Many lawyers accustomed to state court won’t adapt [to the new rules]. By driving the small-firm competition away from class actions, the law will strengthen many large plaintiffs’ firms. Companies that have wronged consumers might find themselves faced with more lawsuits, not less, since one response to the new law, which makes multistate class actions harder to achieve, will be to file the same lawsuits in the federal court of every state with a large population…. The problems big business will face will be offset somewhat by its new ability to wrong consumers in small amounts without having to worry so much about being sued; in the end, it’s the ordinary consumer who stands to lose the most from the new law.

- posted by Kim Kralowec @ 10:06 AM