Howard Berman: “Mr. Speaker, concerning H.R. 860, the circumstances which this bill applies to are so narrow and unique, and because so…”

“Mr. Speaker, concerning H.R. 860, the circumstances which this bill applies to are so narrow and unique, and because so many civil actions which arise out of a single action are already subject to Federal jurisdiction, there really are in a practical sense very few plaintiffs who will find themselves in a Federal court who would not have already been there. But even if they do, this bill has protection, because the bill preserves the ability of the transferee court, the Federal court to which this multi-party litigation has been assigned, it preserves the ability of that court to transfer back or dismiss an action on the ground of an inconvenient forum. So that plaintiff has the ability to make his case that even though it is a result of that single accident, even though I am alleging $150,000, in my particular situation, notwithstanding the efficiencies that would justify a single trial, for purposes of liability and other issues, we should go back to the State court.”