Q: What are class action lawsuits?
A: A valuable tool for consumers, class action lawsuits allow many individuals to group similar legal complaints into a single action against a defendant who allegedly caused harm to those filing suit. However over the past 10 years, numerous abuses have infiltrated the system and led to negative consequences for class members with legitimate grievances, hurt interstate commerce and undermined public respect for the judicial system.
Q: What are some problems undermining the system?
A: In some cases, class members may recover little or no benefit whatsoever, while the attorneys walk away with fat fees. Bewildering notices may confuse members of the lawsuit rather than inform them in plain terms about their rights. Duplicative and overlapping class actions are filed in different state courts, creating tremendous inefficiencies. Opportunistic lawyers shop around for friendly jurisdictions to try their case. Lawyers game the rules to keep cases in certain magnet state courts with no connection to the controversy, rather than the federal courts. This allows a state judge to make decisions that impose one state's laws on the case and overruling the laws of all other states.
Q: Why is legislation necessary to fix the problem?
A: In our system of checks and balances, the lawmaking body has oversight responsibilities over the executive and judicial branches of government. It’s clear the class action legal system is out of whack when plaintiffs are being used as pawns for trial lawyers to fatten their bank accounts while they get zilch in return. As a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I have led an effort since 1998 to reform our legal system handling class action lawsuits. My bipartisan Class Action Fairness Act would assure fair and prompt recoveries for class members with legitimate claims; provide for federal court consideration of interstate cases of national importance; and benefit society by helping to lower consumer prices. Abusive lawsuits are a drain on economic growth. Tort litigation costs U.S. businesses billions of dollars each year that otherwise could go towards job creation. Shamefully, with even 62 Senators supporting our bipartisan compromise, partisanship backed by a powerful trial bar prevented us from passing reasonable legal reform yet again.