The U.S. Senate is set to pass the Class Action Fairness Act. The legislation applies some of the reform concepts in the PSLRA and SLUSA to all class actions. Notably, class actions meeting certain jurisdictional criteria would have to be heard in federal court. Reuters reports that the Senate floor debate may take place the week of Feb. 7.
At the same time, proponents of U.S. class action reform are urging France not to permit these types of suits. Jacques Chirac, France’s president, announced earlier this year that he had asked his government to propose legislation allowing collective suits against companies. An article in today’s Financial Times discusses comments made by the president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on a trip to Paris, where he warned France that U.S.-style class actions “would damage the economy and shift money from ‘good companies to lawyers.'”
The 10b-5 Daily 