[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 29 (Thursday, March 14, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E353]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   CLASS ACTION FAIRNESS ACT OF 2002

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                               speech of

                         HON. GREGORY W. MEEKS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 13, 2002

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 2341) to 
     amend the procedures that apply to consideration of 
     interstate class actions to assure fairer outcomes for class 
     members and defendants, to outlaw certain practices that 
     provide inadequate settlements for class members, to assure 
     that attorneys do not receive a disproportionate amount of 
     settlements at the expense of class members, to provide for 
     clearer and simpler information in class action settlement 
     notices, to assure prompt consideration of interstate class 
     actions, to amend title 28, United States Code, to allow the 
     application of the principles of Federal diversity 
     jurisdiction to interstate class actions, and for other 
     purposes.

  Mr. MEEKS of New York. Mr. Chairman, in an age when corporate 
wrongdoing is a daily front page headline, now is not the time for 
Congress to bend the rules that allow injured consumers and workers 
access to the civil justice system.
  Proponents of H.R. 2341 insist that a class action crisis threatens 
the well being of U.S. courts this is simply not true. There is no 
statistical evidence of a class action crisis. In fact, the Federal and 
State judiciaries have consistently opposed efforts to ``federalize'' 
class actions believing that state courts are perfectly capable of 
handling their own matters without interference from the Federal 
judiciary. There is simply no need for massive civil justice reform, 
especially reform like H.R. 2341 that limits the rights of consumers to 
seek redress against wrongdoers.
  Currently, class action suits provide access to justice for thousands 
of American consumers and small businesses that would otherwise have no 
realistic means of taking their case to court. Unfortunately this 
legislation is an attempt to deny American consumers and small 
businesses by making plaintiffs jump through multiple hurdles to bring 
class actions, allowing proponents of this bill to accomplish their 
policy goal at the expense of consumers who have been harmed by 
corporate wrongdoers.
  Today we are given the opportunity to make a clear choice between the 
legal rights of powerful corporations that break the rules, and the 
legal rights of the families, retirees and consumers they harm. Today 
we cannot turn our backs on those who depend on us. Today we must stand 
up for those who stand the greater harm by opposing H.R. 2341.

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