Tort Reform, Step One

"One of the better trends promoted by the Bush administration is a
package of reforms designed to reduce frivolous lawsuits aimed at
the "deep pockets" of American corporations.

Here is the first step: a change in procedure that would push most
class-action suits into federal courts, where they face tougher
standards, and where it is harder for plaintiff's lawyers to "shop"
for corrupt or left-leaning judges."

-Robert Tracinski, Editor, www.TIADaily.com

------------------------------------------------------------------
"Senate Takes Up Class-Action Restrictions," John F. Harris,
Washington Post, February 8

Excerpt:

"Consumer groups, plaintiffs' lawyers and many state attorneys
general said they would prefer to defeat the Class Action Fairness
Act, which would send many class- action cases out of state courts
and into the federal system, which historically is less sympathetic
to the claims....

Supporters, including the US Chamber of Commerce, have long
maintained that class-action lawsuits are waged amid a patchwork of
state laws.

The result, they said, is an irrational system in which lawyers shop
for sympathetic local venues, regardless of whether that is the most
logical place for a case to be heard, and in which there is little
consistency in awards.

The bill would send cases with plaintiffs in multiple states into the
federal system. The problem, opponents say, is that federal courts
are overburdened, and often disinclined to hear such cases.

Frequently, when presented with a case in which laws from different
states might apply and in some cases contradict one another, judges
will refuse to 'certify' that a valid class-action claim exists and
the case is thrown out."

Article link: http://tinyurl.com/3rgdz
---------------------------------------------------------------------
What is TIADaily?

This magazine is for those who take ideas seriously — those who
realize that fundamental ideas shape our culture and change the
course of the world — those who believe that the philosophical ideas
we accept are a matter of life and death.

This magazine is for those who agree that the job of a thinker is not
to play academic word games, but to address the crucial issues of
human life: what kind of government we should live under; what we
should seek in art, in love, in friendship; what standards we should
uphold in our thinking; where our civilization stands in history and
in contrast to the rest of the world.

The Intellectual Activist (TIA) examines and evaluates the ideas that
influence the whole spectrum of human action — from the immediate
practical realities of politics and economics — to the vision of
human potential offered by art — to the vast achievements of science
and the threats of ignorance and superstition — to the grand-scale
drama and powerful lessons of history — to the way in which
basic ideas filter down to the smallest details of our lives, to our
habits, our pastimes, our entertainment.

This magazine is for those who want to change the world, not through
mindless street protests, but by changing the ideas that shape our
lives. It is for those who want to be activists, not just in
politics, but in the realm of the intellect.

************************************************************