On January 8, 2016, the United States House of Representatives passed a bill titled the “Fairness in Class Action Litigation and Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency Act of 2016” in an effort to tighten standards for class certification in lawsuits and require asbestos bankruptcy trusts to publicize claimants’ details.
Essentially, this bill requires that any party seeking to assert a class action affirmatively demonstrate that each proposed class member suffered the same type and scope of injury as the named class representative(s). Additionally, the bill requires that asbestos trusts make public the details of the trust claimants, thereby discouraging fraudulent claims.