| The American Legislative
Exchange Council (ALEC) is once again putting on its dog and pony
show and traveling the country visiting state legislators promoting
its "Disorder in the Courts" report as a way to reform
the judicial system. ALEC has lumped a number of its judicial
reform bills together with analysis into a report detailing the
so-called failures of our judicial system. It is obvious ALEC
is out to protect its corporate donors from responsibility and
action. A number of the bills could have a significant impact
on environmental litigation, and others appear to add levels of
bureaucracy into an already crowded system. One of their "success
stories" of the 2003 state legislative session is the "Jury
Patriotism Act," which seeks to reclassify jury duty rules
and procedures. The name of the bill apparently struck the fancy
of a number of conservative legislators as it was introduced in
6 states (AZ, IL, KY, LA, OK, VT), adding more burdens. Three
of the bills -- the "Fairness in Litigation Act," the
"Appeal Bond Waiver Act," and the "Private Attorney
Retention Sunshine Act" -- place additional requirements
on an overstressed judicial system. However, the other bills are
a bit more devious in their intent. The "Intrastate Forum
Shopping Abuse Reform Act" allegedly seeks to prevent overzealous
attorneys from searching for sympathetic jurors. The bill is in
response to some unusually large jury settlements that have been
handed down in Jefferson County, Mississippi since 1995. It is
erroneous to assume that this occurs regularly and in all fifty
states. The "Separation of Powers Act" is a bill, which
does nothing more than verify that courts do not make law and
only review, thus reaffirming the established purposes of the
three branches of government. Although ALEC may feel some judges,
most notably those involved in tobacco and environmental suits
have created law, they have merely done their intended job. The
bill appeals to its corporate donors, mainly those who have been
the target of recent suits that have rectified past wrongdoings.
The most dangerous bill is the "Class Action Improvements
Act," which resembles the "Federal Class Reform Act
of 2003." The bill seeks to rewrite class action requirements
to make it more difficult for plaintiffs to prove their case.
The bill "would eliminate defendant class actions; would
require that the trial court consider whether the expense and
effort required to litigate the case on a class basis is justified
by the amount of recovery that each class member is likely to
obtain; [and,] limit the scope of plaintiff class actions to residents
of the state." If this bill were passed, it is possible that
a class action lawsuit could not be filed against companies that,
for example, leech chemicals into surrounding areas (as seen in
Anniston, Alabama with PCB contamination). This bill would seriously
hamper the ability of citizens to seek legal repercussions against
such irresponsible companies. Overall the "Disorder in the
Courts" report is nothing more than a wish list for corporate
donors who would like to pollute and break the law at their whim,
and have no legal liability for harming others and the environment.
Ran 11/24/2003 |
