Jerry Nadler: “I am pleased that Chairman Sensenbrenner has included in the manager's amendment two provisions that I offered in the…”

“I am pleased that Chairman Sensenbrenner has included in the manager's amendment two provisions that I offered in the Judiciary Committee markup of the bill, and I thank the chairman for his support. The first amendment included in the manager's amendment provides for mandatory sanctions for destroying documents relating to a court proceeding. Delays during litigation provide ample opportunities for wrongdoers to destroy incriminating documents. Because this can result in the complete inability to hold these defendants accountable for their wrongful acts, parties who knowingly destroy relevant and incriminating documents should be severely sanctioned. Secondly, the second amendment bans the concealment of unlawful conduct when the interests of public health and safety outweigh the interest of litigating parties in concealment. Very often in civil litigation, a company producing an unsafe product or an unsafe procedure will settle with the plaintiff. The settlement will include a payment of a sum to the defendant, but will also often include an agreement that the records will be sealed and no one will ever talk about it. That is the condition that the defendant company puts on it. So the defendant pays the money, the plaintiff gets the settlement, everybody keeps quiet. But meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of people may continue to be injured by that product in the future.…”