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But today, people file fewer and fewer tort lawsuits, and more courts seal documents in the cases that do make their way through. In 1993, around ten in 1,000 people filed a tort suit; in 2015, fewer than two in 1,000 did—a difference of 1.7 million cases. The reason for this decline is laws that restrict your right to go to court, particularly if you are in an accident caused by a corporation. These restrictions are known as “tort reform.” Tort reform is a nefarious bit of wordplay—it sounds like a good thing, doesn’t it? It is not. Tort reform is a euphemism for an infringement on your right to sue in civil court. The wordplay and the reforms are both crafted by the people who profit from that infringement. In 1986, a few hundred of the largest corporations in the United States, together with the insurance industry, formed the American Tort Reform Association. Twelve years later, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce created its own “tort reform” branch, the Institute for Legal Reform, which is now one of the largest lobbying groups in the country. Around that time, small and seemingly grassroots tort reform groups cropped up, too. But these, too, were funded by corporations—in the guise of tax-exempt advocacy groups