Melvin Watt: “I would just point out to him two things. Yes, this bill will make the system more efficient, but from 22 years of the…”

“I would just point out to him two things. Yes, this bill will make the system more efficient, but from 22 years of the practice of law, I will tell the gentleman that every single case is a unique case for the parties in that case. So when we say that this applies only to a small number of cases, the gentleman is absolutely right. I do not argue that. But for that individual plaintiff who is coming into court, we ought to make the courts as conveniently available to that one individual as we can. All I am saying is, that person ought to be allowed to go and litigate their case in a forum that is convenient to them, not have their case and the placement of it decided on the basis of some majority rule theory. I understand efficiency of the court. I understand why the Judicial Conference would favor this. But in the interest of individual plaintiffs, I think it is important to have another exception in this bill, and it would be used so infrequently that it would not be an imposition.”