Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 Senate Bill S.5

The United States Senate overwhelmingly passed the Class Action Fairness Act, Senate Bill 5 (S.5), on February 10, 2005. Thirty-three senators, including Republicans and Democrats, co-sponsored the bill. The United States House of Representatives (which passed a similar bill by a wide margin last year) is likely to pass this bill or a substantially similar bill this week. President Bush is expected to sign the bill into law.

The asserted purposes of the Class Action Fairness Act are to reduce frivolous class action lawsuits, decrease forum shopping, and curb class settlements that provide significant fees to class counsel, with marginal benefits to class members. If passed into law in its current form, the Act will facilitate the removal of large, multi-state class actions from state to federal court that are filed after the passage of the law. Complete diversity of citizenship between plaintiffs and defendants will no longer be required for federal court jurisdiction over certain