Mike Collins: “Sometimes it is often said that we discuss the issues that come to the floor, and there are real debates taking place…”

“Sometimes it is often said that we discuss the issues that come to the floor, and there are real debates taking place across the street right now dealing with our discussions around health care. But I want to go back to actually the bills that we are dealing with in the rule and discuss the part of where do sometimes these issues come from, especially when we are discussing things like H.R. 985 and class act litigation. This came, actually, from outside the walls here and outside into the real world where this is being practiced. One of the things that is happening is that Federal judges have been looking to Congress to reform the class action system which currently allows lawyers to fill classes with hundreds of thousands of unmeritorious claims and use the artificially inflated classes to force defendants to settle the case. As the Supreme Court has recognized, ``even a small chance of a devastating loss'' inherent in most decisions to certify a class produces an ``in terrorem'' interim effect that often forces settlement independent of merits of the case. Mr. Speaker, I understand that fear because what we are dealing with many times in these class actions--and I know the Speaker and others are aware--is the definition of the class that really depends on the case itself, not as much of the merits of the case because of the potential of a devastating loss.…”