How tortious is class-action reform?

Very tortious indeed, if you agree with Sam Heldman's take on the convoluted class-action legislation that Congress has introduced to address the kind of lawsuit that corporate defendants fear most. The bill's net effect, Heldman says, would be to shift class actions from state courts to federal courts, where they would clog dockets and prompt busy judges to dismiss as many of them as possible.

Heldman is a Washington-based lawyer who does some class-action work, so you should bear that in mind while reading his analysis. One thing he's undeniably right about, though, is that the bill could use some work in the grammar department. How can we expect our children to speak and write in proper English when congressmen can't even string together a coherent sentence?