Senator Thomsen: No to retroactive altering lawsuits

By Taxpayer Association of Oregon
OregonWatchdog.com

HB 2700 has the effect of retroactively altering class action lawsuits.  This radioactivity includes pending ones like the current $134 million Oregon Lottery Case.   Supporters see it as an effort to better fun legal aid.  It passed the Oregon Senate today without any compromise.  In an abuse of the emergency clause HB 2700 also declares an emergency (to deny a ballot referral). Senator Chuck Thomsen (R-Hood River), in his floor speech today broke down the real-world effect HB 2700 will have.  Here is what Senator Chuck Thomsen said on HB 2700:

“Let’s talk about Mr. Slick. Mr. Slick doesn’t play video poker. He learns that you don’t need to prove you actually played it a day in your life to participate in a class action lawsuit concerning The Oregon Lottery. With the 134 million dollar case concerning video poker happening now, all Mr. Slick has to do to get some of that money is say “I have been harmed want to be compensated for damages”.

Originally, the lawyers would say “ok, we need to know how many times you have played video poker, how much you have lost playing it, etc.” But now Mr. Slick learns the lawyers can just say “Welcome aboard!” Why is this reasonable? It isn’t.

Colleagues, I wish this was just a hypothetical story. If HB 2700 passes, it will just be another example of this chamber picking favorites – in this case, all the Mr. Slick’s in our state – and tipping the scale even further against business.

On top of the infertile message this sends to potential employers looking to move to Oregon, this bill will also hurt schools if it passes right now retroactively. If the Oregon Lottery has to pay more money out to all the Mr. Slicks, we know they’ll be dipping right into dollars otherwise allocated for education. My no vote is an easy choice.”

You can read HB 2700 here.