Orrin Hatch: “I support this bill. I have been working on it for 6 years. It is a grand compromise. We have Democrats and Republicans.…”

“I support this bill. I have been working on it for 6 years. It is a grand compromise. We have Democrats and Republicans. It is bipartisan. It is not perfect, but it is as good as we can do and it will do an awful lot of good. The evidence is clear and undeniable; the well-documented abuse of the class action litigation device too often ends up victimizing plaintiffs, the very people that class actions are supposed to benefit. These abuses cheat millions of consumers who unwittingly have their legal rights adjudicated in local courts thousands of miles away. They deny the due process rights of defendants who are relentlessly hauled into a handful of small county courts where the playing field is unfairly tilted in favor of the personal injury bar, the plaintiffs' bar. If that were not enough, class action abuses are eroding public confidence in our civil justice system. When abuses do occur in the class action system, the public can ultimately pay dearly through spiraling prices, lost jobs, and even bankrupt companies.”