WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Legislation to rewrite the rules on class-action lawsuits appeared doomed on Thursday as U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said its anticipated failure to clear a key vote would finish it for the year.
The White House-backed bill, which supporters said would crack down on abusive lawsuits filed by "money-hungry lawyers," has been stuck in a bitter procedural standoff in the Republican-majority Senate most of this week.
Tensions increased over the bill after Democratic presidential contender John Kerry this week picked a former personal-injury lawyer, John Edwards, to be his running mate, and Democrat and Republican senators accused each other of election-year grandstanding on legal issues.
All but one of the 51 Republican senators backs the class-action bill, but Frist said he did not think a super-majority of 60 senators would support a procedural "cloture" motion to limit debate. The vote was scheduled for Friday.
http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=5623994§ion=news
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