GOP pushes bill inhibiting Americans from filing class-action lawsuits against large corporations

[babylonsister]

http://m.dailykos.com/stories/2017/3/7/1641107/-GOP-pushes-bill-inhibiting-Americans-from-filing-class-action-lawsuits-against-large-corporations?_=2017-03-07T11%3A19%3A11.515-08%3A00

GOP pushes bill inhibiting Americans from filing class-action lawsuits against large corporations
Mar 07, 2017 2:19pm EST by Kerry Eleveld


Donald Trump may have promised to put America first, but "Americans" apparently take a back seat to corporate interests. Trump's GOP colleagues on Capitol Hill are pushing a bill aimed at protecting companies from American consumers by limiting class-action lawsuits that target defective products and marketing scams alike. For instance, all those students who were defrauded by Trump University wouldn’t have been able to bring their case if the bill had been law. Or if your house was made from highly toxic imported Chinese drywall—as many in the South were following a series of destructive hurricanes—you'd be on your own. The legislation, which was approved by the House Judiciary Committee last month, would tip the legal landscape in favor of large corporations. Cora Lewis writes:

In recent years, companies have increasingly relied on legal fine print to avoid the lawsuits, inserting language into contracts requiring disputes to be settled by private arbitrators, not the courts. In the final years of the Obama administration, regulators moved to limit those arbitration clauses, proposing rules that ban them from student loan agreements and some financial services.

But some in Congress are now moving in the other direction, drafting a law that would make it harder to launch class-action lawsuits in the first place. [...]

The law, if passed, “will eviscerate class actions, which are often the only avenue for Americans to hold corporations accountable if they are victims of widespread illegal behavior,” wrote Linda Lipsen, CEO of the American Association for Justice, a national plaintiff lawyer association.

“If this bill becomes law, it will deny justice to Americans who suffer from financial fraud and deceptive scams, massive civil and human rights violations, or unsafe products and toxic workplaces that cause horrific injuries and deaths.”

Though the bill never had a hearing, House Republicans intended to ram through a vote later this week. That timeline may have been pushed back to early next week.

Still missing is the voice of the guy who won the 2016 presidential election by promising voters that he would put their interests above all else.

“The President has continued to be overwhelmingly silent on this issue," said Paul Bland of the legal group Public Justice. "If I were a corporate-side lobbyist, I would be deeply concerned that this will turn out to be an issue like trade, for example, where the President does not follow lockstep with traditional Republican lobbyists and donors."

Bland sees the bill as an "enormous betrayal" of the promises Trump made on the campaign trail. But if Trump were to sign legislation that would have specifically limited his liability on his Trump University scam, we'll know exactly who he's looking out for. “America first” may not have meant “Americans first” at all.

[vlyons]

1. What's the bill number on this?

[babylonsister]

5. Here:

Last week, Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee voted to introduce H.R. 985, the Fairness in Class Action Litigation Act of 2017, a bill that would undermine class actions and other mass lawsuits by a set of deceptively labeled procedural reforms.

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/lawmaker-news/320360-new-republican-bill-would-gut-class-actions-not-improve-them

New Republican bill would gut class actions, not improve them

[MineralMan]

2. Well, Hillary would have done the same thing, I was told.

[ananda]

3. This motherfucker bill ..

.. is just so depressing.

And that's just one of many.

[Dustlawyer]

4. And they have 4 other tort reform bills right behind thus one!

We either have to start paying legal bribes to politicians in very large amounts or we need to pass a Constitutional Amendment to eliminate campaign contributions. More of our rights (Freedoms) are being eliminated by Republicans!

Now that they are getting rid of regulations such as pollution protections they needed cover from the civil suits that would follow for the harm that the companies are causing when they start their heavy dumping. These tort reform efforts will guarantee that you can do nothing about it in civil court either, they will be immune.

Next time you go see a lawyer for medical malpractice, defective products, or BP takes a dump in your yard, be prepared to be told too bad! We would like to help you but the law says you are SOL. We will be telling you this as we pack up our office and hand out pink slips to our staff because we can no longer afford to try and protect the people from these bad actors!

This is REAL!!!

[Cosmocat]

8. THiS is what it all is about, every last bit of populism, race baiting, gay bashing

It is stone cold obvious, and I have known it since I was a child.

How the fuck people don't get that this is what they do it all for is beyond me, they just keep relentlessly moving forward with this kind of shit, time after time after time, never doing the first practical thing for the average american.

But, gun, gays, hating brown skinned people ... Mindless flag waving. That is what the pods run over their grandmother to vote for.

[vlyons]

9. Our democracy is being replaced with a kleptacracy

We are no longer human beings. We are seen as profit centers.

[Dustlawyer]

10. Until we eliminate the root cause of all of these problems, money in our politics,

we will continue to lose everything to corporations and wealthy Plutocrats like the Kochs. We need to join together and focus on an Amendment to the Constitution to eliminate campaign contributions, Super PACs, revolving doors...

Sure we would have to take back State Houses and get rid of many Republicans, but it is the only way to regain Representative Democracy. They attack us on so many fronts they have us divided with some fighting for women's rights, Climate Change, immigration, education... so that each group is focused on a symptom of this corruption, not the cause.

[Cosmocat]

11. The unfortunate thing

is that this country is stupid/distracted, they can't even begin to hone in enough to tackle it (and I agree this and gerrymandering are the two most critical systemic issues).

WE see the problem, team R sees it, but knows it favors them so they will fight it tooth and nail, and the "middle" just wallows in the "they are both the same" bullshit or just tunes it out.

[dalton99a]

6. Trump will deliver one more win for the "little guy"

He will certainly sign it.

[shockey80]

7. Trump will love that.

Trump voters are so stupid.