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Vehicle Accident News Article
Automakers Lobbying for Limits on Lawsuits
December 06, 2004
Automakers are now stepping up their efforts to enact legal reforms that would drastically change the way auto litigation is handled. Fueled by President Bush's re-election and a more Republican Congress, Detroit auto manufacturers, alongside the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and other business groups have banded together to try to reform the legal system and limit liability.
While automakers and other business groups say they need to defend themselves against “frivolous lawsuits,” there is a “broad coalition of labor, environmental, civil rights and consumer groups that are vehemently opposed to this bill,” according to Joanne Doroshow, executive director of the Center for Justice and Democracy – a member supported consumer group based in New York.
Consumer groups are getting prepared for a major battle. The bills are backed by the president and GOP leaders, which are part of a broad political effort to reward businesses, according to Joan Claybrook, the president of a Washington watchdog group. Ford Motor Co. Chief Executive William Clay Ford Jr. cited legal reforms near the top of the company's legislative priorities at a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington last month.
Doroshow believes, “companies who commit wrongdoing should be forced to defend their actions in court,” while Claybrook believes “the courts are the third branch of government, and everybody should have access to them.” Last year, businesses pushed for legislation that would place limits on class action lawsuits, which would have required larger lawsuits to be tried in federal courts instead of state courts.
Supporters claim the class action legislation would streamline the process, but Doroshow said civil cases have historically been handled on the state level and pushing them to the federal courts would result in thrown out cases because of the increase in additional workload that would overwhelm the federal system
Source: http://www.onlinelawyersource.com/news/auto-lawsuit.html
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