Class-action rule changes
will hurt consumers
The Register Guard
Tortured tort reform: Class-action rule changes will hurt
consumers
February 13, 2005
President Bush delivered the goods for his Republican
supporters in big business on Thursday with the first big win in
his sweeping second-term domestic agenda.
With 18 Democrats joining the Republican majority, the Senate
voted 72-26 in favor of a measure tailored to "reform" the
problems American corporations had with costly class-action
lawsuits.
Unfortunately, consumers harmed by corporate malfeasance may
find themselves reformed right out of the courtroom. The
one-sided bill was opposed by many state attorneys general and
consumer groups, who said it contained a deliberate Catch-22
designed to thwart legitimate class-action lawsuits.
Class-action suits allow plaintiffs with similar claims
against the same defendant to combine their cases into one
lawsuit. Thursday's bill, called the Class-Action Fairness Act,
shifts future class actions with plaintiffs from more than one
state and claims exceeding $5 million out of state courts and
into the federal system.
This move, long sought by American business interests, is
likely to greatly restrict the filing of new class actions
because federal courts have rules prohibiting them from hearing
cases that would involve applying different laws from several
states to the same case. In addition, the federal court system is
so overburdened, many plaintiffs won't be willing to wait the
number of years it may take for their case to be heard. The
Catch-22 built into the new law could prohibit state courts from
hearing a case with out-of-state plaintiffs while federal courts
refuse the same case because it involves the application of
different state laws.
Some legal experts have suggested that federal judges will be
reluctant to dismiss important cases on weak procedural grounds
and that the worst fears of the new law's opponents are
unfounded. That would be some solace.
More likely, however, is the practical reality that the
crushing workload already in front of the nation's federal
courts, and the priority those courts must give criminal cases,
will ensure that complex class-action suits will take many years
longer than they do now to reach trial.
Such delays are certain to deny justice to some worthy
plaintiffs. Where's the reform in that outcome?
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