Multidistrict Litigation Restoration Act of 2005
MULTIDISTRICT LITIGATION RESTORATION ACT OF 2005 -- (House of Representatives - April 19, 2005)
Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to support House passage of H.R. 1038. At least five times over the past 6 or 7 years I have risen to support legislation virtually identical to H.R. 1038. Each time the legislation has stalled in the Senate.
This bill has a very narrow purpose and effect. It overturns the 1998 Lexecon decision of the Supreme Court. That decision held that a multidistrct litigation transferred to a Federal court for pretrial proceedings cannot be retained by that court for trial purpose. In so holding, the Lexecon decision upset decades of practice by the multidistrict litigation panel and Federal district courts. The Lexecon decision also increases the cost and complexity of such multidistrict litigations by requiring courts other than the transferee court which has overseen the discovery and other pretrial proceedings to conduct a trial.
The provisions of this bill overturn Lexecon in a carefully calibrated manner. While the bill allows a transferee court to retain a case for a trial on liability issues and, when appropriate, on punitive damages, it creates a presumption that the trial of compensatory damages will be remanded to the transferor court. In so doing, the bill is careful to overturn the Lexecon decision without expanding the power previously exercised by transferee courts. More importantly, the presumption regarding the trial of compensatory damages ensures that plaintiffs will not be unduly burdened in pursuit of their claims.
In addition, this bill makes technical and conforming corrections to the provisions in the 2002 Department of Justice authorization measure relating to the consolidation of mass tort cases. While not universally endorsed, most Democratic members of the Committee on the Judiciary have supported this piece of legislation each time it is submitted for consideration, and I ask my colleagues to once again vote for H.R. 1038.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
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