Senate Nears Revision of Class Actions

• Passage of Legislation Backed by Bush and Business Appears Certain

 President Bush and his business supporters won a large and long-sought victory yesterday with a series of Senate votes that virtually guarantee enactment of legislation restructuring rules for class-action lawsuits. Consumer groups -- which warned that the new rules would result in far fewer class-action cases being heard by courts -- had pinned their hopes on amendments they said would soften the impact of the Class Action Fairness Act. But the amendments failed, in votes that highlighted the potency of the lobbying coalition behind the bill as well as the more conservative balance of power in Congress. The measure is designed to funnel class-action suits with plaintiffs in different states out of state courts and into the federal court system, which is historically much less sympathetic to such litigation. It is the first installment of several measures Bush is seeking this year to curb what he described in a speech yesterday as excessive lawsuits that sap the risk-taking spirit on which a "capitalist society" depends. Business groups have sought for years to create what they called a more rational system for class-action suits, which are waged amid a patchwork of state laws. But the practical effect of the change, according to opponents, is that many cases will never be heard. Federal judges, facing overburdened dockets and ambiguities about applying state laws in a federal court, often refuse to grant standing to class-action plaintiffs. [more]

• Class Action Bill: A Shameful Attack on Americans' Legal Rights [more]