Senate to take up tort reform this week.(Product Liability)(Brief Article)

The Senate is expected to take up a tort reform bill, the Class Action Fairness Act, this week. The industry-supported bill would shift large class actions from state to federal court. ACC says the bill would prevent trial lawyers from filing class-action suits, which often involve plaintiffs from different states, in districts that have a history of siding with plaintiffs in product liability cases. The bill would require class actions that have at least 100 plaintiffs, and more than $5 million at stake, to be tried in federal court.

The Senate had planned to take up the bill last week, but delayed action to finish debate on the Department of Defense reauthorization …