{
  "id": "RL31859",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL31859",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 101940,
      "date": "2004-08-18",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-07T20:10:08.413765",
      "title": "Class Actions and Legislative Proposals in the 108th Congress: Class Action Fairness Acts of 2003 and 2004",
      "summary": "The House has passed  H.R. 1115  and the Senate Judiciary Committee has reported out\n S. 274  (both styled the Class Action Fairness Act of 2003). Each (1) creates a consumer\nclass action bill of rights, and (2) allows the federal courts to try a greater number of large class\naction law suits (100 plaintiffs or more) arising out of state law where the parties come from diverse\nstates. Current law requires that each plaintiff have suffered $75,000 in damages and that there be\ncomplete diversity before a state lawsuit may be filed in or removed to federal court, that is to say\nall of the plaintiffs must be citizens residing in different states than all of the defendants. The bills\nease the complete diversity requirement and eliminate the requirement of individual damages of\n$75,000 as long as the damages suffered by the class as a whole is $5 million or more.\n  The consumer class action bill of rights in each proposal contains safeguards which provide for\njudicial scrutiny of coupon and other noncash settlements, protection against a proposed settlement\nthat would result in a net loss to a class member, protection against discrimination based upon\ngeographic location, and prohibition on a class representative receiving a greater share of the award.\n   S. 274 / S. 1751  alone includes within its bill of rights explicit\nprovisions for \"plain English\" settlement notices and settlement notifications for state and federal\nauthorities.  H.R. 1115  instead defers to the notice reforms recommended in the\namendments to Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure forwarded to Congress by the\nSupreme Court on March 27, 2003.  H.R. 1115  alone permits pre-trial review of a lower\nfederal court's grant or denial of class certification and makes its provisions retroactively applicable\nto suits filed before the date of enactment (but prior to class certification).\n  On October 21, 2003, Senator John Breaux introduced  S. 1769  as an alternative\nbill which is considered to be much broader than  S. 1751 .\n  On December 15, 2003, Senator Dodd proposed Senate Amendment 2232 to  S. 274 , introduced in the Senate on January 20, 2004, by Senator Grassley. Most of these amendments\nare also incorporated into  S. 2062  (the Class Action Fairness Act of 2004) which was\nintroduced by Senator Grassley in the Senate on February 10, 2004.\n  On July 8, 2004,  S. 2062  failed to get the 60 votes needed to proceed for further\nconsideration which probably will aid the demise of the legislation for this legislative year.",
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    },
    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc812906/",
      "id": "RL31859_2004Mar22",
      "date": "2004-03-22",
      "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26",
      "title": "Class Actions and Legislative Proposals in the 108th Congress: Class Action Fairness Acts of 2003 and 2004",
      "summary": null,
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORT",
      "active": false,
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      "topics": []
    },
    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metacrs5117/",
      "id": "RL31859 2003-06-23",
      "date": "2003-06-23",
      "retrieved": "2005-06-11T23:16:50",
      "title": "Class Actions and Proposed Reform in the 108th Congress: Class Action Fairness Act of 2003",
      "summary": "The report discusses the consumer class action bill of rights in each proposal contains safeguards which provide for judicial scrutiny of coupon and other non-cash settlements, protection against a proposed settlement that would result in a net loss to a class member, protection against discrimination based upon geographic location, and prohibition on a class representative receiving a greater share of the award.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORT",
      "active": false,
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          "filename": "files/20030623_RL31859_c0df8732eebce5b7f14595cfed8e5e43a64f5aa7.html"
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      "topics": [
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Law",
          "name": "Law"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Class actions (Civil procedure) - Law and legislation",
          "name": "Class actions (Civil procedure) - Law and legislation"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Consumers",
          "name": "Consumers"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "topics": []
}