mr. speaker , i thank the gentleman for yielding me this time . 
mr. speaker , the bottom line is that class action reform is badly needed . 
currently , crafty lawyers are able to game the system by filing large , nationwide class action suits in certain preferred state courts such as madison county , illinois , where judges are quick to certify classes and quick to approve settlements that give the lawyers millions of dollars in fees and give the clients worthless coupons . 
let us take a look at madison county , illinois with this chart . 
madison county , illinois has been called the number one judicial hellhole in the united states . 
in 2002 we can see there were 77 class action filings , and in 2003 there were 106 class action lawsuits filed . 
the movie `` bridges of madison county '' was a love story . 
the `` judges of madison county '' would be a horror flick . 
unfortunately , all too often it is the lawyer who drives these cases and not the individuals who are supposedly hurt . 
for example , in a suit against blockbuster over late fees , the attorneys received for themselves $ 9.25 million , while their clients got a $ 1-off discount coupon . 
similarly , in a lawsuit against the company who makes cheerios , the lawyers received $ 2 million for themselves ; predictably their clients received a coupon for a box of cheerios . 
in a nutshell , these out-of-control class action lawsuits are killing jobs , they are hurting small business people who can not afford to defend themselves , they are hurting consumers who end up paying higher prices for goods and services . 
this legislation provides much-needed reform in two key areas . 
first , it eliminates much of the forum shopping by requiring most of these nationwide class action suits to be filed in federal court . 
and , second , it cracks down on these coupon-based class action settlements by requiring fee awards to be based on the number of coupons actually redeemed or the number of hours actually billed . 
mr. speaker , i urge my colleagues to vote `` yes '' on this class action reform legislation . 
it is about common sense , it is about justice , and it is about time . 
