This week, in the middle of an inspiring and historical inauguration, President Barack Obama’s Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, issued a memo to all federal agencies to halt all pending regulations from the Bush era until the new administration can review them. This memorandum was the first of several actions requested of the new administration by the American Association for Justice (AAJ), a group that had done admirable work in the area of consumer rights.

Why was this important or urgent? Because the Bush administration had formed a partnership with corporate lobbyists to use a wide array of rulemaking to reduce or altogether eliminate consumer rights especially with regard to dangerous and defective products. These rules have been used by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) to shield manufacturers of defective drugs and medical devices; by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) with regard to vehicle roof crush in rollover accidents; and by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission with regard to the issue of mattress fire safety.

Each of these agencies has issued at least one ruling, which states that as along as a product meets the requirements spelled out by these rules, consumers have no rights to sue the product manufacturer, even if people have been injured or killed as a result of their defective products. The Obama administration has taken that important first step to block these rules authored by the Bush administration to pre-empt product liability litigation. These include about 50 federal rules that govern a variety of products from motorcycle brakes to pain medication.

According to a press release issued by AAJ, this move by the Obama administration is going to change the lives of numerous consumers who have been denied justice or even access to the judicial system because of these flawed rules. Apparently, there are more than 23 still pending rules – many dealing with auto safety and products that need FDA approval – that were stayed and have no effect on state tort law.

I commend the AAJ for making a request to the Obama administration to reverse these unjust regulations that give complete immunity to negligent corporations and prevent consumers from holding wrongdoers accountable through the civil justice system. I hope the Obama administration follows through with these issues and moves forward with their promise to change this country for the better.