On the recordMarch 13, 2002
The Security Litigation Reform Act, passed in 1995, was indeed passed by a great overwhelming majority of the House and Senate Democrats and Republicans. It was the first class action reform, and it stopped the strike suits that were filed against American corporations not to win judgments for fraud but just to shake them down. Ninety-five percent of those cases were being settled at 10 cents on the dollar. They were shake-down lawsuits designed to defraud the companies. These class action lawsuits before the 1995 act were not real efforts to find fraud, and those reforms have indeed protected constituents across America. The class action suit brought against Enron now is the best example. Where there is real evidence of fraud, those suits go forward. The strike suits, on the other hand, have ended; and they should have ended a long time ago. That is good reform, just like this bill before us.
Source
govinfo.gov
