mr. chairman , i am not opposed to changing federal court rules to try to make it less likely that small business owners or other americans will be forced to defend themselves against frivolous lawsuits . 
so , i could support many of the provisions of this bill . 
however , the bill has such serious flaws that i can not support it in its current form . 
part of the bill would change rule 11 of the federal rules of civil procedure in ways that would basically restore that rule as it was in 1992 . 
as a result , lawyers filing frivolous lawsuits in federal courts would face mandatory sanctions in the form of payments to those who were victimized by those lawsuits . 
i think that could be an effective deterrent , and can support it . 
i also can support strong provisions to deter -- and , if necessary punish -- repeated violations of the rules against misuse of the courts through frivolous lawsuits . 
however , i am not enthusiastic about the idea of congress 's attempting to micro-manage the state courts or to take over the job of regulating the practice of law in state courts in the way that this bill would do . 
and i am definitely opposed to changing the rules in ways that could make it impossible for people with valid claims to receive proper consideration of their cases . 
for that reason , i must object to the provisions of the bill which , as the non-partisan congressional research service explains , `` would preclude litigation in united states courts that would be authorized under current law . 
for instance , [ under current law ] . 
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if a corporation has stores , factories , offices , or property anywhere in the united states . 
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a federal suit might be brought against it in one of the judicial districts where . 
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[ an objectionable ] activity occurs or property leaving some americans with no recourse to the courts even for valid claims would be bad enough . 
but i find it even more unacceptable that prime beneficiaries of these provisions could be american companies who have chosen to fly a foreign flag in order to escape paying their federal taxes . 
i voted for the schiff-kind amendment because i favor strong measures against frivolous lawsuits but oppose giving those fugitive corporations such an unfair advantage over truly american companies . 
unfortunately , however , that amendment was not adopted -- and as a result i must vote against this bill as it stands . 
