Melvin Watt: “Mr. Chairman, I want to spend a few minutes putting this bill in a little bit different context than the discussion that…”

“Mr. Chairman, I want to spend a few minutes putting this bill in a little bit different context than the discussion that has been taking place here because I think my colleagues and the American people really need to understand that this bill is part of a larger package of bills, and they need to have a better understanding of what that package of bills, when considered together, will yield in the legal context. This bill is called the Attorney Accountability Act of 1995. There is a Securities Litigation Reform Act which will follow this bill in sequence. And then finally there is a bill which we around this body call the Tort Reform Act, which proposes to reform product liability cases and punitive damages in a general way, and I do not think we can talk about this particular bill without putting it in the context of this whole reform package in having a better understanding of what my colleagues in this body are trying to do. I have some serious reservations about this whole major reform effort because my experience is somewhat different than many of my colleagues in this body, and I represent to some extent a constituency that is a little different than many of my colleagues in this body.”