Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, this amendment should be defeated. Insofar as a class action seeks equitable relief, that is, the nonmonetary relief, including any injunctive relief that seeks to stop the defendant from doing something wrong, the portion of any class action lawyer's fee should be limited to a reasonable percentage of the value of that relief as determined by the court. This provision won't affect fee awards in civil rights cases because both the monetary and equitable relief attorney's fees provision in this bill are qualified with the initial phrase, ``unless otherwise specified by Federal statute.'' The Civil Rights Attorney's Fee Award Act of 1976 allows a court, in its discretion, to award reasonable attorney's fees as part of the costs to a prevailing party in Federal civil rights lawsuits, including cases brought under 28 U.S.C. section 1983, the statute most commonly used to assert civil rights claims. Consequently, this bill won't affect attorney's fees in civil rights class actions at all. Regarding other equitable relief cases that don't involve civil rights claims, Federal courts routinely determine the value of intangible relief such as equitable or injunctive relief for purposes of determining whether the amount in controversy requirement--currently, $75,000 to get into court--is met. A majority of courts consider only the value of the injunctive relief from the plaintiff's perspective or viewpoint.…”