Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 119.djvu/22

 119 STAT. 4

PUBLIC LAW 109–2—FEB. 18, 2005

Public Law 109–2 109th Congress An Act Feb. 18, 2005 [S. 5] Class Action Fairness Act of 2005. 28 USC 1 note.

To amend the procedures that apply to consideration of interstate class actions to assure fairer outcomes for class members and defendants, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; REFERENCE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Class Action Fairness Act of 2005’’. (b) REFERENCE.—Whenever in this Act reference is made to an amendment to, or repeal of, a section or other provision, the reference shall be considered to be made to a section or other provision of title 28, United States Code. (c) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for this Act is as follows: Sec. 1. Short title; reference; table of contents. Sec. 2. Findings and purposes. Sec. 3. Consumer class action bill of rights and improved procedures for interstate class actions. Sec. 4. Federal district court jurisdiction for interstate class actions. Sec. 5. Removal of interstate class actions to Federal district court. Sec. 6. Report on class action settlements. Sec. 7. Enactment of Judicial Conference recommendations. Sec. 8. Rulemaking authority of Supreme Court and Judicial Conference. Sec. 9. Effective date.

28 USC 1711 note.

VerDate 14-DEC-2004

08:19 Oct 26, 2006

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: (1) Class action lawsuits are an important and valuable part of the legal system when they permit the fair and efficient resolution of legitimate claims of numerous parties by allowing the claims to be aggregated into a single action against a defendant that has allegedly caused harm. (2) Over the past decade, there have been abuses of the class action device that have— (A) harmed class members with legitimate claims and defendants that have acted responsibly; (B) adversely affected interstate commerce; and (C) undermined public respect for our judicial system. (3) Class members often receive little or no benefit from class actions, and are sometimes harmed, such as where— (A) counsel are awarded large fees, while leaving class members with coupons or other awards of little or no value; (B) unjustified awards are made to certain plaintiffs at the expense of other class members; and

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