Political Quotes

“This is a very confused situation and it really should not be. We are talking about manufacturers from Prague, Czechoslovakia, for example, former Czechoslovakia, now the Czech Republic, who do not do business here. They do not have an agency here. They do not have anything here. They are in Prague and they manufacture a product. Somebody buys it and takes it over here, brings it over to the United States, and it goes from Bangor, ME, to Tallahassee, FL, to Omaha, NE. And then something happens, somebody gets hurt, and they have got jurisdiction over this Czech Republic company in Omaha, NE. And they file a lawsuit. They, under this bill, they have got jurisdiction. They make demands for discovery, which if they are unanswered, are conceded as admitted and a judgment occurs. Now, that cuts both ways. That can cut against American companies overseas. There is no need for this process. There is a process whereby due process can be accomplished through the Hague Convention. But here we are conferring jurisdiction, not service of summons, jurisdiction on a court where a manufacturer nowhere near the United States knew or should have known that their product might end up in California or Seattle or somewhere.”