House Approves Class-Action Reform

The House of Representatives gave its approval to a class-action reform bill on Thursday afternoon by a vote of 253 to 170. The bipartisan Class Action Fairness Act, H.R. 1115, would, among other things, allow large, multistate class actions filed in state courts to be transferred to federal court in situations where at last one plaintiff and one defendant are from different states and where the aggregate amount at stake is at least $2 million. It would also require that judges subject noncash settlement offers, such as those offering coupons, to heightened scrutiny. Similar legislation won the approval of the Senate Judiciary Committee in early April but has yet to the reach the Senate floor. The House passed an earlier version of the class-action reform act in 2002, but the Senate never voted on the issue.