William F. Smith: “I oppose this completely irrelevant motion to recommit. First, nothing in H.R. 420, the Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act…”

“I oppose this completely irrelevant motion to recommit. First, nothing in H.R. 420, the Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act, prohibits anyone from being sued for fraud to the full extent of Federal law. Second, the motion to recommit relates to contract claims when the section of the bill that it modifies relates only to personal injury claims. There is no flaw in the bill that needs to be corrected, but even if there were, the motion to recommit fails to correct it because it relates to contract claims rather than personal injury claims. {time} 1545 Mr. Speaker, I just received a statement of administration policy from the executive office of the President which I would like to read, because it provides a good summary of H.R. 420, the Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act of 2005. This statement reads as follows: ``The administration supports House passage of H.R. 420 in order to address the growing problem of frivolous litigation. H.R. 420 would rein in the negative impact of frivolous lawsuits on the Nation's economy by establishing a strong disincentive to file such suits in Federal and State courts. Junk lawsuits are expensive to fight and often force innocent small businesses to pay exorbitant costs to make these claims go away. These costs hurt the economy, clog our courts, and are burdening the American businesses of America. The administration believes the bill is a step in the right direction toward the goal of ending lawsuit abuse.'' Mr.…”