Letter From a Coalition of Organizations Opposed to H.R. 1875, the Interstate Class Action Jurisdiction Act

July 9, 1999

Dear Judiciary Committee Member:

We are writing to urge your opposition to H.R. 1875, the Interstate Class Action Jurisdiction Act of 1999. Class actions are filed when many individuals are similarly injured and are essential to protect the rights of people whose individual claims do not warrant separate litigation. They deter and encourage reform of deceptive and fraudulent business practices that cost Americans billions of dollars a year. In addition, class actions do all this while conserving limited judicial resources that would be wasted in duplicative proceedings.

We have three main objections to the bill:

• H.R. 1875 will end state court jurisdiction over most state class actions. Under this bill, most defendants will be able to choose whether to remove state class actions to federal court. This will be true even in cases that have a majority of plaintiffs from one state and that involve only that state's law. Under our Constitutional framework of limited federal jurisdiction, this transfer of judicial power to federal courts from the states is both substantial and inappropriate. All of these class actions involve alleged violations of state law and state courts should be the principal interpreters of state law.

• H.R. 1875 will result in considerable delay for plaintiffs seeking a remedy and further burden the already overburdened federal judiciary. The current high vacancy rate in the federal judiciary and the increased federalization of criminal justice matters that traditionally were in the purview of state courts already leads to delay of justice in the federal courts. H.R. 1875 will substantially aggravate this delay, postponing justice not only for class action cases, but for all federal civil cases.

• H.R. 1875 will slow the continued interpretation of state law. State judges are generally more willing than federal judges to interpret state law in new and innovative ways. By moving state class actions into federal court, innovative legal arguments are likely to stagnate, limiting the evolution of legal areas like tobacco, handguns, and HMOs.

Class actions are an integral tool in the fight to vindicate plaintiffs’ legal rights. The Interstate Class Action Jurisdiction Act would go far in rendering this tool ineffective. Therefore, we strongly urge you to oppose H.R. 1875.

Sincerely,