Jack Fields

reclaiming my time, let me address a few of the points the gentleman has just made. First of all, with regard to the loser-pay provision in our bill, there is a substantial justification clause, and the court has the discretion in the…

Because I am willing to make a commitment to the gentleman that we will have hearings on the subject of derivatives. It is my understanding that the report comes out this week from the Securities and Exchange Commission. I think that is…

Two examples that have been prominently used in this particular debate on this amendment, Barings and Orange County. If we apply the requirements of Scienter under this particular statute that we are discussing, the defendant directly or…

Mr. Chairman, as we are having this debate I think it is important for all of us as Members not to forget certain points. Point No. 1 mentioned by Chairman Bliley just a moment ago is if you take this sentence out of the statute as the…

I would just point out last night this amendment did not exist, that this has been a dynamic process. We have taken the concerns expressed by people on the other side of the aisle. We have attempted to address those concerns to make the…

I think this is an honest-to-goodness, legitimate attempt to clarify, and I also think it is an honest-to-goodness attempt to work with the other side of the aisle. Again I want to compliment the gentleman from California for doing that…

the judge has the discretion to say, ``Your bond is $1,'' or your bond is something else that is reasonable. The judge has the discretion to come in and ask for something other than the posting of what could be the entire cost of that…

since we spent most of today talking about intent, let us talk about what our intent is in this pleadings section. Let us also talk about what the effect is of our pleadings section. Does the legislation as it is currently drafted, and…

I will restate to the gentleman that it is my strong belief that this is a fair statute and there should not be two different types of treatments, one for governmental entities and those for all others. I think this is fair to all who…

Mr. Chairman, let me, first of all, address what I almost hear as a basic assumption that the underlying piece of legislation is bad. This is not a bad piece of legislation. This legislation is aimed at the filing of frivolous lawsuits…

we need only compare the provisions of this legislation with those of the RICO statute in order to identify those reforms that plaintiffs' attorneys will be able to avoid. H.R. 1058, this legislation, has a losers pay provision. RICO does…

If someone is breaking the law, as the gentleman alleges, as a Mafia mobster, that person would still be penalized under the criminal sections of RICO.

I apologize to the gentleman on the other side of the aisle that I do not have the statute book with me, but as the gentleman knows, the civil part of RICO is just one or two sentences, and that is that one or two sentences that has made a…

this amendment contains only technical and conforming changes that have been agreed to by the majority and minority. The amendments clarify that disclosure is required for both proposed and final settlements, and that such disclosures…

I rise in support of H.R. 1058, the Securities Litigation Reform Act. This legislation revolutionizes the standard by which all disputes under securities laws will be litigated. For example, the Securities Litigation Reform Act will…

Mr. Chairman, some of the examples we have heard from the other side of the aisle, Milken, Keating, Leeson, they all share something important. Each of these acted with intent. Each of these acted with the intent to defraud. The…

today we are seeking to enact fundamental reforms of the manner in which securities actions are litigated. In order to ensure that our reforms are comprehensive, we must make every effort to identify oversights or omissions in our…

Mr. Chairman, I have a different interpretation than my friend from North Carolina because what this amendment does is gut this legislation. It guts the private property rights of property owners which we are trying to protect because it…

Reclaiming my time, what this stick of compensation is designed to do is to force the Federal Government in the first instance to make the right decision, to protect in this particular instance the warbler and the vireo. Other things could…

If I, as an adjoining property owner, do something to diminish your right as an adjoining property owner, I have a civil cause of action. But what we are talking about here is the homeowner, if there is a taking of that homeowner because…

the eagles must be different in the Northwest than they are in Texas, because I have had two specific examples with abandoned nests. We are not even sure that the nests that were abandoned were eagles' nests. In the one example I used last…

If you are for those people making wetlands and endangered species decisions in your district, basically the Corps of Engineers and Fish and Wildlife involved in every property transaction and building permit, you should vote for this…

on that very point, that is what is happening in my congressional district with the red-cockaded woodpecker. The Government has come in and identified colonies of nests and begun to move those to Federal forestry land off of private…

What I am saying is if I as a property owner impact your property, you have a civil cause of action against me for damages. What we are talking about in this particular piece of legislation, if the Federal Government comes in through a…

The cases that I have cited today, whether it was an abandoned eagle's nest, the people who have been hurt were not developers. They were just average property owners. The farmers and ranchers in the hill country of Texas who have been…