Bush Stresses Commitment To Class Action Caps

by Glen Shapiro, LawAndTax-News.com, New York

10 January 2005

Speaking on Thursday following a meeting of Democrat and Republican lawmakers, President Bush once again stressed that class action reform will be a key issue during his second term.

"Class-action lawsuits have become a problem in the United States. The judicial system is not fair, it is unbalanced, it's tilted," he told reporters, adding: "It is a problem we intend to fix."

Kicking off his drive to clamp down on 'frivolous' litigation, President Bush on Wednesday renewed the push to impose a ceiling on certain types of medical malpractice awards. According to reports, later in the week, he urged Congress to impose limits on jury awards in asbestos lawsuits.

In July of last year, the Republican-backed Class Action Fairness Act received a significant setback in the Senate, failing to breach the 60 vote threshold needed to ensure the legislation's continued passage through Congress.

The bill sought to move the majority of class action suits from state to federal courts, as the latter usually accept fewer cases and grant smaller awards. It also contained provisions designed to clamp down on the practice of venue shopping, whereby attorneys seek to have cases tried in courts which have handed down large damages awards in the past.

The failure of the legislation to secure the required number of votes was welcomed at the time by consumer groups and the plaintiff bar, which had condemned it as an attempt to help big businesses avoid damaging lawsuits, and argued that in any case, the federal courts are too under-funded to cope with the influx of complex cases that would result if the law was passed.

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