Bush Signs Bill to Curb Class-Action Suits
By JESSE J. HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - As President Bush signed legislation Friday aimed at discouraging multimillion-dollar class-action lawsuits, he made clear he had his sights set on much broader restraints.
Next up, Bush said, should be curbs on asbestos litigation and medical malpractice awards.
"We're making important progress toward a better legal system," he said during an East Room signing ceremony for the class-action bill. "There's more to do."
Surrounded by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, the president hailed the legislation that had been bitterly opposed by consumer groups and trial lawyers but nonetheless attracted some Democratic supporters.
Bush said having federal judges take most large class-action lawsuits away from state courts would "prevent trial lawyers from shopping around for friendly local venues." Under the bill, class-action suits seeking $5 million or more would be heard in state court only if the primary defendant and more than one-third of the plaintiffs are from the same state.
And limiting lawyers' fees in settlements where plaintiffs win product discounts instead of money, the president said, would keep lawyers from reaping "huge pay-outs while the plaintiffs ended up with coupons worth only a few dollars." The law links attorney fees to the coupons' redemption rate or actual hours spent on the case.
"We have agreed on a practical way to begin restoring common sense and balance to America's legal system," Bush said. "The bill will ease the needless burden of litigation on every American worker, business and family."
Even though businesses failed to get the measure to apply to suits already in the courts, the legislation was a victory for companies that have complained for decades that they have been dragged into far-flung local courts and subjected to massive, unwarranted jury awards.
Consumer groups contend that federal courts are much less sympathetic to — or even less likely to hear — class-action suits, which are a crucial tool against well-financed industries like tobacco, oil, pharmaceutical and others. As a result, Alliance for Justice President Nan Aron called it "legislation that makes it easier for corporations to evade responsibility for making right their wrongs."
"President Bush once again demonstrated that the deep pockets of powerful corporate interests are more important to this administration than protecting the rights of ordinary Americans," Aron said in a statement.
In the nine-minute White House ceremony, Bush said a half-dozen times that the legislation was only a beginning in his drive to end "the lawsuit culture in our country."
The president devotes a significant chunk of his time to attacking what he calls "junk and frivolous lawsuits." On Friday, he said such unnecessary litigation, particularly over medical and asbestos claims, is the reason that America's tort system — at more than $240 billion a year — is the largest of any industrialized nation.
The result, Bush said, is small business owners in constant fear of bankruptcy and doctors leaving their practices. |
