The Class Action Fairness Act in Perspective: The Old and the New in Federal Jurisdictional Reform
The Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (CAFA) was the product of an extended and well-organized political campaign.The Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (CAFA) was the product of an extended and well-organized political campaign. In Congress, its passage required a grinding eight-year effort, several modifications to the original proposal, numerous committee hearings, multiple reports by both Houses, political compromises that drew some Democratic support, two unsuccessful attempts to terminate debate in the Senate by imposing cloture, and strenuous efforts to amend in both the House and Senate when the bill came to the floor for a final vote. Passage also required Republican control of both Houses of Congress and the presidency as well.
Tort Reform 1999: A Building Without a Foundation
OF THE UNITED STATES 401 tbl.626 (1997). 191. See Tom Fullerton, Retailing's Uncertain Outlook, FLA. TREND, Sept. 1996, at 17. 192. See U.S. DEP'T OF COMMERCE, STATISTICAL ABSTRACT OF THE UNITED STATES 553 tbl.878 (1998) (citing DUN & BRADSTREET CORP., A DECADE OF BUSINESS STARTS and BUSINESS FAILURE RECORD). 2000] 434 FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY LAWREVIEW [Vol. 27:397 Enterprise Florida, a public-private partnership organized to improve the economic quality of life in Florida, Florida has noted: [Florida] leads the nation in the number of incorporations and was designated by Business Facilities magazine in its May 1997 issue to be the best place in the nation to expand a business.... In 1997, 20 of Money magazine's top 80 communities with the highest quality of life were in Florida. For these and other reasons, corporations are moving to Florida in increasing numbers to take advantage of the state's assets and resources. 193 Enterprise Florida goes on to state: In recent years, Florida has emerged as one of the world's fastest growing markets, experiencing an explosion of international growth as a major economic hub of the Southeastern United States. With a gross state product of $368.9 billion, if the State of Florida were a sovereign nation, it would rank as the world's 16th largest market economy and [fifth] in the Americas." 4 As a marketplace, Florida is also a leading state, suffering no adverse effects from the nature of its legal system. The business press has celebrated its positioning for business. Expansion Management indicated that "[tihe structure is in place for the state to continue its leadership in the medical devices industry, and to take off in biotechnology."19 It is ranked third, behind only California and Texas, as a location for health technology businesses. 19 Furthermore, along with Texas, Florida also boasts one of "the most profitable banking markets anywhere.' ' 97 In another area of economic evaluation, personal income, Florida continues to perform well. The Bureau of Economic and Business Research found that Florida's per capita personal income, which grew 5.1% in 1996, outpaced both the national average of 4.8% growth and the Southeast region's rate of 4.7%.19 Housing starts are another key economic indicator to determine the strength of an economy. The building and purchase of homes sends positive ripples throughout the economy, as producers of raw 193. Enterprise Florida, Doing Business in Florida (1999) (document previously published on the World Wide Web, on file with author). <http://www.floridabusiness.com/advantages/climate.html>. 194. Id. <http://www.floridabusiness.com/advantages/economy.html>. 195. Lance Yoder, Florida Assembles Winning Pieces in Health Technology Puzzle, EXPANSION MGMT., Mar. 1999, at 1. 196. See id. 197. Kyle Parks, Finding Ways to Make Money, FLORIDA TREND, Jan. 1997, at 44. 198. See Press Release from Bureau of Economic and Business Research, University of Florida, Florida Personal Income Release (June 25, 1999) (citing U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis), available at <http://www.BEBR.ufl.edu/PressRelease/fpi.htm> (visited Apr. 5,
Italian Influence on the Development of Calvinist Scholasticism
THIS ARTICLE TRIES to show that the rise of Calvinist scholasticism, which was the most important development in Calvinist theology during the second half of the sixteenth century, stemmed largely from several converging Italian influences, particularly from the writings of Peter Martyr Vermigli and Jerome Zanchi. Here Calvinist theology refers not only to the personal thought of John Calvin but also to the teachings of the founders of the Reformed or Calvinist tradition as it spread out from Geneva and Switzerland to France, Germany, England, Scotland, Poland, and the Low Countries. In this context Calvin emerges as the brightest star in a galaxy of Reformed theologians which includes Heinrich Bullinger, Pierre Viret, Theodore Beza and Wolfgang Musculus as well as Martyr, Zanchi and others. These theologians were often more influential than Calvin himself at a given place or time or on a given point of doctrine. Bullinger, Martyr, and Martin Bucer were all more important for spreading Calvinist ideas to Edwardian England than was John Calvin. Early Elizabethan Protestantism looked more to Zurich than to Geneva, as did early Polish Calvinism. German Calvinism owed more to Heidelberg than to Geneva.' These leaders developed their theologies sometimes in mutual dependence, sometimes with surprising independence. By no means was their relation to Calvin simply that of disciple to master, for each gave a personal nuance to his style of Calvinism. Thus the sixteenth century Jesuit Cornelius Schulting states on the opening page of his five volume polemic against Calvin and Peter Martyr that Martyr was clearer and far more learned than Calvin.2 Recently John Bray has pointed out that research in seventeenth century Calvinism leads "to the conclusion that the impact of Calvin upon the Calvinistic movement has been greatly over-rated. It may well be that some of