This amendment does absolutely nothing to deter litigation. It simply cuts the amount that can be paid to a person who has been wronged by medical malpractice or by other unfortunate improper practices. It denies them proper recovery. If…

The House has already spoken. Foreigners should respond in discovery. But this amendment strikes the ability to even get them in court. It takes away the ability of an American injured by foreign misbehavior in the area of product…

Mr. Chairman, the FDA defense has been a topic of considerable discussion and controversy over the years. In the past I have supported the adoption of provisions affording the FDA defense. This was done based on my belief that strong…

Mr. Chairman, this is a fair amendment. It treats American corporations and foreign corporations in American courts exactly the same way. If you are interested in fairness, this is an amendment to vote for because it says foreign…

I want Members to look at what this amendment says, at page 13. It covers anything of a medical character. It caps pain and suffering and noneconomic damages at $250,000. Let us look at some of the things for which a person will get…

the purposes of the amendment are very simple, to permit counties and local units of government, States, to continue to sue under existing law for 3 years. If we are concerned about frivolous litigation, that is not a matter of concern…

I rise in support of the Manton amendment. Mr. Chairman, I commend the gentleman from New York [Mr. Manton] on his amendment on fee shifting. I rise in support of that amendment. As reported by the committee, H.R. 1058 would provide for…

the new rights that would be afforded cities, States, and local units of government would be the following: No. 1, loser pays. Before a city, State, or local unit of government can go into court in connection with derivatives fraud or…

I will express the highest regard to my good friend, the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Fields]. First of all, a litigant must prove and plead what is going on in the mind of the other side before he can properly get into court. He has…

There is no evidence of abuse by the mayors and Government Finance Officers of the cities, States and counties. It is also a fact their behavior has been exemplary. It is also a fact that they are engaged in litigation to protect their…

Well, these are the only ones of which I am aware at this particular minute, but I would observe that every day, if you read the Wall Street Journal, you will find that there are new and additional derivatives problems which are afflicting…

Let me advise my good friend that the protections of this bill have never been extended to investors. The protections of this bill are extended to a bunch of high-priced lobbyists, to a group of people in the accounting profession, large…

I have supported product liability reform for over a decade. In 1988 I presided over the infamous ``torts class from hell'' when the Committee on Energy and Commerce spent 10 long days in a markup to report a product liability reform bill…

Matters of the sort that you see on the poster in the well. You are looking there at, I would say, probably 40 or 50 cities, States, and local units of government as well as possibly a number of State governments where they would be…

That is correct, but, remember, the language of this bill is not something which is applicable to the kind of lawsuit about which we are addressing under this particular amendment. The language of this bill relates to bounty hunting, to a…

What the gentleman [Mr. Tauzin] is referring to are class action matters. Those are matters which really do not relate to the business that we are discussing. Here we are talking about communities, cities, States, local units of…

If the gentleman would permit, cities, States, counties, local units of government are covered under existing law in all matters; all matters, all fashion, all purposes for a period of 3 years. They are given no additional right over those…

make no mistake of it, H.R. 1058 will encourage securities fraud. It is a bad bill. Milken, Boesky, people like that would have been delighted to have functioned under the provisions of this legislation. The rule is a bad rule; it is…

just so that we understand, because of the redundant way in which the amendment is drawn, it says that if the suit by a citizen involves securities, you cannot sue under RICO, so you would not be able to sue under RICO for any of the other…

I was much impressed by the comments of the gentleman from California. The quote that he gave is an excellent one: ``The purpose of the bill is to cut down on litigation and to cut down on fraud committed by unscrupulous lawyers and…

there are ways of cleaning up the abuses that exist with regard to citizens' suits regarding securities. But this legislation is not the way that it should be done. My colleagues on the Republican side would have us believe that the…

I would like to address, if the gentleman would permit, the substance of the amendment, Mr. Chairman. The amendment says ``Except no person may bring an action under this provision if the racketeering activity as defined in section 1961,''…

I would like to again address that today. Last week, my colleagues, we discussed the question of cuts in the School Lunch Program. Today we find that my Republican colleagues propose to zero out the Drug-Free Schools Program and also the…

I rise to praise our Speaker, one of the foremost figures in the field of American literature, and one of our most famous authors. He has been making generous contributions to organizations which pay children $2 for every book they read…

Mr. Chairman, what would happen would be that the individual who owned the property would go and get himself some kind of an assessor who would assay the value of the property. That individual would fix a value of the property after it was…