Alcee Hastings: “This bill is opposed by every major environmental organization, every major consumer product safety organization, and I…”

“This bill is opposed by every major environmental organization, every major consumer product safety organization, and I wonder why that is? Mr. Speaker, it is no doubt trite to proclaim that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. This bill is a perfect example of that aphorism. No Member of this Chamber needs to lecture me about living in a culture of lawsuits and about how the number of lawsuits has spiraled out of control. I am all too familiar with that, being a trial lawyer and being a trial judge. Let me tell you something, this bill will do nothing but make things worse for our courts in this land, worse for our judges, and, most important, it will make things worse for the people who need redress the most in our judicial system. This bill does not make our litigious system better. Indeed, it makes it far worse. The bill before us would make it significantly more difficult for consumers to achieve relief from the most outrageous corporate abuses. Frankly, this bill is a bailout for corporate wrongdoers, and that makes me sick.”