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The Administration supports H.R. 2112. The Administration generally
disfavors expansion of the jurisdiction of the already overloaded Federal
courts, diverting their attention from criminal cases and other Federal
matters. H.R. 2112, however, affects federal jurisdiction in two separate
but narrowly tailored ways.
First, H.R. 2112 would permit the district courts to whom litigation has
been transferred by the Multidistrict Litigation Panel to retain
jurisdiction over cases beyond the pre-trial stage. This component of the
bill does not expand the jurisdiction of the Federal courts.
Second, H.R. 2112 would expand federal jurisdiction to reach litigation
arising from single-event mass accidents, such as airplane crashes, as long
as the parties had "minimal diversity" and suffered at least $75,000 in
damages. Thus, this second component of H.R. 2112 is carefully targeted to
address special issues where the exercise of Federal jurisdiction will
markedly increase the fair and efficient resolution of selected cases.
Each of these components in H.R. 2112 responds to a specifically defined
and circumscribed problem that can and would be solved by modifying federal
jurisdiction.
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