Political Quotes

“Cases that are truly national in scope are being filed as State class actions before certain judges who employ an almost ``anything goes'' approach that renders virtually any controversy subject to certification as a class action. In such an environment, defendants and even plaintiff class members are routinely denied their range of normal rights as there is a rush to certify classes and then a rush to settle the cases. Plaintiffs suffer a range of horrors. In order to prevent removal of the case to Federal court, the amount sued for is sometimes kept artificially below the $75,000 Federal jurisdictional amount even if individual plaintiffs would be entitled to recover more. In another effort to avoid removal to Federal court, the class action complaint will sometimes not assert Federal causes of action that could legitimately be raised, denying plaintiffs an opportunity for these Federal claims to be heard. Sometimes in the settlement of these cases, the plaintiffs get coupons while their lawyers receive millions. And in at least one case, the plaintiff class members at the end of the settlement had a debit of $91 posted to their mortgage escrow account while their lawyers received $8.5 million for their services. The plaintiffs had a net loss because of the suit. They were worse off after the class action than before it was filed.”