mr. chairman , i rise in opposition of h.r. 420 , the lawsuit abuse reduction act of 2005 . 
this legislation runs roughshod over states ' rights , forcing state courts to enact onerous procedures and stripping states ' jurisdiction in certain cases . 
this bill would also force restrictive venue provisions on all state courts , which essentially tells state courts they do not have jurisdiction over certain claims brought by its own citizens . 
let state legislatures and state judiciaries set their own rules . 
and , by the way , a frivolous , meritless lawsuit is damaging to the system and the offending parties should be punished . 
this bill also protects foreign corporations at the expense of consumers in that it unfairly dictates to states where their citizens can enforce legal right against a corporation based outside of the united states . 
while h.r. 420 allows a victim to file a claim in a court in his or her home state , because of existing jurisdictional rules that state may be unable to exercise power over the foreign corporation . 
for example , a corporation in mexico sells cribs in the united states and those cribs are shipped to kansas and sold in nebraska . 
the cribs turn out to be defective and one collapses on a baby in nebraska , killing it . 
it may be impossible , under this proposed bill , for that nebraska family to file a lawsuit in nebraska . 
the family may have to file the suit in kansas but would have to take the case to mexico under h.r. 420 . 
i can not in good conscience support a bill preventing a family in this situation from filing a lawsuit in its own state . 
