Hastings Law Journal Publishes CAFA Essay by Prof. Walker

I've just come across this Essay recently published by the Hastings Law Journal and authorited by Prof. Laurens Walker entitled The Consumer Class Action Bill of Rights: A Policy and Political Mistake, 58 Hastings L.J. 849 (2007) . Here is an excerpt from the Introduction:

The controversial Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 has provoked widespread public discussion, chiefly because of jurisdictional provisions which will likely place the bulk of major class action litigation in federal court. But the rarely discussed Consumer Class Action Bill of Rights, section 3 of the Act, is, I argue, the most significant provision of the new law. The jurisdictional provision of the 2005 Act will have little independent effect, but the Bill of Rights, which invites public participation in class action settlements and regulates some settlement terms, will prove to be a costly policy and political mistake. Moreover, I argue that the effect of that mistake will be exacerbated by the otherwise insignificant jurisdictional provision of the legislation and will enable application of the Bill of Rights provisions to most major class action cases litigated in the United States. This Essay is the first to comprehensively examine the policy and political implications of this legislation.