Plaintiffs’ lawyers and consumer-rights advocates are trying to derail a Republican bill to rein in class action lawsuits that is headed toward a floor vote in the House, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Opponents are urging lawmakers to halt the bill, which they say would severely limit the ability of citizens to join in lawsuits to fight grievances in court. Republican backers, meanwhile, say that the legislation is long overdue and would curtail lawyer-driven litigation that does little for consumers but benefits attorneys financially. The bill, titled the “Fairness in Class Action Litigation Act of 2017,” is the second attempt by Congress in recent years to restrict class-action lawsuits, which are used to challenge alleged securities fraud, employment discrimination, misleading advertising and other issues. Consumer advocates say such lawsuits have forced companies to pull unsafe drugs and faulty products from shelves, and compensate buyers for goods sold under misleading claims, such as Volkswagen AG’s diesel-engine vehicles. The legislation has moved swiftly since being introduced by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) less than two weeks ago. Last week, it passed out of the House Judiciary Committee untouched and with no hearings held, despite attempts by Democrats to limit its scope. The measure proposes to make alterations to the class action system, including requiring more similarity in the alleged harms of those joining together to sue, and prohibiting anyone from serving as a named plaintiff more than once with the same law firm. Consumer advocates say that these changes would make filing class actions more difficult.
