Daily Yopp! 3.13.17 - Protect Our Rights to Sue Corporations

As we've been fussing over wiretaps and Russians, the Republicans in the House of Representatives have snuck some legislation through that is truly horrible: HR 985 or The Fairness in Class Action Litigation Act of 2017 passed the House last week and is now in the Senate. 220 GOP representatives voted in favor while 14 of them defected and joined the Democrats who all voted against it. Additionally, the House passed HR 720 or The Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act of 2017 and HR 725 or The Innocent Party Protection Act of 2017.

So what do these acts do? Basically they gut a lot of our current laws and makes is very hard for us average shmoes to seek protection from and redress against corporations. On the surface the bills are fairly innocuous looking and have nice titles with terms like "fairness", "abuse reduction", and "innocent", but in reality they are wolves in sheep's clothing. We MUST stop these laws from passing the Senate

Last week, Wade Henderson and Nancy Zirkin of the the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights sent a joint letter of opposition to all members of the House of Representatives. Unfortunately that didn't stop this terrible legislation from getting through. It's time for us to add our voices.

Who's against them? Well, for starters there is the American Bar Association. Also Ralph Nader, as detailed in this Harper's article about tort reform. The Young Turks also did a segment analyzing what's going on.

In my opinion, this rigging of our judicial system against the people is the real goal of Donald Trump and the GOP. While we are freaking out (rightfully so) about ICE raids, pipelines, trans rights, and wiretaps, these folks are taking advantage of our distraction and robbing us blind of rights that we've had since the earliest days of our nation.

Today's Call to Action is to contact your Senator and tell them that they must vote against the Fairness in Class Action Litigation Act, the Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act, and the Innocent Party Protection Act.

Two calls. It's very important. One of our greatest strengths is our ability to work together to fight against corporate greed and abuse. Any laws which limit that are hugely damaging.