Bush to Sign New Class Action Lawsuit Legislation Today

President Bush will sign legislation this morning to rewrite the rules for class-action lawsuits, a measure he has coveted for years and whose swift passage in the new Congress illustrates the expanded influence of Republicans and their business supporters.

The Class Action Fairness Act is designed to funnel most such lawsuits from state courts to the federal system — a procedural change that could have substantive implications, because federal courts traditionally have been less sympathetic to class-action cases waged by plaintiffs claiming they have been victimized by fraud or negligence by corporations.

Bush’s first legislative victory of his second term came after a lopsided vote yesterday in the House, where most Republicans and many Democrats approved the bill by 279 to 149.

The class-action bill — the first part of a broader White House campaign to impose rules designed to limit what Bush asserts is a glut of meritless lawsuits seeking billions of dollars — has been close to passage for several years. But it regularly fell just short, largely because of the success of Senate Democrats in throwing procedural roadblocks against a measure that had majority support.

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