Liberal Critics Lambaste Goodlatte’s Class Action Bill

Law professor John C. Coffee Jr. finds little to recommend in a class action reform bill proposed by Representative Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Writing in the Columbia Law School Blue Sky Blog, he does allow the bill includes some sensible ideas, but overall finds it to be a “motley assortment of procedural ‘reforms’—some good, many bad, and most overbroad.” The bad, according to Coffee, includes a provision labeled “Prohibition of Conflicts,” which puts an usual spin on that concept. It would bar any class action in which the proposed class representative or named plaintiff has ever had a contractual relationship with class counsel. Which means, for example, it would prevent a pension fund from retaining a major plaintiff firm that it had already retained in any other matter. The result, says Coffee, would be to impose “a legal regime of ‘one night stands’ on clients and their counsel.” This particular provision is unlikely to withstand a Constitutional challenge, according to Coffee, and he wonders why it was included in a bill that in his view includes some reasonable limits on plaintiff attorney fees. The U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform also likes the fee provisions in this bill – all of them, presumably. “Class action lawsuits were created to make it easier for plaintiffs to get justice. But today, class actions are rife with abuse, as lawyers are often paid many times the amount paid to all class members combined,” the Chamber said in a statement. “This bill requires that class members get paid first, and that lawyers only get a percentage of what class members actually receive. This will protect businesses, consumers, and investors from abusive lawsuits leading to higher prices, less innovation, and fewer new jobs.” Much of the mainstream media, however, continues to weigh in strongly against – Coffee’s critique is mild compared to that of law professors Chris Sagers and Joshua P. Davis write in  the New York Times. This “chilling little bill,” they say, “could have the effect of ending the class action as an American institution.”