[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3789 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3789

    To amend title 28, United States Code, to enlarge Federal Court 
               jurisdiction over purported class actions.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 5, 1998

Mr. Hyde (for himself, Mr. McCollum, Mr. Smith of Texas, Mr. Canady of 
 Florida, Mr. Bryant, Mr. Pease, and Mr. Moran of Virginia) introduced 
    the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the 
                               Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend title 28, United States Code, to enlarge Federal Court 
               jurisdiction over purported class actions.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE AND REFERENCE.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Class Action 
Jurisdiction Act of 1998''.
    (b) Reference.--Whenever in this Act an amendment or repeal is 
expressed in terms of an amendment to, or repeal of, a section or other 
provision, the reference shall be considered to be made to a section or 
other provision of title 28, United States Code.

SEC. 2. JURISDICTION OF DISTRICT COURTS.

    (a) Expansion of Federal Jurisdiction.--Section 1332 is amended by 
redesignating subsections (b), (c), and (d) as subsections (c), (d), 
and (e), respectively, and by inserting after subsection (a) the 
following:
    ``(b) The district courts additionally shall have original 
jurisdiction of all civil actions, regardless of the sum or value of 
the matter in controversy therein, which are brought as a class action 
or comparable representative action and in which--
            ``(1) any member of a proposed plaintiff class or other 
        person on whose behalf the action is brought is a citizen of a 
        State different from any defendant; or
            ``(2) any member of a proposed plaintiff class or other 
        person on whose behalf the action is brought is a foreign 
        state, as defined in section 1603(a), or a citizen or subject 
        of a foreign state and any defendant is a citizen of a State; 
        or
            ``(3) any member of a proposed plaintiff class or other 
        person on whose behalf the action is brought is a citizen of a 
        State and any defendant is a citizen or subject of a foreign 
        state.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment.--Section 1332(c) (as so redesignated) is 
amended by inserting after ``Federal courts'' the following: ``pursuant 
to subsection (a) of this section''.

SEC. 3. REMOVAL OF CLASS ACTIONS.

    (a) In General.--Section 1441(b), is amended by inserting the 
following sentence after the first sentence in that subsection: ``Any 
civil action of which the district courts have original jurisdiction on 
the basis of the jurisdictional provisions of section 1332(b) also 
shall be removable without regard to the citizenship or residence of 
the parties (except as provided in section 1332(b)).''.
    (b) Removal by Single Defendant.--Section 1446(a), is amended by 
inserting at the end the following: ``Actions removed on the basis of 
the jurisdictional provisions of section 1332(b) may be removed by any 
defendant, regardless of whether the removal is joined by any other 
defendant. Any class action removed to Federal court shall be deemed as 
brought under Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and 
treated as such''.
    (c) Elimination of 1-Year Limitation on Removal of Class Actions.--
The second sentence of section 1446(b), is amended by striking 
``section 1332'' and inserting ``section 1332(a).''

SEC. 4. JURISDICTION OVER FAILED CLASS ACTIONS.

    (a) Amendment.--Chapter 85 is amended by adding at the end the 
following new section:
``Sec. 1369. Jurisdiction over failed class actions
    ``If a district court determines that any action subject to its 
jurisdiction solely under the provisions of section 1332(b) may not 
proceed in any respect as a class action or comparable representative 
action under Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or other 
applicable law, the court shall dismiss the action for lack of subject 
matter jurisdiction.''.
    (b) Technical Amendment.--The table of sections of chapter 85 is 
amended by adding at the end the following:

``1369. Jurisdiction over failed class actions.''.

SEC. 5. APPLICABILITY.

    The amendments made by this Act shall be applicable to all 
litigation pending in any district court of the United States or any 
court of any State as of the date of enactment of this Act, except that 
any removal of an action pursuant to chapter 89 of title 28, United 
States Code, on the basis of the jurisdictional provisions of section 
1332(b) of such title must occur within 60 days of the date of 
enactment of this Act if the action has been pending for more than 30 
days as of the date of enactment of this Act.
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