A bill that everyone thought would pass has been rejected by the Senate. The Class Action Fairness Act was aimed at the abuse of class action lawsuits but did not receive the majority votes that it needed to pass. The vote was 44-43. Therefore, it is a dead issue for this election year.
The legislation could have changed federal law to provide federal jurisdiction for class actions where the amount in question was over $2 million and where any plaintiff and any defendant were citizens of different states. Though the bill had strong support initially, opposition came when Republican leaders refused Democratic attempts to link it to other major legislative concerns.
Proponents of the bill remain committed to bringing it to the floor again in the next legislative year.