Many attorneys are filing nationwide class actions in state courts. They sue in state court on behalf of millions of people who are not citizens of their state. S. 353 would allow a plaintiff or a defendant to move such multistate lawsuits to federal court.

Senators Grassley and Kohl have introduced S. 353, the Class Action Fairness Act of 1999, to address the growing problem of abusive state court class action suits. The bill would resolve the problems encountered when state court judges hear class action cases involving litigants from multiple states by putting interstate class action suits into federal court. The bill proposes:

• courts to determine the amount of damages that will be paid to class members before awarding attorneys' fees;

• claims involving parties from multiple states can be heard in federal court to ensure all class members will be treated equally and fairly;

The class action device is a necessary and very important part of our legal system to bring efficiency and fairness in situations involving many people with similar claims; however, it is being used with an increasing frequency and in ways that were never envisioned by its creators. In recent years, there has been an explosion of class action cases in state courts involving plaintiffs from multiple states. States with lax and unusual standards and different laws make specific decisions that set the rules for citizens of all of the other states. All too often, massive nationwide class actions involving the laws of all 50 states are heard in a single state court. This has led to a race to the bottom that too frequently results in quick, controlled settlement of cases where lawyers win large fees while the class members receive little benefit.

The framers of the Constitution intended that certain interstate cases should be in federal court to prevent "hometowning" and to protect the rights of the parties. The current system, however, prevents many large interstate class action suits from being heard in federal court, where they appropriately belong, while many small simple cases are still heard in state court. Moreover, under the current system, class members have little to no control over the cases and are often forced into binding class settlements despite their rights not being adequately represented.

Senators Grassley and Kohl's bill would fix the class action mechanism in order to make it a more effective tool for providing justice in fair and equal measure. The bill would allow parties to move class actions involving litigants from multiple states to federal court.

This legislation will improve the efficiency of the judicial system because federal courts have special procedural tools for dealing with complex litigation and are better able to manage claims involving parties from multiple states. The workload of our courts will be reduced by allowing multistate class actions to be heard in federal court because of the consolidation of duplicative, competing and overlapping cases.