstein’s verdict in the Hamilton case. The theory created by Elisa Barnes and supported by Judge Weinstein was completely rejected by the court. This is the same theory Barnes and Weinstein will use in the NAACP case.

The NAACP Case:

“One possible wrinkle in the suit – convincing a judge that the NAACP has the legal right to sue a whole industry. But if Barnes and Dunleavy have their way, their case could land in the courtroom of Jack Weinstein, the class-action-friendly jurist who let Hamilton go to trial when most analysts predicted it would be thrown out. ‘He’s probably the authority on this,’ says Dunleavy, not without a little pleasure…The NAACP suit, then, gives the two lawyers a chance to fire back with more ammo.”

- Robert Kolker, New York Magazine, 7/26/99

The Pizza Hut Murders – Another Barnes’ Classic:

In 2001, Elisa Barnes sued Glock, Inc. and the gun show promoter at whose show the specific Glock in question was sold by a private seller. Why? Criminals using a Glock committed murder at a Pizza Hut during a botched robbery.

Barnes first brought the case to the Superior Court of Pima County, Arizona, which dismissed the case. She then appealed the trial court’s dismissal to the Arizona Court of Appeals, which affirmed the dismissal of the lower court, because Glock was not responsible for the acts of the criminals.

Pass the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act

The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act seeks to protect firearms and ammunition manufacturers from being sued for the criminal misuse of their lawful products by third parties. This legislation seeks to prevent abuses to the American legal system.

Only passage of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (HR 1036 / S 659) will eliminate these frivolous lawsuits that threaten to destroy one of America's oldest, most important industries and eliminate the jobs of thousands of Americans. With 243 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives and 51 co-sponsors in the Senate, the Act enjoys strong bi-partisan support.

On Thursday, April 3, 2003 the Act was passed out of the House Judiciary Committee and onto the whole House by an overwhelming majority of votes. This was the last legislative hurtle the Act had to clear before it could be voted on by the entire House of Representatives. The House is expected to vote on the Act in the near future. See Testimony of Lawrence G. Keane

According to a recent national poll conducted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 69% of Americans would be more favorable toward their Senator or Representative if they voted to reform the way class action lawsuits are handled in the United States. A recent poll conducted by the American Tort Reform Association found that 83.4% of Americans believe there are too many lawsuits in America.