Act Now - U.S. Senate is poised to lock you out of the courtroom!

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Wed, 2 Feb 2005 12:17:27 -0800 (PST)

Act Now - U.S. Senate is poised to lock you out of the courtroom!

 

 

 

Wed, 2 Feb 2005 11:55:50 -0500

Congress Watchdog

[CWATCHDOG] Act Now - U.S. Senate is poised to lock you

out of the

courtroom!

CWATCHDOG

 

A key part of President Bush's agenda for his second term is

" legal reform. " You can expect to hear him go on about it during his

State of the Union address this Wednesday. Unfortunately, like WMD in

Iraq and the latest " crisis " in Social Security, the Administration's

case for making drastic changes to the legal system is another sham

based on misinformation and deception, and serves as a front for the

corporate agenda so dear to Mr. Bush.

 

As part of this drive the Senate will vote the week of February 7

on the so-called " Class Action Fairness Act " (S. 5). There is nothing

fair about this proposed law. It is simply a way for corporations to

restrict the legal rights of ordinary citizens to fight unscrupulous

companies that sell unsafe products, rip off consumers, pollute the

environment and employ unfair labor practices.

 

Please contact your Senators NOW - tell them that you demand

fairness in our legal system, and that the only way to do that is to

either stop or amend the class action bill. To send them a quick email

message, please go to

http://action.citizen.org/pc/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=6894551

 

Thanks for forwarding this email to your friends!

 

 

BACKGROUND

 

Class action lawsuits are an effective legal remedy for average

citizens to confront large companies. Rather than pursuing an

impossibly expensive and difficult individual legal battle against a

large corporation, class action lawsuits allow a large number of

similarly injured or otherwise impacted citizens (a " class " ) to join

together in a common lawsuit. Class actions have been one of the

single most effective methods of enforcing corporate accountability

and improving business practices when unscrupulous companies sell

unsafe products, rip off consumers, pollute the environment or employ

unfair labor practices. Class actions have been used in recent years

to stop insurance companies from illegally raising customer premiums,

to stop auto giants like Ford from knowingly installing faulty engine

parts that caused multiple injuries and deaths, and to stop

mega-employers like Wal-Mart from making employees work overtime

without pay.

 

Naturally, therefore, the Bush Administration wants to destroy the

class action system.

Parroting inaccurate information and downright fabricated stories

about " frivolous lawsuits, " " judicial hellholes " and the supposed cost

of our legal system to business, the Republican leadership of the U.S.

Senate is poised to pass the terribly misnamed " Class Action Fairness

Act. "

 

The bill is designed to allow defendant companies to move class

actions filed in state courts, where they have traditionally been

tried, to federal courts. Once in federal court, which is much

friendlier to business interests than state courts, cases are far less

likely to even get certified - thereby blocking a trial over the

merits of the case. What's more, the federal judiciary is so

overburdened already that throwing class actions on top of its

workload virtually guarantees that any justice from a class action

suit will be delayed by years - and as we all know, justice delayed is

often justice denied.

 

Of course industry knows all this, and that is why business

interests have had a small army of lobbyists pushing this bill, which

is supported by every major industry group and opposed by a large

coalition of consumer, civil rights, labor and environmental groups.

That should tell you everything you need to know.

 

The bill should be soundly defeated for the sham " reform " that it

is. But while it could be challenging to stop in the

Republican-dominated Senate, we have a good chance to amend the bill

and fix its most dangerous aspects. Specifically, we urge you to

demand that your Senator vote for two amendments to the bill:

 

* Sen. Bingaman's consumer amendment, which will give federal

judges the tools to certify state law class actions on a nationwide

basis so that consumers across the country can hold companies

accountable for wrongdoing.

* Sen. Kennedy's civil rights and worker protection amendment,

which carves out state law civil rights and wage-and-hour cases from

the scope of the bill, is needed to ensure that ordinary working men

and women will continue to have access to their own state courts for

cases brought under their own state law.

 

Class actions are one of the most important parts of the legal

system for ordinary folks like you and me.

 

Please contact your Senators TODAY to let them know that you want

the class action system to remain intact - and fair. Go to

http://action.citizen.org/pc/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=6894551

 

To learn more about Public Citizen, go to www.citizen.org

 

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