Public Citizen issued the following two press releases today:

March 12, 2002

House to Take Up Anti-Consumer Class Action Bill on Wednesday

Legislation a Priority of Insurance, Tobacco, Drug and Auto Industries

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Legislation to be considered Wednesday by the U.S.
House of Representatives would make it harder for consumers to hold
corporate wrongdoers accountable for inflated co-payments to HMOs,
padded cell phone bills, mysterious credit card "surcharges,"
fraudulent "late fees," mortgage loan kickbacks, automobile defects,
prescription drug safety problems and illnesses caused by tobacco.

The legislation (H.R. 2341), the so-called "Class Action Fairness
Act," is being pushed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National
Association of Manufacturers, and the insurance, tobacco, auto and
prescription drug industries. It is opposed by a coalition of
consumer, environmental, health and labor groups including Public
Citizen, the Consumer Federation of America, Clean Water Action,
Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, U.S. PIRG, Service Employees
International Union, Communication Workers of America, the National
Senior Citizens Law Center, the American Lung Association, the
American Heart Association and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

The measure would give defendants - usually large corporations - the
right to move class actions filed in state court to federal court,
even though the basis for the case would still be state law. Two
corporate class action lawyers recently wrote in Litigation how this
hurts consumers: "As a general rule, defendants are better off in
federal court . . . there is generally a greater body of federal law
precedent favorable to defendants." The groups opposed to the bill
believe that corporate defendants should not have the power to choose
the legal forum that they believe most benefits them. Moreover, state
judges are much more familiar with the numerous laws that are the
basis for state class actions, making them more likely than federal
judges to feel comfortable interpreting state law in class action
cases.

This legislation also will exacerbate the federal courts' current
caseload crisis, delaying the resolution of all civil cases. That is
why the Judicial Conference of the United States, chaired by Chief
Justice William Rehnquist, opposes the legislation.

"Since the dawn of the consumer movement in the 1960s, perhaps
consumers' most important tool has been the class action lawsuit,"
said Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen. "That is why
corporate wrongdoers are fighting hard to take away this right."

For fact sheets, opposition letters and other information about this
bill, go to: http://www.citizen.org/congress/civjus/class_action/