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Press Releases
Lawyers'
Committee for Civil
Rights Under Law
1401 New York Avenue, NW
Suite 400
Washington, DC 20005
For
Immediate Release
Contact: Diane Gross
202-662-8600
April
3, 2003
Lawyers’
Committee for Civil Rights Under Law Opposes
Class Action Fairness Act Of 2003
Washington
D.C. – Today, the Lawyers’ Committee for
Rights Under Law (“Lawyers’ Committee”)
released a policy paper highlighting the disastrous
effects of the Class Action Fairness Act of 2003 on
civil rights class actions. This legislation, which
is being marked up by the Senate Judiciary Committee
today, will have a dramatic impact on federal civil
rights class actions and will place unfair restrictions
on civil rights litigants.
As
the Lawyers' Committee details in its analysis of
the legislation, the Act will substantially increase
the number of state-law class action cases to be heard
by the federal courts, remove cases under state civil
rights laws from state courts, discourage people from
bringing class actions and impose costly and substantial
barriers to the settlement of class actions. Because
class actions, in both federal and state courts, are
essential to the enforcement of civil rights laws,
the proposed Act will have a significant impact on
the continued enforcement of vital civil rights laws.
“This
act contemplates an unprecedented increase in purely
state-law class actions that federal courts will be
required to handle, which will clog already-overcrowded
dockets and delay civil rights and other important
federal cases. The result can only be to compromise
the timely and effective determination of issues properly
before the federal courts,” said Tom Henderson,
Chief Counsel and Senior Deputy Director of the Lawyers'
Committee. “We are particularly concerned with
the new burdens it imposes on civil rights plaintiffs
that will discourage class actions and prevent some
plaintiffs from securing full relief for the discrimination
that they have endured,” he added.
download
"Class Action Fairness Act" policy paper
here
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