| Contact: |
John Schachter |
|
(202) 872-1260 |
| Release Date: |
06/29/2000 |
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) —In an important step toward bringing
18th century federal jurisdiction statutes up-to-date with
21st century litigation practices, the Senate Judiciary
Committee today voted to pass the Interstate Class Action
Fairness Act (S. 353). The 11-7 vote to authorize federal
courts to hear interstate class action cases was immediately
hailed by The Business Roundtable, which had urged the
committee to give the bill its highest priority.
“Today’s Senate Judiciary Committee action is a vote of
confidence in our federal courts,” said William F. Aldinger,
Chairman and CEO of Household International, who also serves
as Chairman of The Business Roundtable’s Civil Justice Reform
Task Force. “This should serve as a rallying cry for the full
Senate to move quickly to update the law and protect the
rights of all parties involved in interstate class action
lawsuits.”
Although federal courts are typically better equipped to
deal with complex cases involving plaintiffs and defendants
from multiple states, class action suits were not contemplated
when the Framers of the Constitution established the federal
court system. As a result, federal jurisdiction statutes
enacted over a century ago preclude federal courts from
hearing even the largest class actions involving parties from
all 50 states and billions of dollars in potential
damages.
“Under current law, courts in a single state can dictate
the rights of plaintiff class members and defendants from
other states – and that’s not right,” Mr. Aldinger noted.
“Interstate cases should be tried in interstate courts.”
S. 353 is sponsored by Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) and
Sen. Herbert Kohl (D-WI). A parallel bill, H.R. 1875, has
already passed the U.S. House of Representatives.
# # #
The Business Roundtable is an association of
chief executive officers of leading corporations with a
combined workforce of more than 10 million employees in the
United States. The chief executives are committed to
advocating public policies that foster vigorous economic
growth and a dynamic global economy.