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The Class Action Fairness Act: What Is It All About?

By Marc S. Gaffrey and Jacob S. Grouser

On Feb. 18, 2005, after the first bill signing ceremony of the year, President Bush approved the Class Action Fairness Act (“CAFA”) by signing it into law. CAFA is part of a goal to restore common sense and balance to America's legal system and end frivolous litigation which, President Bush stated, will include legislation to further reform tort law in the areas of asbestos and medical malpractice. “President Signs Class-Action Fairness Act of 2005,” www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/02/20050218-11.html.

Prior to becoming law, it passed both the House and Senate by wide margins and is the second law to be passed in recent years to aid in the effort to prevent the abuse of state courts by plaintiffs' counsel. The first was the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act (“SLUSA”), which became law in 1998 and was designed to prevent plaintiffs' lawyers from dodging the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act by filing securities fraud suits in state courts.

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