A bill is working its way through Congress that could have the effect of ending the class action as an American institution, according to a commentary yesterday in the New York Times DealBook blog. The legislation, the Fairness in Class Action Litigation Act, passed the House last week. In February, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Representative Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) the proposed the legislation to “improve access to justice for American consumers.” He pushed it through the committee on a strict party-line vote only six days later, without a hearing, even though it is much longer and more complex than the bill that passed in 2016, according to the commentary. Proponents of bills like the Fairness in Class Action Litigation Act stress the small individual recoveries class actions sometimes generate, the large lawyers’ fees and anecdotes that make lawsuits seem ridiculous, like the famous, though misrepresented lawsuit over McDonald’s coffee. However, if Congress kills the class action, many laws protecting ordinary people will become unenforceable, according to the commentary. Nobody would pay a lawyer to bring most individual cases under our antifraud, product safety, antitrust, civil rights or employment laws, for example.
