Step forward for tort reform

The Providence Journal: The worthy cause of tort reform has taken a small step forward. President Bush has just signed a bill that should discourage some of the frivolous class-action lawsuits routinely hurled at companies. The new legislation will not entirely end the epidemic of litigation in our suit-happy society, but it does represent a good start.
The law's goal is to stop lawyers from shopping for jurisdictions known to shower plaintiffs with outlandish awards -- often based on flimsy claims. The most infamous of these soft spots are in Mississippi and Illinois.
Under the new law, claims of more than $5 million will no longer be heard in a state court, unless the main defendant and more than a third of the plaintiffs are from that state. From now on, such suits must go to the federal courts.
Deep pockets
Manufacturers, insurers and other businesses have long pressured Congress to pass tort-reform legislation. And they've had good reasons to do so. Lawyers wanting to plumb someone's deep pockets for enormous awards have routinely preyed on American companies. And they've known where judges and juries are their best friends.
Whether the law will greatly affect the litigation climate remains unclear. Some legal experts predict that lawyers will break up their cases, to avoid being forced into federal court. That means filing several class-action suits, each for under $5 million.
And others say it's not clear that federal courts always offer less generous settlements than state courts do, especially in consumer class-action suits. The record is spotty. Meanwhile, there are big questions about the federal courts' capacity to hear a new spate of cases; the courts are already overburdened.
Nevertheless, the tort-reform law opens the path for more legislation aimed at reducing lawsuits.