Class Action Reform Sidetracked
Washington
Insurance groups are urging the Senate to continue its efforts to enact class action reform legislation despite the procedural vote that at least temporarily sidetracks the legislation.
Melissa Shelk, vice president of federal affairs for the Washington-based American Insurance Association, urged the senators who thwarted the legislation to reconsider their decision and help get the bill, S 1751, before the Senate during the 108th Congress.
Anne Sittmann, a representative of the Des Plaines, Ill.-based National Association of Independent Insurers, urged the Senate leadership to meet as soon as possible to further discuss and negotiate in order to obtain the votes needed to pass a bill this year.
But consumer activists are praising the senators who voted to oppose S. 1751, legislation which they say is unfair to consumers.
"The bill would have made it more difficult for consumers to obtain effective and efficient judicial relief for injuries, for example, caused by defective products, fraud in the marketplace or discrimination," said Rachel Weintraub, assistant general counsel with the Washington-based Consumer Federation of America.
S. 1751 would establish federal court jurisdiction over major national class action lawsuits, subject to certain conditions regarding the residences of plaintiffs and defendants.
In addition, the bill would create a "class action bill of rights" that would protect the interest of class members by requiring clear notification to them that they are members of the class and protections against financial loss.
The procedural vote which sidetracked S. 1751 involved cloture, which is a device used to limit debate on legislation, thus preventing a filibuster.
A cloture motion needs 60 votes to prevail, but the motion on S. 1751 received only 59 votes. Some 39 senators voted against cloture.
Reproduced from National Underwriter Property & Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, October 24, 2003. Copyright 2003 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.
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