http://democrats.senate.gov/dpc/dpc-new.cfm?doc_name=lb-109-1-1Major Provisions
Consumer Class Action "Bill Of Rights" And Procedures For Interstate Class Actions
Section 1711 — Definitions
S. 5, the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005, defines "class actions" (under current law) as any civil action filed in federal district court under Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Procedure, as well as actions filed under similar rules in state court that have been removed to federal court.
Section 1712 — Coupon settlements
This section is aimed at certain proposed settlements of class actions in which the plaintiffs' lawyer and the defendant work out a settlement that provides class members with coupons instead of monetary awards.
The section would require that attorneys' fees be based on either the value of coupons that have actually been redeemed by class members or the hours actually billed in prosecuting the case. The goal of this section is to eliminate incentives for attorneys to enter into collusive settlements that provide little recourse to the victims.
Section 1713 — Protection against loss by class members
This section would prohibit judges from approving class action settlements in which class members are required to pay attorneys' fees in an amount that would result in a net loss to the class members until after a hearing takes place to determine whether the non-monetary benefits to the class substantially outweigh the monetary loss. The section would also require the court to make written findings on whether the non-monetary benefits substantially outweigh the monetary loss.
Section 1714 — Protection against discrimination based on geographic location
This section would prohibit settlements that award some class members a larger recovery than others solely because the favored members of the class are located closer to the courthouse in which the settlement is filed.
Section 1715 — Notifications to appropriate federal and state officials
This section would require defendants to notify certain state and federal officials about the details of class action settlements and delay the effective date of the settlement until 90 days after they have done so. The specified federal officials include the Attorney General and, in cases involving financial institutions, the relevant federal regulatory authorities. State officials entitled to notice include officials with regulatory jurisdiction over a defendant in any state in which any member of the class resides.
This section is the same section as was contained in S. 1751 (an earlier class action reform bill that was the subject of a failed cloture motion on October 22, 2003). However, an additional section with detailed font and format requirements has been removed from the previous version of this bill due to intervening Judicial Conference rules.
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Hillary didn't want to protect consumers? hmmmm
you post this up here, but yet you appear to not have researched the bills provisions?