Yahoo! News - Senate OKs Bill Curbing Class Action Suits
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate approved a bill on Thursday that was sought by business to curb class action lawsuits and is part of President Bush's drive to overhaul the civil justice system.

The bill would shift most class action suits from state to federal courts, historically less friendly toward such cases. Advocates said the measure would reduce lawyers' forum-shopping for state courts with track records of big settlements.

One lawyer over at Kos pointed out the "myth" of frivolous lawsuits. Smart lawyers don't take cases they don't think that they can win. He said that out of every 100 or so filed, his firm would find merit in only one or two, and even those would be questionable as to whether they would go forward. Most of the cases that you hear about are the rare exceptions. It's not as easy to "just sue somebody" as you think it is.

Opponents, including consumer, environmental and civil rights groups, fear overburdened federal courts will not take many of the class action cases, making it harder to hold big companies accountable for their products and actions.

"The class action bill is a strong step forward in our efforts to reform the litigation system and keep America the best place in the world to do business," Bush said in a statement.

It might be the best place to do business, but it certainly won't be the best place to live. Taking away an avenue to address corporate irresponsibility only hurts people and protects big money. But, that's what our government is all about now, right?

"This bill is one of the most unfair, anti-consumer proposals to come before the Senate in years," said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada. "It slams the courthouse doors on a wide range of injured plaintiffs."

"It turns federalism upside down by preventing state courts from hearing state law claims. And it limits corporate accountability at a time of rampant corporate scandals."

The bill also would limit lawyers' fees in so-called coupon settlements — when plaintiffs get discounts on products instead of financial settlements — by linking the fees to the coupon's redemption rate or the actual hours spent working on a case.

Coupons? Are you fucking kidding me? "We're awful sorry that our Bass-O-Matic 3000 ripped you child's arm off, here's a coupon for a discount on a prosthesis and a buy one-get one free Big Mac." Except you won't have any money now to buy the prosthesis. Oh, well, too bad.

Another victory for big business.