Reuters reports that the Class Action Fairness Act of 2003 has been approved by the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 253-170.
Quote of note: “Rep. James Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said forcing cases into federal court would stop lawyers forum-shopping for sympathetic state courts such as in Madison County, Illinois, where a judge recently granted a $10.1 billion verdict in a suit against cigarette maker Philip Morris. ‘The class action judicial system itself has become a joke, and no one is laughing except the trial lawyers, all the way to the bank,’ Sensenbrenner said.”
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