Jim Sensenbrenner: “As the author of H.R. 860, I am grateful for the opportunity to consider it on the floor today. The bill before us has…”

“As the author of H.R. 860, I am grateful for the opportunity to consider it on the floor today. The bill before us has had a long legislative life, having been considered in one form or another since the 101st Congress in 1991. This legislation addresses two important issues in the world of complex multidistrict litigation. Section 2 of the bill would reverse the effects of the 1998 Supreme Court decision in the so-called Lexecon case. It would simply amend the multidistrict litigation statute by explicitly allowing a transferee court to retain jurisdiction over referred cases for trial for the purpose of determining liability and punitive damages or refer them to other districts as it sees fit. In fact, section 2 only codifies what had constituted ongoing judicial practice for nearly 30 years prior to the Lexecon decision. Section 3 addresses a particular species of complex litigation, so-called disaster cases, such as those involving airline accidents. The language set forth in my bill is a revised version of a concept which, beginning in the 101st Congress, has been supported by the Department of Justice, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, two previous Democratic Congresses, and one previous Republican Congress. Section 3 will help reduce litigation costs as well as the likelihood of forum shopping in single-accident mass tort cases.”