Let’s Not Keep Secrets ...

The Legislature is in its annual spring flurry of legislating. Some urgently needed measures, such as public financing of elections, have already died in committee. More trivial proposals will, as part of political horse-trading, become law without a peep. But there are plenty of close calls to come, including an important consumer protection that has narrowly been defeated twice in recent years.

May the third time be the charm.

In 1992, then-Gov. Pete Wilson vetoed the first version of a measure to ensure that information revealed in an injury lawsuit about a defective product or environmental hazard not be kept secret. Nine years later, a similar bill died in the Assembly after it passed the Senate. The third version, AB 1700 by Assembly member Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills), goes before the Judiciary Committee today.

Often lawyers for defendants in these suits -- drug makers, toy manufacturers or oil refineries, for instance -- require injured parties to keep mum about details uncovered during the case. If you want us to write you a check, company lawyers insist, first promise not to say how our product hurt you. When companies demand such secrecy, it’s a safe bet that more people will be injured.

Corporate managers squawk that Pavley’s proposed sunshine rules would lead to ruin, forcing them to reveal trade secrets. That argument found a sympathetic hearing in the two previous efforts to pass this measure, but it was only an excuse for inaction. As in the bill’s previous versions, AB 1700 lets a judge seal proprietary information as long as those secrets didn’t cause the injury. Trade secrets that kill or maim don’t deserve legal protection.

The bill’s opponents include the California Chamber of Commerce, pharmaceutical firms and auto repair shops and parts dealers. They say they fear an explosion of frivolous injury suits. That didn’t happen after Florida adopted similar rules 15 years ago, and at least its consumers know more about the hazards around them.

Californians should too. That’s why Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer and Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley have joined consumer groups to back this bill. It’s why the Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger should as well.