Federal Courts Access Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 297 To amend title 28, United States Code, to modify the amount in controversy requirement and remove the complete diversity requirement. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JANUARY 31, 2019 Mr. LEE introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend title 28, United States Code, to modify the amount in controversy requirement and remove the com- plete diversity requirement. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Courts Access 4 Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 6 The purposes of this Act are to— 7 (1) assure fairer and more efficient civil litiga- 8 tion and prompt recoveries for claimants and de- 9 fendants; 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:25 Feb 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S297.IS S297 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 297 IS (2) enhance the integrity of the legal system of 1 the United States by diminishing abuses in the civil 2 litigation system; and 3 (3) restore the intent of the framers of the Con- 4 stitution of the United States by ensuring Federal 5 court consideration of major controversies, con- 6 sistent with diversity jurisdiction principles. 7 SEC. 3. DIVERSITY OF CITIZENSHIP; AMOUNT IN CON- 8 TROVERSY. 9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1332 of title 28, United 10 States Code, is amended— 11 (1) in subsection (a)— 12 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 13 by striking ‘‘$75,000’’ and inserting 14 ‘‘$125,000’’; and 15 (B) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘not 16 less than 1 plaintiff and 1 defendant who are’’ 17 before ‘‘citizens of different States’’; 18 (2) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘$75,000’’ 19 and inserting ‘‘$125,000’’; and 20 (3) in subsection (d)— 21 (A) in paragraph (2), by striking 22 ‘‘$5,000,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$125,000’’; 23 (B) by striking paragraphs (3) and (4); 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:25 Feb 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S297.IS S297 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 297 IS (C) by redesignating paragraphs (5) 1 through (10) as paragraphs (3) through (8), re- 2 spectively; 3 (D) in paragraph (3), as so redesignated, 4 by striking ‘‘Paragraphs (2) through (4)’’ and 5 inserting ‘‘Paragraph (2)’’; 6 (E) in paragraph (4), as so redesignated, 7 by striking ‘‘$5,000,000’’ and inserting 8 ‘‘$125,000’’; 9 (F) in paragraph (5), as so redesignated, 10 by striking ‘‘(2) through (6)’’ and inserting 11 ‘‘(2) through (4)’’; 12 (G) in paragraph (7)(A), as so redesig- 13 nated— 14 (i) by inserting ‘‘section’’ after ‘‘de- 15 fined under’’; and 16 (ii) by striking ‘‘(15 U.S.C. 17 78p(f)(3))’’ and inserting ‘‘(15 U.S.C. 18 77p(f)(3))’’; and 19 (H) by striking paragraph (11). 20 (b) REMOVAL OF CIVIL ACTIONS.— 21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 1441(b)(2) of title 22 28, United States Code, is amended— 23 (A) by striking ‘‘if any’’ and inserting ‘‘if 24 all’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:25 Feb 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S297.IS S297 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 297 IS (B) by striking ‘‘is a citizen’’ and inserting 1 ‘‘are citizens’’. 2 (2) PROCEDURE FOR REMOVAL OF CIVIL AC- 3 TIONS.—Section 1446 of title 28, United States 4 Code, is amended— 5 (A) in subsection (c)— 6 (i) by striking ‘‘(1) A case’’ and all 7 that follows through ‘‘(2) If’’ and inserting 8 ‘‘(1) If’’; 9 (ii) by redesignating paragraph (3) as 10 paragraph (2); and 11 (iii) in paragraph (2), as so redesig- 12 nated— 13 (I) by striking ‘‘(A) If’’ and in- 14 serting ‘‘If’’; and 15 (II) by striking subparagraph 16 (B); and 17 (B) by redesignating subsection (g) as sub- 18 section (f). 19 (3) REMOVAL OF CLASS ACTIONS.—Section 20 1453 of title 28, United States Code, is amended by 21 striking subsection (b) and inserting the following: 22 ‘‘(b) REMOVAL GENERALLY.—A class action may be 23 removed to a district court of the United States in accord- 24 ance with section 1446, except that such action may be 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:25 Feb 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S297.IS S297 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 297 IS removed by any defendant without the consent of all de- 1 fendants.’’. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:25 Feb 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S297.IS S297 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS