Washington, DC - The Chief Executive Officers of many of America's largest businesses today urged the United States Senate to pass the Interstate Class Action Fairness Act (S. 353). The legislation is critical to address state court class action abuse - a problem that has become a major crisis in many parts of the country. Seventy-four CEOs signed onto a Business Roundtable (BRT) letter urging passage of the legislation.

The Business Roundtable has begun a series of Senate visits to urge quick action on the legislation. To kick off the effort, Samuel L. Maury, president of the BRT, met this morning with Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Maury delivered the letter of support for S.353, and copies of the letter have been delivered to all members of the Senate.

"For businesses that provide services in numerous states, this legislation is crucial in keeping multi-state suits in check," said Maury. Due to exceedingly lax attitudes toward class actions by a number of state courts, a disproportionate number of large multi-state suits are being brought in "handpicked" state courts.

The Interstate Class Action Fairness Act, introduced by Senators Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Herb Kohl (D-WI), seeks to address this problem by protecting plaintiff class members and defendants by correcting the statutory anomaly that prevents most interstate class action lawsuits from being heard in federal court under current law. The bill will go a long way toward ending class action lawsuit abuses where the plaintiffs receive very little and their lawyers receive a whole lot.

"This bill would be a valuable step towards curbing abusive class actions without affecting the substantive rights of any plaintiff class members," states the letter. "We hope that the Senate will act quickly on this legislation and urge your strong support." (Letter Attached.)