Class Action Reform Still Stalled
By Steven Brostoff, Washington Editor
NU Online News Service, July 8, 12:14 p.m. EDT, Washington?Prospects for class action reform legislation are looking increasingly bleak as the Senate continues to wrangle over procedural issues that have delayed the bill for several months.[@@]
As of this writing, sources told National Underwriter that supporters of the legislation, S. 2062, were still trying to reach an agreement with opponents on the number of non-germane amendments that could be attached to it.
One source said that a major problem is that the non-germane amendments under consideration are on issues for which few in the Senate want to cast a vote.
While it is still possible that the Senate will reach an agreement this week, the general view is that S. 2062 will be held over until next week.
Late last year, proponents of class action reform expressed optimism that legislation would be enacted after Republican supporters reached an agreement with several Democrats on a modest bill.
The agreement would allow federal courts to hear major class action lawsuits but give the courts discretion to send cases back to state courts based on the residency of the plaintiff class and the principal defendants.
The support from the Democrats appeared to provide 61 votes in favor of reform?enough to overcome a filibuster.
But S. 2062 quickly became entangled in procedural issues, such as non-germane amendments, which have delayed a final vote.
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