Richard Blumenthal Rips Into Kansas AG Kris Kobach Over Pfizer Vaccine Lawsuit

Forbes Breaking News

During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last week, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) questioned Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach about his lawsuit against Pfizer over the effects of their COVID-19 vaccine.

Transcript

00:00Thank you. Senator Blumenthal.

00:05Thanks, Mr. Chairman.

00:08The tobacco lawsuit was, in fact, brought by state attorneys general, and just as a historical

00:17footnote, we went to the Department of Justice and asked them to join us.

00:24They refused to do it.

00:25They said it couldn't succeed, and they also said the tobacco companies have never lost

00:35a lawsuit, they have never settled a lawsuit, and you'll lose.

00:45Well, as it turned out, eventually, all the attorneys general of the United States of America,

00:52including Kansas, joined our lawsuit after a while, after we were successful, because

00:59of the legal action based on the Unfair Trade Practices Act of the state of Connecticut, the

01:09state of Minnesota, the state of Massachusetts, the state of Florida.

01:14The core states that brought that lawsuit relied on deceptive and unfair practice allegations,

01:23saying that the tobacco companies were lying.

01:26When they said, our product doesn't cause cancer, it doesn't cause disease, it was a good old-fashioned

01:34garden variety consumer protection case.

01:38It also involved antitrust allegations.

01:41In Mississippi, it was an equity action.

01:44It's more complicated than I am describing it right now.

01:49But your state of Kansas, I think, is probably still getting money.

01:53Every year, every state in the country gets money to combat tobacco because it relied on the

02:02good old-fashioned consumer protection statutes that say, when you make a promise to consumers,

02:09it has to be truthful and accurate.

02:13And so I assume that all of the witnesses here support those kinds of consumer actions, correct?

02:24I'll begin with you, attorney general.

02:27Yeah, I do when it fits into the correct legal box.

02:32So, for example, the tobacco lawsuits were brought under the State Consumer Protection

02:35Act that you mentioned, and every state has one.

02:38And they're based on the notion, which is very clearly laid out, that the manufacturer

02:44of a product misrepresents the product to the consumer of the product, and the consumer

02:48purchases it and suffers some injury or harm.

02:51And it's because of that deception.

02:53It's much harder to fit climate change lawsuits into that box because there's no secret about

03:02the fact that fossil fuels are used in internal combustion engines and that those internal

03:07combustion engines emit CO2.

03:09Well, the state of Connecticut is suing ExxonMobil right now under the Connecticut Unfair Trade

03:18Practices Act saying, basically, it's lying about its product and the dangers and damages

03:25done by its product.

03:27You are suing Pfizer.

03:32Same kinds of allegations, correct?

03:34The similarity is-

03:36But no one is accusing you of trying to destroy the American drug industry?

03:40No, I don't think so.

03:41But I think they're not the same.

03:43The same, they both try to use a consumer protection box to put the case in.

03:48In the case of the Pfizer, they made certain representations about their product, and that

03:54turned out to be contrary to the information they had, and the individual took it to direct

03:58harm to himself.

03:59In the case of fossil fuels, you have a broad public debate about the harms and how big they

04:05are, who's causing the harms.

04:06You also have third parties, because it's not just the oil company-

04:11Connecticut has to prove its allegation, the facts behind the allegation that, in fact,

04:18the company is misrepresenting its product.

04:22Just as you have to prove, by the way-

04:24Absolutely.

04:25As you well know, your case has been remanded to state court.

04:32So you'll have your day in court there, but no less than if you were in federal court,

04:37you're going to have to offer evidence that proves your allegation.

04:41Same is true of Connecticut in suing Exxon Mobil.

04:44I don't see how, as a lawyer, you can say, well, the claims under the statute are wrongly

04:52bought just because this is a different industry, and because there is a public debate because-

04:59Well, I'm not, I'm not saying you can't-

05:03I'm not saying the claims are wrongly brought.

05:04I'm saying they're going to have a much harder time proving the claims because of the, there's

05:08less deception, there's also third parties, and also the, you have, it's not just the

05:12fossil fuel extraction company.

05:14You have the factory that then has, that uses, burns the fuels.

05:19You have the individuals themselves who drive to work in a car.

05:22Probably most of us flew here from some point on the plane.

05:25My time has expired, but I could take the words exactly that you've just uttered and substitute

05:34tobacco, and they would be identical to what the tobacco industry was saying about our lawsuit

05:41at the time.

05:43Thanks, Mr. Chairman.

05:44Thanks, Mr. Chairman.

Category

Transcript

Recommended