Goodlatte, Franks and Buck Praise House Passage of Bill to Prevent Innocent Americans From Being Dragged Into Court

Washington, D.C—House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), Constitution and Civil Justice Subcommittee Chairman Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), and the bill’s sponsor and House Judiciary Committee member Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) released the following statements upon the passage of the Fraudulent Joinder Prevention Act of 2016 (H.R. 3624) by the House of Representatives by a vote of 229-189. Chairman Goodlatte: “Hardworking Americans are some of the most frequent victims of frivolous lawsuits and the extraordinary costs that abuses of our legal system impose. Every day local individuals and business owners routinely have lawsuits filed against them based on claims against other national businesses they have no legitimate connection to, just because a trial lawyer wants to keep the case in their preferred court. These lawsuits impose a tremendous burden on small businesses and their employees.” “The Fraudulent Joinder Prevention Act will help reduce the litigation abuse that regularly drags local individuals and small businesses into court for the sole purpose of advancing a lawyer’s forum shopping strategy.” Subcommittee Chairman Franks: "The Constitution’s Framers created diversity jurisdiction to preserve national harmony and promote interstate commerce by ensuring that a lawsuit involving citizens of different states could be litigated in a presumably neutral federal court rather than in a possibly biased state court. I am encouraged by House passage of this legislation, which improves the administration of justice in the federal courts. "This bill will especially help small, local businesses and their owners and employees, who are currently unfairly pulled into costly lawsuits by trial lawyers simply to keep cases in state court.  Small businesses are already overburdened by litigation as it is, they should not be further weighed down by cases to which they have no real connection simply so that an enterprising attorney can game the system.” Congressman Buck: “When small businesses thrive, so do our communities.That’s why preventing fraudulent joinder is so important. This bill reforms the law to protect innocent companies from being wrongfully joined in a lawsuit. When small businesses face these frivolous claims, they have to fork over cash for legal fees rather than for new employees or equipment. “We need to let our local businesses get back to what they do best. They should be creating American jobs, crafting innovative new products, and building up our communities, not worrying about the threat of frivolous lawsuits.” Background: The Fraudulent Joinder Prevention Act of 2016 addresses litigation abuse in which trial lawyers drag local people and small business owners into court to answer for claims to which they have no real connection, simply to further the lawyers’ forum shopping strategy. Under the bill, judges are allowed greater discretion to free an innocent local party from a case where the judge finds there is no plausible case against that party. The bill also allows judges to look at evidence that the trial lawyers aren’t acting in good faith in suing local defendants.

Click here to learn more about the bill.

Click here to watch Chairman Goodlatte’s floor statement on the bill.

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