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Politics : Your Thoughts Regarding France? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: GUSTAVE JAEGER who wrote (498)	1/26/2005 12:26:03 AM
From: Nikole Wollerstein	Respond to of 662

Y may be I am wrong about Latinos but in the middle of CA latinos are blessing. Hard working and with good attitude This is good have you seen it: Thomas Donohue, president of the US Chamber of Commerce (news - web sites), on Tuesday warned France not to introduce US-style class action lawsuits, saying they would damage the economy and shift money from "good companies to lawyers". Wading into a contentious French debate on a visit to Paris, Mr Donohue advised his hosts not to adopt legislation allowing groups of workers, shareholders, or consumers to pursue collective suits against companies, saying the system would be open to abuse. He also accused unspecified US law firms of seeking to promote the culture of class action lawsuits abroad just as the Bush administration was making life tougher for them back home. "We are closing down some of the unproductive and unfortunate practices that sprung up in the US," he said at a press conference. "But these law firms are looking at the more productive companies in France and are going into the export business. Do not be fooled." Jacques Chirac, France's president, stunned business leaders at the beginning of the year by announcing that he had instructed his government to introduce class action lawsuits. The move was welcomed by French consumer groups, but fiercely criticised by big companies. The consumer groups argue that collective lawsuits would help redress the balance of economic power, currently weighted in favour of producers. Unlike the US, France has few powerful consumer champions or shareholder rights groups and independent pension funds capable of taking on powerful companies. The government suggests it will learn from the US experience and prevent any abuses of the system by unscrupulous lawyers. But Ernest-Antoine Seillière, president of Medef, the French employers' federation which hosted Mr Donohue, on Tuesday echoed the US Chamber of Commerce head's warnings, saying class action lawsuits could have "catastrophic consequences". He added: "We are very active in trying to limit these measures." Mr Donohue, whose organisation representing 3m US companies and associations, said injured workers should be compensated by their employers, but this should not extend to everyone who "walked