The WaPo appears to come out in favor of the House Bill to modify Class-Action litigation:
THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES passed a bill last week that would take a modest but important step toward fixing America’s broken system of class action litigation. The bill’s passage is no surprise; the House has passed it in previous Congresses as well. The big question now is whether it can pass the Senate, where it has previously stalled. A class action bill has been reported by the Judiciary Committee and is awaiting action by the full body. But its prospects remain cloudy. Yet no area of U.S. civil justice cries out more urgently for reform than the high-stakes extortion racket of class actions, in which truly crazy rules permit trial lawyers to cash in at the expense of businesses. Passing this bill would be an important start to rationalizing a system that’s out of control.
Last week, Yglesias and others called this bill horrible:
Any thoughts?
Steve Malynn
Class action has devolved into court sanctioned extortion of big business. That Asbestos suits started out with a smoking gun (the mining industry, the insurance companies, and certain manufacturers had subverted medicine for their own gain) but now these lawsuits are going after companies with no connection to the perpetrators of the original crime (we are in the third generation of lawsuits against companies with little connection to the original fraud – those who knowingly used the product despite the dangers and who hid the dangers are defunct.) An example of the idiocy is Babcox/Wilcox is now owned by the plaintiffs and administered by their lawyers, after twice being forced into bankruptcy, despite the facts that every time BW used asbestos it was called for in the Government contract, and there is no evidence that BW knew of the dangers of Asbestos when it fulfilled the government specifications, and the fact that nearly all asbestos plaintiffs are not sick.
Next, lets look at the tobacco lawsuits, the big money is going to plaintiffs who should not get a dime (state governments and smokers who started after warning labels were put on ever single pack).
Ok, Breast implants, the definition of junk science arises from this litigation, which still bankrupt Dow/Corning.
Guns, attempting to subvert the 2d Amendment.
Fast Food, get fat and sue Mickey D’s.
See the trend? Lawyers subverting legal procedure to get rich.
Robin Roberts
Tort reform has a strong chance of being the domestic issue that defeats the Democrats in ’04.