1st Session - 109th Congress - Winter 2005

President Signs Class Action Reform

·     In a major victory for the business community, President Bush signed class action reform legislation (S. 5), a top priority from his Administration.  Earlier, Congress overwhelmingly passed (by a 72-26 vote in the Senate and a 279-149 vote in the House) the bill  that removes most class action lawsuits against businesses from several notoriously pro-plaintiff state courts to federal courts.  Survey data show that 10% of AMT members has been sued in class action litigation to date.  A similar bill passed the House last in the last Congress but was blocked by a Senate filibuster.  This is the first bill on the GOP litigation reform agenda.  The Senate is expected to take medical malpractice reform early this year, and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) will introduce an asbestos compensation bill soon.  House Judiciary Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) has told AMT he is open to moving product liability reform bills (e.g., a statute-of-repose) after the three Bush priorities (class action, medical malpractice, and asbestos) are disposed of.

2^nd Session – 108^th Congress – Fall 2004

·     The Senate failed (by a 50-47 vote) to cut off a filibuster on Chairman Orrin Hatch’s (R-UT) asbestos litigation reform bill that establishes a $124 billion fund (paid for by insurance companies and asbestos defendants) to compensate victims who meet medical criteria of asbestos-related illnesses.  Labor unions object to the bill, because they want to double the size of the compensation fund and provide a federal backstop in the event that private funding is inadequate.  Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) is pushing further negotiations to develop a consensus. 

·    The Senate failed a second time (by a 44-43 vote) to invoke cloture on consideration of Administration-backed class action reform legislation sponsored by Sen. Grassley (R-IA).  Although 62 Senators (including 11 Democrats) claimed they support the anti-forum shopping bill, opponents’ insistence on offering non-germane “poison pill” amendments resulted in a partisan vote against cloture.  Last year, the House, led by Judiciary Committee Chairman Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and Cong. Goodlatte (R-VA) and Boucher (D-VA), passed the bill (by a 253-170 vote).

·    The House has passed (by a 229-197 vote) medical liability reform legislation, but the Senate failed, earlier this year (by 49-48 and 45-45 votes), to break a filibuster on procedural motions to even consider medical liability reform legislation authored by Senate Labor Committee Chairman Gregg (R-NH) and Judiciary Committee Chairman Hatch (R-UT) and strongly endorsed by President Bush. 

·    The House has passed (by a 276-139 vote) legislation prohibiting lawsuits against fast food restaurants based on the frivolous legal theory that such lawsuits would prevent obesity.