Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, we know that class actions have played a very important role in advancing progressive goals, like civil rights and consumer rights. But something has gone wrong. A lot of trial lawyers will tell us, privately, that this has to be fixed, and, You guys need to rein it in. There is an unintended loophole in the interpretation of diversity jurisdiction. That is where we are getting the abuse. We are getting a few trial lawyers who go forum shopping, and they go into the courts of judges who are elected, oftentimes with the contributions of trial lawyers. I am not saying this alone, but The Washington Post said this in their own editorial. They know what decision they are going to get. Oftentimes, they get the thing certified before even notifying the defendants, and then they wind up settling. But who gets hurt? The consumer gets hurt. And it is not just in paying higher prices for products. They get those worthless coupons. A lot of them do not even know they are members of the plaintiff class. There is any number of consumer provisions in here. It requires scrutiny of these coupon settlements. It prohibits settlements where the class members come out as losers.”