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I’ll be calling my senators on this
one, from BushGreenWatch.org. February 8, 2005 | Back Issues Debate began yesterday in the Senate over a proposal that would
seriously weaken the ability of citizens to seek redress for harm done by
polluters. The so-called Class Action Fairness Act (S.5), would shift all
citizens' class action lawsuits from states to already overburdened federal
courts. Proponents of S.5 see it as a way to weaken the rights of citizens
to band together to seek damages for harm done on issues ranging from the
environment to public health, civil rights, workers' rights and consumer
protection. If enacted, S.5 would add huge costs and vast time delays for
victims filing lawsuits. "As passed in Committee, this bill will undermine
longstanding rights and protections that ordinary Americans take for granted,"
said Alliance for Justice President Nan Aron. "Americans believe in fair
justice, and that if you break something, you should fix it. This bill
eliminates those fundamental principles, making it almost impossible for
individuals to join together to hold large corporations responsible for the
damages they cause." [1] Environmentalists are seeking an amendment that would exempt state
environmental suits from the bill, which is a priority of President Bush and
his close ally, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Some 16 national environmental groups have endorsed a statement by
James Cox, legislative counsel at Earthjustice, which says that S.5
"...would reward polluters by giving them a powerful tool with which to
delay cleanup and the payment of medical costs to those they have hurt. It
would allow polluters to attempt to remove cases involving toxic spills and
other public health and environmental harms from the state courts...into
federal courts that are often hundreds of miles from where the harm took place."
Environmentalists cite the widespread occurrence of groundwater
contamination from MTBE, a gasoline additive, to show that the Class Action
Fairness Act will jeopardize swift resolution of the problem. MTBE has been found in groundwater in 35 states, and thousands of
families across the country have been affected by MTBE pollution. If S.5
becomes law, the class action suits filed under state law would be moved to
federal courts, making them far more expensive and more difficult for the
victims. -Patty "Treat the Earth well. It
was not given to us by our parents; it was loaned to us by our
children." -Ecologist Lee Talbot |