RECEPTIVE TO CLASS-ACTION COMPROMISE

House Judiciary Committee Chairman James
Sensenbrenner said he would "warmly receive" a
proposed Senate compromise on class-action
legislation, even though it is less conservative than
what he has supported in the past. Mr. Sensenbrenner's
comments are the clearest public signal yet that the independent-minded chairman is prepared to cooperate
in expediting the bill's passage through the House
and to President Bush for his signature. After years
of stalemate, this is the strategy favored by the
business lobby, which hopes to move more large class-
action lawsuits out of state courts and into federal
courts. More of those class-action suits in which the
aggregate amount sought exceeds $5 million would be
moved to federal court. Compromises have been made to
allow genuine local disputes to remain at the state
level. Labor unions want to exempt wage and hour
cases, and consumer groups fear that unless there is
greater clarity in how to resolve multistate cases,
federal judges will be quick to reject the suits as
too complicated to resolve. "You're forced to go to
federal court, and when you get there, they say,
'Sorry,'" said Joan Claybook of Public Citizen. "I
call it a lockout."
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